importance of protein skimmers

[davidryder]

ok, the only thing that i've gathered about protein skimmers so far is that they remove nutrients that feed algae and possibly remove waste before it has time to be converted into ammonia. am i on the right track?

[mzeinstr]

have you ever walked on the beach after a storm and seen all the sea foam blowing around? this is the same principle as a skimmer, it turns the water into foam which collects detrius and protiens and then pushes this up into the collecter cup to discard. i would say that a good skimmer (i have a euro reef) and the largest skimmer you can afford is one of the most important things in your system....

Z

[davidryder]

yeah i'd say. may be coincidence, but when my seaclone stopped working i had a mega cyano outbreak. ah my new skimmer will be here on monday!

[sulp]

I disagree! Am I correct in saying that both you guys have refugiums? If so, IMO a skimmer is not necessary. In fact, you defeat the purpose of a fuge when running it with a skimmer.

[davidryder]

i think my fuge provides a safehaven to colonies of pods. i didn't really add it for filtration. my main concern was circulation and copepod/amphipod production. i also have mangroves and caulerpa in my refugium. kind of a place for algae to grow uncontrolled as well.

[mzeinstr]

i'm with davidryder, the amount of skimmate that my skimmer takes out of the water, my fuge is not even close to big enough, but i still have the advantage of the refuge for the "bugs".
and wrong - we do not defeat the purpose of a fuge.......

Z