1. Whats a Protien Skimmer, Ive heard ppl at the LFS talking bout it.

2. Secondly, What is a sump, I know its a filter, but what exactly is it ?

3. What is a C02 Reactor ? Does it add Carbon Dioxide to the water ?

4. Whats a UV Sterilizer ? Whats its Purpose

Any help appreciated

Try using http://www.google.com and searching for those things. You'll get faster results

I can answer 2

A sump is where you use a large container (often another aquarium) as a filter. You fill it with baffles to direct the water flow, filter wool, bio media etc like you would in a canister filter and a large pump to circulate the water through it, into the main tank, and back again. It gives you a lot more water volume, huge filtering area and somewhere to put all the gadgets like heaters and stuff, keeping them out of the main tank.

uv sterilisers do what the name implys they sterilise your wate from harmful germs and bacteria and also inhibit the growth of algae the best use for them is in large out door ponds and when you have several tanks hooked to the same water eg one tank flowing into another running off one filter

ppl put these in place so that if one tank gets sick the second third and so on wont get sick

co2 injection puts co2 into the water for the plants

also, you don't need to worry about any of these things in your tank

Lol.... theres a sump the size of my aquarium at the LFS lol :lol: :lol:

he he heee, my sumps (I use 2) total 200 litres which service my 320 litre marine tank. then again, there are guys with sumps the size of both my main tank and sumps and larger!

A protein skimmer (also called a foam fractionator) is a chamber in which fine bubbles are pumped into. Dissolved proteins and wastes in the water get attracted to the fine bubbles which rise up the cylinder turning into foam which gets left in a collection cup (and it stinks!) It is the most recommended filtration equipment for a marine tank (wont serve any purpose on a freshwater system)

A UV steriliser is a device in which water passes over a UV lamp or similar. The UV light hits the water and is intense enough to kill most bacteria and viruses in the water. This helps keep your fishes disease free.

with uv sterilizers i was wondering if their selective in the bacteria they kill i mean do they kill good bacteria?

They kill everything in the water. Good bacteria, bad bacteria, algae...But, something like 99% of the good bacteria is on your gravel, surfaces in your tank, media and sponges in your filter so...Who cares if 1% is killed? And anyway, the rest will multiply to make up for the tiny bit less in the water.

My new sumps will total about 800 litres of water Sumps are a GREAT idea, far less practical in freshwater though, requires some planing and a good idea of exactly what you expect to keep in your tank.

UV doesn't just kill bacterria and algae. It also has an effect on certail other properties in water. For example if you are dosing liquid iron and fertiliser supliments with your c02 injection system to boost plant growth, the UV will sterilise it. I have used UV and had major problems with the ballance of iron and plant growth. As soon as the UV came off, everything returned to normal. I think UV has its place, perhapps ciclid tanks that have no plants but often problems with aglae are a good option? In fish only marine systems that you want to be sterile they are still popular. Also they can treat whitespot and other pests.

c02 injectors are used to increase c02 additions to the water. uesefull in heavy planted tanks with light fish loads. Often the pictures you see of planted tanks use c02. Its important to remember than c02 alone is not the soultion, there are lots of other things to consider. also c02 has a negitive side too.

Pie

my sump holds around 60-70 litres