protein skimmer

Skimmer and canisters do completely different things. A canister filter provides mechanical and biological filtration, trapping debris and providing a place for nitrifying bacteria to grow. A skimmer uses a dense foam of fine bubbles to extract organic material from the water and, unlike the canister, physically remove it from the aquarium to a collection cup. The skimmer also does an excellent job of aeration.

If you are using live rock for biological filtration, the biomedia in the canister are unnecessary, and may even contribute to high levels of nitrate.

bapski said:

thanks for the reply but am not sure if understood you well..
i have a FLUVAL FX5 filter and i can put in 3 filter media's on it. one of which is OPTI-CARB. one of its features among other things is that it REMOVES PROTEINS before they breakdown into toxic compounds.. is this the same as what a PROTEIN SKIMMER does?

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Yes and no. Proteins will adsorb to carbon, but they will still be in the tank, breaking down, until you remove the carbon itself. Also, a skimmer pulls out a lot of yucky glop (I apologize if that's too technical ) every week, more than enough to saturate however much carbon you choose to put in the filter.

I like to think of it as the skimmer doing the gruntwork of pulling loads of organics from the tank, while the carbon is good for polishing. I tend to use them together.