The dark knight
Member
Is a surface skimmer better than a protein skimmer?
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Surface skimmer
- Thread starter The dark knight
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chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
To answer your question, that's sort of like asking if a hammer is better than a screwdriver. They're both tools, but you use them for different things. It's not that one is better than the other, but you want to understand why you'd use each.
Surface skimming is useful for improving gas exchange between your tank's surface and the ambient air in your home. A surface skimmer, like an overflow box or dedicated surface skimming device, can mix up the film that develops on the surface of your tank so that it's easier for your tank to let off carbon dioxide and absorb oxygen. This is not actually filtration, as you're taking the film off your surface and mixing it up in your tank water, but it still can be beneficial.
A protein skimmer, on the other hand, is filtration. A protein skimmer will usually remove some, if not most, of the junk that makes up that film. Protein skimmers basically work by removing dissolved organic matter before it can be processed by your aquarium's biological filtration (i.e, the cycle, ammonia > nitrite > nitrate). Protein skimmers won't remove nitrates from the water, but they'll remove the things that eventually become nitrates.
Surface skimming is useful for improving gas exchange between your tank's surface and the ambient air in your home. A surface skimmer, like an overflow box or dedicated surface skimming device, can mix up the film that develops on the surface of your tank so that it's easier for your tank to let off carbon dioxide and absorb oxygen. This is not actually filtration, as you're taking the film off your surface and mixing it up in your tank water, but it still can be beneficial.
A protein skimmer, on the other hand, is filtration. A protein skimmer will usually remove some, if not most, of the junk that makes up that film. Protein skimmers basically work by removing dissolved organic matter before it can be processed by your aquarium's biological filtration (i.e, the cycle, ammonia > nitrite > nitrate). Protein skimmers won't remove nitrates from the water, but they'll remove the things that eventually become nitrates.
