Question? Will a protein skimmer work in a brack-water tank?

Has anyone here ever tried it?

 

In theory it should. Skimming works better in saltier water, can't remember why exactly but in freshwater the skimming process is inneficient

 

It has to do with the bubble size the smaller the bubbles the more protein will stick to it and the more skim mate you will get.
So look at the skimmer pump and the air draw of the pump the lph can be minimum bur you're venturi and airdraw will be the most important.

 

Ok thanks guys, so the saltier the water the more efficient it will be I guess, so probably not really an option for brackish water

 

I think it might be better to ask the guys on MASA.This is not answering you're initial question but I had a 750l brackish for a long time.Never ran a skimmer on it just did frequent waterchanges of different salinities and my fish grew large and were healthy.

 

In short... it can, but you'd have to go the extra mile to increase the efficiency to that which you see in marine aquariums.

Protein skimmers work by way of foam fractionation. Simply put, hydrophobic particles (your proteins) attach to bubbles to form a foam, which you remove manually. By laws of geometry, a smaller sphere (bubble) has a greater surface area as volume decreases. Due to the properties of salt water, smaller bubbles can form in a marine tank than in freshwater. Hence, a protein skimmer (with an appropriate airstone to generate as-small bubbles as possible) works far more efficiently in more saline water than in fresher water.

To an extent, and depending on the salinity of your brackish tank, it could work. But is it worth forking out that kind of money on a really powerful marine skimmer to maximize the effects of foam fractionation on your lower-salinity tank, especially considering you'll get only a proportion of the desired result? You could go DIY, but most designs I've seen cannot compare to the stuff on the market, so you'd be lucky to get the results you'd want, if any at all.

Rather, invest your money in a good filter (or two or three, depending on where you're going with this), and keep up a good maintenance schedule. Most brackish fish are remarkably hardy and don't require that kind of nitrogen removal system to ensure their survival.

Regards,

 

I agree on hardy.Amazing what i put my fish through and they just kept going and growing.

 

@SalmonAfrica wow, thanks for the detailed and informed response! I am considering to turn my new project into a brackish water system. I am just amazed to see how well a skimmer works with marine and was just wondering if a skimmer might assist in optimising the system. You see the sump which I intend to use was designed for a marine system and a big skimmer could be accommodated. Thank you very much for your advice, probably not worth the cost for minimal return. Regards

 

@TrevorR ,Take advantage of the exra space and use it for more media?