Protein Skimmer - Freshwater

[Tien]

This may be a dumb question but is there any point at all in using a protein skimmer in freshwater? I have an in sump skimmer but plan on using the sump for wet dry filtration and will build an algae scrubber as well. I know that skimmers remove protein before it turns into nitrates so it may interfere with the effectiveness of my algae scrubber. I may keep rays so I want great water quality but will the skimmer do anything at all? I have someone who wants to buy my skimmer and I am considering it. I will probably never have saltwater in this tank so I doubt I will have a need for the skimmer. Any thoughts?

 

[kiddjam]

I read most article say freshwater cant use protein skimmer, but i believe they just dont have a freshwater design, thats all.

 

[BIG-G]

It takes fine bubbles to make foam and collect waste to be removed. Freshwater will not hold the surface tension of the bubbles.
So it doesn't work as effectively as salt water.

 

[kuro]

From what i read awhile back is similar to what Big-G said because fish waste are more buoyant so it can be easily collected by a skimmer because of the higher amount of elements, such as 19k ppm chloride found in natural seawater while freshwater have very low TDS so waste tend to collect on the bottom of the tank so even if you get the bubble going in a skimmer for freshwater the waste can't really collect. i hope that make sense.