How's your skimmate?

Lance · #1 07-14-2010, 03:06 AM

Just out of curiosity; how is your skimmer set?: wet or dry.
I like to skim a little on the wet side. Advantageous? I don't know. I've heard arguments for both sides.

lastlight · #2 07-14-2010, 03:16 AM

I've noticed a few corals the last week or so look a little less 'polypy' and some algae creep in. This was running the npx beads too. So I've cranked the air on my crap Tunze 9002 and I have about 1" of skimmate just today. So very wet but that's how I'll be doing it going forward. This skimmer just cannot skim dark. Only downside is the thing is noisier now but hey...corals first and the family's comfort second right?

Zoaelite · #3 07-14-2010, 03:25 AM

On my Euroreef I used to get the thickest nastiest grudge but with my Hydor I just get LOTS of wet skimmate (My 2L bottle fills fast). Its dark enough that you cant see through and smells pretty nasty.

christyf5 · #4 07-14-2010, 03:36 AM

Dry for now, I fluctuate the level of my sump via waterchanges and overdid it a few weeks ago with some "extra" water (miscalculation), the damn skimmer cup was filling in 3 days. I'm just not motivated to clean it that often so I have the sump level lower and its pretty thick.

Lance · #5 07-14-2010, 03:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zoaElite

On my Euroreef I used to get the thickest nastiest grudge but with my Hydor I just get LOTS of wet skimmate (My 2L bottle fills fast). Its dark enough that you cant see through and smells pretty nasty.

On the 90 gal. I have the BM set fairly wet; skimmate is the colour of tea with a greenish tinge. I have to empty the cup more often but it keeps the neck cleaner longer.
On the 225 gal. I have the Beckett skimmer set even wetter. Colour is more green and the smell is not as strong.
The two tanks have quite different bio-loads though. The 90 has more SPS and smaller fishes, whereas the 225 has more softies and LPS with more large fishes.

PoonTang · #6 07-14-2010, 03:40 AM

Mine is almost black and fairly thick but I still have to clean it out everyday if possible, 2 days max. Nasty stuff.

Lance · #7 07-14-2010, 03:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by christyf5

Dry for now, I fluctuate the level of my sump via waterchanges and overdid it a few weeks ago with some "extra" water (miscalculation), the damn skimmer cup was filling in 3 days. I'm just not motivated to clean it that often so I have the sump level lower and its pretty thick.

Christy, don't you find though that when you skim dryer you have to clean the neck more often. All depends on which you dislike more I guess. I don't mind emptying and cleaning the cup but I hate cleaning the neck.

marie · #8 07-14-2010, 03:46 AM

I skim fairly wet...for the same reason Lance....I dislike cleaning out sludge. I get about 4 cups of skimmate a day when I have it set where I like it...

..... but my "Otto" top off is lazy and the skimmate isn't always as wet as I'd like

bignose · #9 07-14-2010, 03:49 AM

I also have a euroreef skimmer and just like zoaElite said it's very dark skim with nasty sludge in the neck.

Lance · #10 07-14-2010, 03:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marie

I skim fairly wet...for the same reason Lance....I dislike cleaning out sludge. I get about 4 cups of skimmate a day when I have it set where I like it...

..... but my "Otto" top off is lazy and the skimmate isn't always as wet as I'd like

Yeah, I get about 3-4 cups a day on the Beckett, but I have a large waste collector so I only have to empty it every 4th day.
Hey, it's summer, "Otto" can slack off a bit.