Looking for a quiet protein skimmer, any suggestions?
- Thread starter chino100
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chadderboxx
Well-Known Member
Bubble magus are great skimmer for cheaper...Bubble Magus BM-NAC77
Cone Protein Skimmer 369.00$ brs
Cone Protein Skimmer 369.00$ brs
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Alabamareef
Well-Known Member
Vertex Omega 200. Its just came out and is the last skimmer you'll ever need.
Diesel
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Most skimmers do what they have to do and that is skim, is the a top of the line skimmer?
Even the HE $$$ skimmers don't do sometimes what a lower $$$ does.
What makes an efficient protein skimmer? CONTACT TIME, period.
Nothing else is as important as contact time.
Bubble plates, needle wheel
s, cone shapes, nozzle injection, dc pumps........do not make efficient protein skimmers, those have nothing to do with contact time.
Contact time is the dwell time that the bubbles stay in the water as they rise to the surface.
The longer it takes for the bubbles to reach the surface the better the skimmer will perform.
Lifereef skimmers have the most contact time of ever skimmer.
I had vertex, PM, reefoctopus , BM.
Now I have running for a while the Lifereef SVS3-30.
It pulls out more skimmie stinky stuff than ever.
Check it out and you won't be disappointed.
Lifereef Filter Systems - Trickle Filter - Berlin System - Venturi Skimmer - Protein Skimmer - Acrylic Aquariums - Euro-brace - Euro-rim - wet/dry filter - downdraft - needle-wheel - calcium reactor
Even the HE $$$ skimmers don't do sometimes what a lower $$$ does.
What makes an efficient protein skimmer? CONTACT TIME, period.
Nothing else is as important as contact time.
Bubble plates, needle wheel
s, cone shapes, nozzle injection, dc pumps........do not make efficient protein skimmers, those have nothing to do with contact time.
Contact time is the dwell time that the bubbles stay in the water as they rise to the surface.
The longer it takes for the bubbles to reach the surface the better the skimmer will perform.
Lifereef skimmers have the most contact time of ever skimmer.
I had vertex, PM, reefoctopus , BM.
Now I have running for a while the Lifereef SVS3-30.
It pulls out more skimmie stinky stuff than ever.
Check it out and you won't be disappointed.
Lifereef Filter Systems - Trickle Filter - Berlin System - Venturi Skimmer - Protein Skimmer - Acrylic Aquariums - Euro-brace - Euro-rim - wet/dry filter - downdraft - needle-wheel - calcium reactor
jservedio
Active Member
Contact time is one one of the factors that determines efficiency - bombardment rate is the other which is determined by water flow through the skimmer and diameter of the body. Needle wheels directly affect the flow through the skimmer - they have MUCH lower flow rates than venturis. Also, the way bubbles are injected into the body (and the path the bubbles take) directly effect contact time. A bubble in a swirling pattern through the body of a skimmer has a much longer path than a bubble travelling straight up.
You can have a 10 foot tall skimmer that is completely inefficient if the flow rate through the skimmer body is extremely high. Contact time is only half of the equation. And all the things you listed with the exception of a DC pump directly effect the contact time and efficiency of a skimmer (the DC pump effects the amount of power used though). The size of the bubble, the height/diameter of a skimmer, the injection method and path within the skimmer and the flow rate all directly affect the efficiency of the skimmer. It isn't JUST contact time. although that is extremely important. If contact time were the only consideration, we would all have super tall skimmers that simply looked like a tall pipe and we placed in the corner of the room.
Venturi's also require very powerful pumps - needle wheels can use much less powerful pumps to achieve the same bubble density, although the consistency of the bubbles is less uniform. There are trade offs for EVERY style of protein skimmer. There is no "best" skimmer - the most efficient design is going to change from tank to tank as requirements change.
Alabamareef
Well-Known Member
+1
Very good info. Not just contact time. If that were the case we would have a bunch of bubble baths under the aquarium to maximize bubble contact time. LOL. Lots of engineering goes into the development of a quality protein skimmer.
Here is a great video about protein skimmers. Its like a 7 part series
LA Fishguys, Episode 88 pt 1, Protein Skimmer, Jeff Macare Reef Dynamics - YouTube
