Hello All.

Quick question, as I have never dealt with protein skimmers before...

1. Do protein skimmers come with their own water pump, or is it common?

2. Does the protein skimmer water pump return the water back to the tank or does the protein skimmer return the water to the sump, where another pump returns it to the tank.

Sorry for the rookie questions!

Hello All.

Quick question, as I have never dealt with protein skimmers before...

1. Do protein skimmers come with their own water pump, or is it common?

2. Does the protein skimmer water pump return the water back to the tank or does the protein skimmer return the water to the sump, where another pump returns it to the tank.

Sorry for the rookie questions!

hi ,

some protein skimmers come with a pump , most require a pump but some use an airline

Most skimmers 'spit the water' out of the side of the skimmer so most people put their protein skimmers in their sump

some types use 2 or more pumps. a recirculating skimmer uses a sump to feed sump water through the skimmer and a needlewheel pump to draw in air buubles , mix them with water and chop them up into tiny bubbles. some brands of larger skimmers use 2 or more pumps simply because of their size

Thanks guys. I understand how protein skimmers work with air pumps and the like.

What I was more hitting on is, do people use the water pumps that the protein skimmer incorporates to return the water from their sump to their tank. Or do they use a totally separate (from the protein skimmer, not driving the skimmer either) water pump to return the water from the sump to the main tank.

I am talking about skimmers that you place in the sump here also.

totally separate pumps are used to return water to the tank,skimmers pump clean water back into the sump.