Skimmer?

Hi all

So I was working at the nursery/ LFS and a friend of the boss's came in. He has a 2.4m tank and was bringing in some java fern. He had asked us to order a protein skimmer for him to use in his sump, but what confused me, was the fact that the tank was freshwater. The protein skimmer in question was a reeftek, and he said that with his old one, he was getting tannins out of the water and a black/brown goo was being produced.

Are there any benefits of using a small protein skimmer in a FW tank?

Thanks.

 

Suppose it depends what his fish stock is and how heavy he feeds them ...

 

Skimmers do work in a Fresh water tank - just not as well as in marine conditions - water is much less dense in our tanks. Adjusting them to foam properly is a constant hassle... Bit of overkill in my opinion...

 

That's what I thought. Thanks for the info.