Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Hi Bob
First let me say I have just finished reading your book "Protein Skimming & Activated Carbon Secrets" and I have enjoyed it and learned a lot.
I have my 75 gallon reef aquarium running for over 2yrs now with a homemade skimmer I made myself and I have to say I sure made a lot of mistakes in both the design and the installation. Don't get me wrong it works and has worked well for the 2yrs but I can see now it just can not keep up and is keeping my tank from excelling.
Anyhow I am confused in one area. In your book you talked about turnover rates but didn't give a specific target to shoot for. Since I plan on purchasing a store bought skimmer soon I would like to know for my system. I planned on buying one built for a 300 gallon tank but am now concerned I will over skim.
My tank has many filter feeders as well as LPS& SPS corals and a somewhat large snowflake eel. I recently removed all my mechanical filtration and my tank is running much better. You can see that the skimmer will be a very critical component to my set up. I'd appreciate your recommendation on a product as well. I can not afford these $300+ skimmers, but am looking to spend $150-$200 on one.
Lastly I am an machinist by trade and an inventor by nature. I have thought about using a separate canister for carbon and circulating a small amount of the water through it. Kinda like a "Kidney Loop" very similar to a denitrator set up. I felt this would be easy to maintain and also eliminate the bags while controlling the flow rates - what are your thoughts?
Thanks for you time
Vince
Hi Vince,
Thank you for the nice words, and that booklet has received similar comments steadily since it came out two years ago! Checkout my new website at www.saltcorner.com for info on my other books and also read some of the product reviews on skimmers. Could be the AquaC Remora Pro model might fit your needs. Yet, keep in mind that a bigger than needed skimmer can always be used somewhat less, but a small skimmer can never be increased past its top output ability.
As I say in the booklet, 'Ultimately the number of true turnover rates needed is influenced by aquarium bio-load.' My booklet suggests some number of turnovers for different type systems, however, they are only suggestions. If I gave specifics, the comments coming back would not be as positive as they are! Every system is different and there are many different thoughts on the value of skimming. But where you are concerned, 2 - 4 turnovers per day should suffice.
And, the separate canister 'is' the way to go where chemical filtration is concerned. And consider this, - I use to cut the Poly-Filter into a hundred tiny 1/4 inch pieces and place them and activated carbon in the same canister filter. Worked like a charm!
Hope this helps and keep me posted,
Bob
