Protein Skimmer in a Planted Tank?

[spinjector]

I once read an article where a guy had a protein skimmer on a freshwater tank, and he felt it worked well to remove "the most hideous and foul smelling gunk [he] had ever smelled" from the water.

I was wondering if anyone else has ever used a PS on a FW tank? Did you find it helped with water quality?

I know that one serious drawback to having a PS in a planted tank is that it would kill injected CO2 levels. Aside from this, does anyone know if it would also remove any fertilizer components? I know that a PS is actually a combined form of mechanical and chemical filtration; it uses the process of "adsorption" to molecularly stick certain compounds to the surface of the bubbles, which are then carried away to the collection container. But are any of these compounds ones that we want to keep around to keep our plants happy...?

Thanks!

 

[Mooch28]

I once read an article where a guy had a protein skimmer on a freshwater tank, and he felt it worked well to remove "the most hideous and foul smelling gunk [he] had ever smelled" from the water.

I was wondering if anyone else has ever used a PS on a FW tank? Did you find it helped with water quality?

I know that one serious drawback to having a PS in a planted tank is that it would kill injected CO2 levels. Aside from this, does anyone know if it would also remove any fertilizer components? I know that a PS is actually a combined form of mechanical and chemical filtration; it uses the process of "adsorption" to molecularly stick certain compounds to the surface of the bubbles, which are then carried away to the collection container. But are any of these compounds ones that we want to keep around to keep our plants happy...?

Thanks!

Thats exactly what it does from what i understand.

Also, your tank should never smell, unless something is wrong.

 

[RTR]

Foam fractionators (what protein skimmers really are) are not very effective in FW tanks due to surface tension differences compared to SW (where tiny bubbles boost the efficiency of the process). For that matter, no FW planted tank should have heavy enough protein loads for the units to be effective either. Some Koi display ponds use protein towers, but they also tend to be on massive bioload systems.

But they will do a nice number of the CO2, and may well take out any chelated metals (Fe and others) as well

 

[spinjector]

Thanks guys.

Hmmmm I think I smell a little experiment coming... I should take the waste water from one of my water changes, put it in a clean 5 gallon tank, give it one dose of ferts, run a PS on it, and do a full run of water tests before, and then at intervals after starting the PS.... Perhaps I will see changes in the readings...