and this one’s got a gigawidget located underneath! It’s called a Protein Skimmer to be exact. I’ve been reading about them for several years now, and it seems to be the de-facto standard in reef keeping these days. Also called foam fractionating, the process involves creating LOTS of tiny bubbles and passing them up thru a column of water. In this process, the bubbles become charged, which causes the organic compounds in the water to stick to the bubbles. This way, the bubbles scrub the water column on their ride to the top, where they are excreted into a reservoir for later disposal. The end result is a frothy foamy stinky brown soup that your likely quiet happy to have OUT of your reef tank. Protein Skimmers are the holy grail of reef-keeping!
Over the next few post, I’m going to detail the tank move, incorporation of new inhabitants and issues that surrounded the process.
Squirrel