Protein Skimmer 

If you have a Reef aquarium or a saltwater fish tank, you should know the importance of an efficient foam fractionator. This machine is more popularly known as a protein skimmer – really an organic waste skimmer that helps keep saltwater aquaria and fish tanks clean and less toxic for its fish and invertebrate inhabitants.  

In a very simplistic explanation, a protein skimmer works like this: water borne organic waste compounds are physically skimmed off from the saline water by using water bubbles. These water bubbles shepherd the waste compounds into the mechanical filters attached to the back of the machines and (viola!) the water is cleared of most impurities.  

If you think that this explanation needs further clarification, then we shall go into a more detailed account. The main purpose of a protein skimmer is to trap water borne organic waste products before they become nitrogenous waste. Like all living entities, salt water fish and invertebrates in an enclosed space create waste products continuously. These waste products naturally undergo the process of decomposition, and one of its by-products is nitrogen.  

Too much nitrogen in the saline water will greatly upset the pH balance of the aquarium or the fish tank, which is of course, toxic to most fishes and invertebrates. If this nitrogen-rich state continues within the aquariums or fish tanks in a prolonged amount of time, this may subsequently lead to the slow poisoning of the marine animals within the enclosure.  

However, a protein skimmer does not work the same as most artificial and biological filters. It is, in fact, the only kind of filter than physically removes waste products through a bubble trapping/siphoning system; and it is supposed to trap the waste materials before they have the chance to decompose in the aquarium or fish tank. When a protein skimmer is used at the same time with any other filter (both artificial and biological), the level of the water’s re-oxidation property increases greatly. 

This type of filter works on the principle that water borne protein in certain organic waste compounds are either repelled or attracted by air and water interface. Air and water interface can be created by the simple mechanical production of bubbles (usually through a small column of water at one corner of the aquarium or fish tank). When these so called impurities become trapped and subsequently shepherded to the surface of the water, the protein skimmer literally siphons these impurities and thereby removing them from the water’s oxygen cycle.

Most protein skimmers have a small plastic container that serves as the trash can of the system. Since the impurities collected are stored in its liquid form, it is very easy for those who maintain the aquarium or fish tank to collect the cups, throw out the impurities and wash the cups for reuse. Even then, this explanation is still far too simplistic for such a complicated process.  

In any case, protein skimmers remove certain amino acids and proteins, classified as: hydrophobic compounds (like fats and oils); hydrophilic compounds (like amino acids, ammonia, salt, sugar and most inorganic compounds); and amphipathic/amphiphilic (which is a combination of both the hydrophobic and hydrophilic compounds). These protein skimmers also remove such impurities like bacteria, carbohydrates, fats, fatty acids, left over food particulates, phytoplankton, and trace elements of iodine and metals like copper and magnesium.  

We have a wide selection of modern and energy efficient protein skimmers, particularly: Aqua Medic Protein Skimmer line; ASM Skimmer line; Coralife line; Kent Marine Nautilus line; MRC or My Reef Creations Protein Skimmer line; Red Sea Protein Skimmer line; Reed Octopus Protein Skimmer line; and ViaAqua line.