Venturi Protein Skimmer: What is that??

[PirateLove]

Hello Reef Central! I am 26 years old and have been into saltwater aquariums for about a year and half. My father, who is 56, always talks about how he had a venturi skimmer. Right now I have a Reef Octopus 110 in sump skimmer. What is this venturi thing he always talks about. How long has it been around? Any advice, stories, or something I can tell him, I would love to hear!! Thanks! :bounce3:

 

[laga77]

When protein skimmers first came out they were mostly counter current where an air stone was used in what was basically a bubble trap. Water flowing down a channel with air raising up to create foam. A Venturi is a hole in a tube or pipe with fast moving fluid that will draw in air or gas. Just like your Reef Octopus. The air tube goes down to a Venturi. Most protein skimmers today are Venturi style. More effective.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Most protein skimmers today are Venturi style.

Sorta true. Nearly all skimmers you see today use a venturi of some form. A venturi is a constriction in the flow path which causes the water flow to increase velocity and decrease pressure. This decrease in pressure is used to draw air into the water stream. This is the method almost all skimmers use to draw air in to create bubbles but a true "venturi" skimmer just uses the restriction to break up the bubbles while most "needle wheel" skimmers use the impeller of the pump to break up the bubbles even further.

More effective.

Not quite true. There is no independent method of measuring how effective/efficient a skimmer is. There are also too may variables that are dependent on the setup the skimmer is in to make a determination one way or another.

Now, most skimmers work just fine and will pull gunk out of the water given half a chance. There are a few out there which are very hard to adjust so you either get nothing in the cup or it overflows in a couple hours. Some designs use very powerful pumps what use a lot of electricity where a different design is more energy efficient for the same results (think overkill issues). In the end, there is no BEST skimmer, there are those that work and those that have issues.

Don't fall for the hype, do your research and ask folks who own them. I ran a Reef Octopus 150 for years with no issues and good production.

 

[cloak]

Check this out.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-06/fm/feature/index.php

HTH.