fresh water skimmer

[StirCrazy]

salt water has a higher surface tension which makes it hold the bubbles better.

Steve

[Richy44]

For 10$ I purchased one of those surface skimmers that hook up to a canister filter. Within 10 minutes the surface was crystal clear. Totally underrated in my opinion. I tested it in my reef tank and the skimmer is definitely skimming less with that on so I moved it to my discus tank.. Inexpensive piece of hardware.

Rick.......

i was looking for a skimmer for my new discus tank but had problems finding one so i settled for a fluval fx5.

[andresont]

Originally Posted by Richy44

For 10$ I purchased one of those surface skimmers that hook up to a canister filter. Within 10 minutes the surface was crystal clear. Totally underrated in my opinion. I tested it in my reef tank and the skimmer is definitely skimming less with that on so I moved it to my discus tank.. Inexpensive piece of hardware.

Rick.......

Yes this thing works really well in fresh water.
However it is Very sencible to level fluctuations, algae will grow inside, it only works when super clean and with constant water level. I had one too. Now garbage bin has it.
waste of money imo.

[kwirky]

i read of somone once using a protein skimmer as an aerater in their planted aquarium at night, because the fish and the plants together output crazy ammounts of CO2 if it's heavily stocked...

[bv_reefer]

-well i'd think that a planted aquarium alone would supply a decent amount
of oxygenation...

[X-Treme]

Originally Posted by kwirky

i read of somone once using a protein skimmer as an aerater in their planted aquarium at night, because the fish and the plants together output crazy ammounts of CO2 if it's heavily stocked...

Ummmm....not AT ALL true. Plants NEVER EVER output CO2. They USE CO2 to create O2, however with no light, there is no photosynthesis, therefore no O2 output from plants.

[Static]

Originally Posted by X-Treme

Ummmm....not AT ALL true. Plants NEVER EVER output CO2. They USE CO2 to create O2, however with no light, there is no photosynthesis, therefore no O2 output from plants.

http://van.physics.uiuc.edu/qa/listing.php?id=848

I'd be tempted to say that plants are constantly outputting co2. During the day time it's outweighed by the output of o2 from photosynthesis.

Sorry for the off topic.....

Originally Posted by andresont

Yes this thing works really well in fresh water.
However it is Very sencible to level fluctuations, algae will grow inside, it only works when super clean and with constant water level. I had one too. Now garbage bin has it.
waste of money imo.

really? is it that bad? i thought it was something new that just came out. it is rated for 400 gallons is why i bought it. havent received it yet, it's in the mail.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by clk55

really? is it that bad? i thought it was something new that just came out. it is rated for 400 gallons is why i bought it. havent received it yet, it's in the mail.

ok I think you guys are talking about two different things, the surface skimmer for 10 bucks is not a proteen skimmer, all it is, is a add on to your filter that makes it take the water from the surface to get rid of surface skum, it is not a proteen skimmer.

Steve