Red Sea has launched its new C-Skim protein skimmer at this year's Interzoo in Germany.
Neil Marks, the Director of Product Development at Red Sea, told Practical Fishkeeping: This is the result of a year or so of development, in trying to come up with a professional quality protein skimmer that gives performances for the high-end SPS-type coral tanks.
In terms of the features of the unit, the first thing that you can see is that it doesn't look like a traditional protein skimmer. It has a square canister-like design so that it fits very well into any kind of sump application. In terms of the performance, we're talking about a closed-loop system, which gives the most up-to-date technology and efficiency in skimming.
We are talking about 1200 lph of water with 450 litres of air, which is what really gives the benefit. We have redesigned and come up with a new concept of technology on the inside.
The C-Skim features a patented 'foam-view window' which enables you to see the skimming performance very clearly. A lever allows you to adjust the level of skimming, and there's also a built-in neck-washing system.
Said Marks: The cleanliness of the neck can improve skimming performance by about 30%, and we have a nice system here that flushes out the neck, removes the protein and will keep this operating at its maximum performance.
The neck-washing system can be used while the skimmer is in action, with no need to turn off the pumps during maintenance, and Marks claims that it is not necessary to adjust skimming, with everything handled automatically.
The C-Skim protein skimmer will be launched later this year in two versions, one with the integrated neck-washing system and one without. The C-Skim skimmers are expected to retail in the UK for between 300 and 350.
An upgrade kit is available to add neck-washing features to the basic model.