henward Posted October 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2007 so the vote is that skimmer is a must ok fair enough now, how bout this does the skimmer make the water clear? ro does it remove dissolved toxins and impurities o nly? i mean on my filter, canister filter, i have 5 trays currently i have one layer bio rocks and all others are wool do i need that much wool with a skimmer? or can i have maybe the other way around, most of it bio rocks media and one layer wool? does the skimmer actually remove particles that float around like fish shi t ? or is that the filterwools job? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaNs Posted October 25, 2007 Report Share Posted October 25, 2007 Add you to my msn so i can explain more in a shorter time Skimmers remove dissolved organic compounds, phenol oils, and other yellowing agents are a nuisance that only active protein skimming can eliminate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slappers Posted October 25, 2007 Report Share Posted October 25, 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_skimmer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeBlog Posted October 25, 2007 Report Share Posted October 25, 2007 gees i envy you all i got is a AP701 what did you do with the other one Going to run dual ap902's on my upgrade. Currently just collecting pieces. So far, I've got the two 902's, 9 x Tunze 6100's, 2 x Tunze 6200's, 2 x Deltec 48 watt UV, 1 x 40 watt Pentair UV, Amp Master 3000 return, Ocean's motion 4 way, etc... Won't be until 2009, but it should be sweet! Sorry for the hijack... :oops: I would recommend getting a good skimmer (which it seems you've already decided to do) and ditch the canister filter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted October 25, 2007 Report Share Posted October 25, 2007 Yes the skimmer actually removes particles as they stick to the bubbles. These could be any small particles, bacteria, algae spores, or any type of particulate organics. It won't directly remove some things such as some toxins, yellowing agents, etc although it will eventually get them once they have been utilized or attached to water borne bacteria, algae or general organic particles. To get some of these type of things quicker carbon can be run although many people don't bother. Next thing is you should not use the cannister for biological filtration in a marine tank. You can use it if the purpose is to run carbon or some other chemical media, but if you use it for biological filtration it will cause a build up of nitrate. This is not such an issue in a fresh water tank or can even be a good thing if plants are growing, but in a marine tank nitrates can be a problem. Instead of using a cannister, HOB filter, trickle filter or other such fresh water aerobic filtration systems, you put coral rock in the tank to house the bacteria and let them do the filtration. Coral rock is structured in such a way that it enables bacteria to reduce nitrate, something that does not happen much in media such as bioballs and filter wool. So the basic filtration is really pretty simple. A skimmer, and coral rock. No expensive cannisters or whatever needed. Once the coral rock has been in the tank a few months and has the full complement of bacteria in its pores, it is referred to as "liverock". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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