BLACK SKIMMATE

[Chris444]

The skimmate in my skimmer has been BLACK for the past few days now, is there anything to worry about?
Also I have a cloudy water and it smells a little bit acidy. Could this be related?

All the parameters are fine and livestock looks happy.

 

[EmdeReef]

did you have algae die off? That skimmate looks ok to me. Or did you lose any fish or inverts?

Acidic smell doesn’t sound normal though. I would run carbon and do a water change. Do you dose carbon?

 

[Softhammer]

The dust from poorly rinsed carbon will definitely make the gunk black. I’d just keep emptying the skimmer out. Regardless of what it is your skimmer is doing a fine job of removing it. Also, I have seen that color from freshly added live rock that is still undergoing die off. The black is from hydrogen sulfide gas which stinks. Again, be glad its getting removed!

 

[Chris444]

did you have algae die off? That skimmate looks ok to me. Or did you lose any fish or inverts?

Acidic smell doesn’t sound normal though. I would run carbon and do a water change. Do you dose carbon?

Luckily I didnt loose anything.
Yeah I'll do water change today and replace carbon