red sea berlin protien skimmer is it worht $30 need answer fast

[divedeep1689]

Hey guys i have a chance to buy a red sea berlin protien skimmer monday afternoon for thirty bucks the guy alreadys sold me 40 pounds of agronite sand for 10 bucks he is also going to throw in a air pump to power the skimmer he says it is rated for a 150 gal is this a good skimmer for my 125 and if not is it good enough for my 55 reef for thirty bucks?

 

[ccCapt]

After hearing Ken Feldman's presentation on carbon and protein skimmers in reef tanks, I have a different outlook on skimmers now. They are not all they are built up to be. On average, a skimmer only removes 20%-35% of Total Organic Compounds and there is very little difference in performance between a $800 skimmer and a $150 skimmer.

So to answer your question, I would say yes, the skimmer is sufficient.

 

[melosu58]

Very interesting Larry. So is he saying by any chance that PWC`s accomplish just as much?

 

[ccCapt]

Mike, his presentation really opened my eyes. He got into some really detailed chemistry formulas, but also made it pretty easy to understand. Basically, if you keep up with proper maintenance...do regular pwc's, use GAC & GFO and change it regularly (he recommended aprox 1 gram/gal of each and change it every 2 weeks), the kind of skimmer you use makes very little difference in the overall water chemistry. In fact, there was little difference between running a skimmer and no skimmer at all.
A skimmer mostly removes calcium carbonate, magnesium and phosphate, and that comes from the micro organisms (which have a calcium shell and consume phosphate) that are skimmed out.

 

[melosu58]

Thanks Larry for the heads up.

 

[divedeep1689]

this hobby really does change everyday

 

[SHARPiE]

Jeepers - Maybe this should be a sticky??

I always had my doubts - I really couldn't see the scientific benefits of owning a "brand name" expensive skimmer compared to a no-name skimmer with the same design.

 

[abrahamavelar]

sorry about my stupid question but what does GAC & GFO stands for???????????

 

[ccCapt]

GAC - Granular Activated Carbon
GFO - Granular Ferric Oxide

 

[abrahamavelar]

oh ok and the carbo is the same that we use in our filters or different, i use the pellet kind

 

[SHARPiE]

As per ccCapt

I think its Granular Activated Carbon and Granular Ferric Oxide

 

[ccCapt]

oh ok and the carbo is the same that we use in our filters or different, i use the pellet kind

Yes, but you want to use a quality carbon like Black Diamond or ROX if possible.

 

[abrahamavelar]

oh ok so the seachem kind its not good????

 

[ccCapt]

No, that's fine. You just don't want to use any no-name generic charcoal.

 

[abrahamavelar]

oh ok i actually just bought the seachem pellet kind but i make sure is marine safe

 

[Tank2379]

Now does this mean that the Skimmers we buy we should not go by the GPH? Would any GHP would work just as well???

 

[austinsdad]

I believe.

There were times when I'd go for months on my 155g reef without using the skimmer.

 

[InfernoST]

It sounds like protein skimmers could cause more harm then good if it's removing these vital elements from the tank. Would it be better to run a skimmer part time instead of full time?

 

[ccCapt]

Now does this mean that the Skimmers we buy we should not go by the GPH? Would any GHP would work just as well???

If you look at the pic of the slide, it says the flow rates do not strongly influence the rate of TOC removal.

It sounds like protein skimmers could cause more harm then good if it's removing these vital elements from the tank. Would it be better to run a skimmer part time instead of full time?

It's not actually removing these elements. It's removing the micro organisms which have their bodies/shells (calcium + carbonates + mag = calcium carbonate) formed from them and filled with the phosphate they consume. What Ken did was vacuum dried the skimmate and had the remaining dry powder analyzed.
When the skimmer is running, it's still removing 20%-35% of the TOC's where if it's not running, it's not removing any.

 

[InfernoST]

If you look at the pic of the slide, it says the flow rates do not strongly influence the rate of TOC removal.

It's not actually removing these elements. It's removing the micro organisms which have their bodies/shells (calcium + carbonates + mag = calcium carbonate) formed from them and filled with the phosphate they consume. What Ken did was vacuum dried the skimmate and had the remaining dry powder analyzed.
When the skimmer is running, it's still removing 20%-35% of the TOC's where if it's not running, it's not removing any.

Why not use a Sulfur denitrifier to remove nitrates?