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Originally Posted by reefkprZ  |  | | | | | | | | | just curious as to the size range and species of microfauna commonly removed by foam fractionation devices. I am aware of the laundry list of elements fractionation devices are capable of removing but I have yet to find a truly comprehensive list of microfauna/bacterias/small fungal colonies/flocculents etcetera, that are removed by them. I was wondering if you could enlighten me at all. I would assume this question may be right up your alley (please correct me If I am wrong) | |  | |  | |
Nobody actually knows the answer to your question to date, since many skimmers are as different as the tanks one would look at.
BUT, I did do a study looking at the total amount of planktonic bacteria present in the water column from 6 different reef tanks. It is 100 fold lower than the range found on natural reefs (ocean planktonic bacteria 1,000,000 cells/mL; reeftanks generally 10,000 bacteria/mL). So it seems the numbers aren't there to begin with. One of the tanks was actually skimmer-less and didn't seem to be any different. In terms of removing the bacteria from the water column, based on chemistry I would speculate that a skimmer is not an efficient way of doing so, but of course it must remove some bacteria.
In general, all the bacteria within a reeftank are surface attached. Most probably in the form of biofilms. There is also a huge populations in symbiotic relationships with corals, and this population can be actually greater than the planktonic mass when compared volume for volume.