Tropical Fish Forums

[Flame Angel]

Is there anything in freshwater aquariums that is the equivilant of a marine protein skimmer?
Basically is there any thing that REMOVES inpurities (nitrates, nitites, ect.) from the water with out doing a water change? Or is there only things (bacteria in filters, ect.) that can break down the inpurities into less harmful substances? (amomnia ----> nitrites----> nitrates)

[Marcos Avila]

You're confusing a few things here. Protein skimmers do not remove nitrates and nitrites, they remove all sorts of dissolved organic compounds (wastes) before they get broken down by decomposing bacteria into basic nitrogen compounds.

The same function is done in FW by mechanical filtration, except that the DOC's are only removed when you manually take out the filter floss or whatever and clean it.

The basic difference between FW and SW tanks is that in the first type a much higher level of nitrate is generally tolerated, so you don't have to worry about removing DOC's on a daily basis, you can just let most of it get converted to ammonia-->nitrite-->nitrate and then do water changes every week or two. In SW, high nitrate is bad, that's why it's so desirable to invest in a protein skimmer, which will help by making the nitrogen cycle take its normal course outside your tank water, rather than inside.
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[Flame Angel]

Oh OK,
Cheers Osmar