Protein skimmers work in saltwater because the density of the water is different. Saltwater is more dense than freshwater. Proteins collect in the water, mostly at the surface, and can thus prevent or limit the amount of gas exchange at the water's surface (which can eventually suffocate the animals and plants, etc. in the tank). If you've ever looked at the surface of the tank water and seen something that resembles an oil slick... this is proteins that have collected and cannot be broken down biologically.
If you take a look at how a skimmer functions you will see that the air forced into the chamber causes an extreme amount of bubbles and you get a "frothing" effect which then builds up and spills over into the collection cup. The air bubbles force those proteins to build up at the surface inside that limited space in the chamber until they overflow the top of the chamber where they are safely collected away from the aquarium water and can be easily removed when the cup is removed and cleaned.
The proteins can come from animal waste, fish foods, and even from the air/dust that comes into contact with any part of the water or inside of the tank.
Because freshwater is not as dense as saltwater, the air bubbles inside the skimmer do not allow for the proteins to collect and spill over into the collection cup, rendering the skimmer useless for the job it is designed to perform. The only way to skim freshwater would be with some type of overflow that allows just the surface of the water to siphon off/over the top and into some type of dense media like micron filter media, thus removing any buildup at the surface... or to use the manual method of paper towels where they are laid on the water's surface and quickly swiped away as soon as it gets wet. The paper towel then absorbs what is at the surface of the water where it is coming into contact with the paper towel. If allowed to get too saturated with water or not swept away quickly enough, anything organic that may be trapped on the paper towel is simply rinsed back into the tank water. Manual skimming can be tricky and takes practice to get
it right.
I hope this helps.
Dawn
Dawn Moneyhan
Aquatics Specialist/Nutritionist
To learn more about me go to
http://www.helium.com/users/449334
--- On Thu, 1/31/13, Saxphil freephil@hotmail.com> wrote:
From: Saxphil freephil@hotmail.com>
Subject: [tropical fish club] protein skimmer v biofilter/ mechanican
To: tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thursday, January 31, 2013, 5:13 PM
Question why protein skimmer are used for marine saltwater and for freshwater?
Reason Im confused.
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