Protein skimmer verses refergium verses algae scrubber

[DN328]

I've not come across a reefer without a skimmer. Not that it cannot be done, just seems the right one can be effective. I imagine your sump would be a good size, so dedicating a refugium would be no problem.

Don't hold me to this, but I heard that there was a patent design on algae scrubbers until recently so not too many companies manufactured. Of course there was DIY.

 

[Jez1992]

I have protein skimmers on tanks, and ponds and they work fine. I believe most people just don't know how.
Below is a video of one working on my 500 gal pond, it is a biofractionator, and I'd hardly call it inefficient.

Hmm, I find this very intriguing I also though skimmers only worked on saltwater.

How do you build such skimmers, do normal skimmer work in freshwater?

Thanks

 

[duanes]

Sorry to highjack in this lopsided direction
My favorites protein skimmer DIY build in from plans on koiphen.com, and called a Phoam phractionator, it is the kind in my video just downsized a bit from the original plans. I have also built counter currrent models from plans by Stephen Meyor I found in Aquarium Fish Mag. I have never found a commercial one that worked as well for fresh water, doesn't mean there aren't any though.
I have well designed ones have the ability to remove significant amounts of microscopic, and larger life forms which can be a problem in fry tanks, and or refugiums.
I considered the removal of possibly pathogenic animals such as ciliates, nematodes, and other protozoa a very positive aspect.

 

[Ilawis]

I'm planning on diy for the protien skimmer half because I'm height restricted and half because i understand the principle on how it works and it won't be hard to build so that should be a bit of fun

 

[duanes]

Just a thought, the DIY kind from koiphen.com are tall cascade type, and less fidgety than other venturi, counter current types, once you find the sweet spot of foam production.
Even on my ponds that easily filled with pine needles and leaves which can plug media, maintenance was minimal. An indoor tank could run months without a tweak.
For me, running a 4" diameter tube full of lava rock up to the height of the overflow (almost the height of the tank), and allowing the overflow to cascade over the rocks into the sump (almost 5ft) provided enough agitation to fractionate waste into a receptacle placed under the waste port of the unit. With salt water, the foam will probably be fairly dry compared to fresh water, which makes for easy disposal.

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

I've run protein skimmers on a reef and brackish tanks. I would recommend them though in my experience they can be a bit finicky to get working efficiently. I would then say to go with a algae scrubber and nix the refugium. People build them because the idea seems great and it's a cool concept but in my experience they have never been worth the effort. The plants do not have much of a positive effect unless it's a larger refugium than the tank and even then if you have any die off or leaves that drop you just released any benefit they provided back into the tank. I am sure others will come along and disagree with my blasphemous statement here but this is my experience. You also rarely see any data to back up the effectiveness.

 

[Ilawis]

Lol as it's always said what works for one tank may not work for another so not blasphemy we should open a blasphemy thread tho that might be fun I use to have a fresh water tank that only had the normal biomediea filter and a sponge filter and I only did a water change once a year just because i felt like it and clear the filters about once every 5 months and the water was always crystal clear

 

[Ilawis]

I think I'm sold on the skimmer now it will have to be a DIY unless I can convince the wife is a good idea to do another holiday to Bangkok (freaking love that place but the animal treatment is something else I went to a weekend market and didn't survive seeing the entire animal part of it evin tho we were constantly moving for 2 hours through it and like 1000 photos later)
The thing I see with the refergium is it's there to add food sources into the water and the algie scrubber is there to remove heavy metals (tho wouldn't the skimmer do that anyway?)