there is no purpose in fresh water as exactly like you said.. large waterchanges are simple, cheep and easy.

now the normal fresh water skimmer that is widely used is a surface skimmer, which is to skim the surface of the water to remove proteen buildup in tanks where you have a lot of plants and require low to no surface agitation to prevent CO2 from comming out of solution.

Steve

By surface skimmer do you mean a simple overflow box?

same idea but when there is no sump it is a mini overflow box that goes to the filter.

Steve

what SG does a protein skimmer start to become effective? I am running a 1.10/12 ish brackish tank and wouldn't mind reducing my 50% water changes.

best bet is to buy the cheapest skimmer you can.. maybe some one has a seaclone for about 20 bucks and see if it works on your tank. or maybe some one who is getting a new skimmer can fool around with SQ durning the breakin and see when it starts being efective.

Steve

Thanks, I think that I have found a used Red Sea Prizm. It seems to be a middle of the road skimmer.

Lets see how it works. I am only at 1.02 atm though and increasing by .02 per week so it may be some time before I see results.

The Red Sea Prizm is a bottom of the barrel skimmer IMHO.

You're better off saving some money and simply put a wooden airstone inside a tube in the aquarium (like from an old UGF) with a good strong air pump on the other end. If you see a lot of sludge collecting on the surface then you're skimming.

I saw first hand this weekend that skimming works for freshwater. The hot tub in the hotel I was in was quite dirty and was actually collecting stable foam in one corner with black slime at the top of it! I wish I had my camera so that I could have taken a picture.

haha, you could hardly call that fresh water. if it is foaming in a hot tub its because the water is pretty damn dirty and there is lots of oils and soaps in it. I won't go in a hot tub that makes foam when you put the jets on. I had a hot tub for 15 years.. trust me they shouldn't be foaming with clean water.. they even make chemicles that will stop foaming so you can go longer between water changes.. kinda grose if you ask me.

Steve