Black skimmate

[scotty333]

Hi guys, what does black skim represent?

 

[TX_REEF]

looks like your skimmer is successfully pulling only concentrated skimmate, shouldn't be a cause for concern barring any observable issues in your display.

 

[scotty333]

Yeah it’s normally much thinner/ lighter brown

 

[scotty333]

I can’t imagine pouring that back in the tank, how do some people not run skimmers I’ll never know

 

[landlubber]

Yeah it’s normally much thinner/ lighter brown

If you dial back the air it'll go back to lighter brown and result in a wetter skimmate that fills the cup quicker. The color its currently producing is on the drier side and typically what is normal for me.
Assuming no adjustments were made I'd guess yours has changed due to lack of available proteins to pull from the water.

 

[scotty333]

It’s set to wettest skim as I dose vodka , I have increased my fish loaf/food recently so maybe that

 

[landlubber]

It’s set to wettest skim as I dose vodka , I have increased my fish loaf/food recently so maybe that

increased bio-load makes sense as well.

 

[Dan_P]

Hi guys, what does black skim represent?

Looks like you might be dry skimming. How long did it take to accumulate that amount of liquid?

 

[scotty333]

Probably needs a good clean , about 4-5 days

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I can’t imagine pouring that back in the tank, how do some people not run skimmers I’ll never know

I agree completely! I know the idea from the other side of this coin is that you may also be removing "good" things from the water. But when I look at my skimmate, and the SMELL of it! I can not imagine not running a skimmer.

 

[Dan_P]

Probably needs a good clean , about 4-5 days

OK, this seems like a normal output for a skimmer running on the dryer side.

 

[RedReefer]

poop

 

[MnFish1]

Sometimes activated carbon can make it look this way - however. it looks like typical more concentrated skim mate. If you put it under brighter light and diluted - my guess is it will be a more greenish black

 

[MBruun]

I dose Iron (DSR FE+) to remove PO4 and since I started dosing Iron my skimmate turned same black color as yours