Charcoal black skimmate?

[Waters]

Recently my skimmer has been producing charcoal black skimmate. I have seen extremely dark brown but never black? My first thought would be it is charcoal dust (I run BRS Rox carbon which has very little dust to begin with) but my return from my reactor runs directly into a filter sock, which is clean. Is this normal?

 

[Downbeach]

It does look like carbon fines, what are you using for a reactor? How much is the media tumbling? Is there any GFO in the reactor? Can you reverse the flow through the reactor?

 

[Waters]

I am using a BRS reactor....there is no tumbling because the Rox is packaged between two sponges. I run GFO but in a separate reactor which also exits into a filter sock. No, I cannot reverse the flow through the reactor....it is fed directly from my main return pump. I would think if it was either of my reactors, the filter sock would show some evidence of it since it exits directly into it?

 

[millertyler22]

My skin mate looks the same very black and I don't run carbon only gfo via reactor...idk why

 

[Waters]

Hmmm.....strange. I don't know why after over a year it is all of a sudden a different color :( I guess I won't worry about it unless the livestock starts to act differently.

 

[lucky7]

Looks same as mine I wouldn't worry about it

 

[kendavjac]

Looks like mine

 

[ReeferCub]

Is that black or very dark green? Can you look closely?

 

[Waters]

It is definitely black...it looks exactly like when I used to rinse pouches of carbon before use. I just have no idea where it is coming from.

 

[Anthony Wood]

I have a SRO-2000 and sometimes looks like this when it over reacts, most of the time darker though. I wouldn't worry about it, I will note though that the water level in the skimmer body is too high unless a wet skimmate is what your trying to achieve. IDK which model reef octopus skimmer you have but I know on the models with the bubble blaster pump its not suppost to be above the line where the cup gets inserted into the body because of the way they purposely designed the bubble blaster to force to much air into the skimmer body. Im surprised you don't get skimmer cup overflows if that's the SRO model haha

 

[bobbyM]

I have a RO POV DC2 and my skimmate can look darker then that. I don't run carbon at all.

I recommend rinsing your carbon in extremely hot water. Hot water opens up the pores and removes more carbon dust.

 

[Waters]

I have a SRO-2000 and sometimes looks like this when it over reacts, most of the time darker though. I wouldn't worry about it, I will note though that the water level in the skimmer body is too high unless a wet skimmate is what your trying to achieve. IDK which model reef octopus skimmer you have but I know on the models with the bubble blaster pump its not suppost to be above the line where the cup gets inserted into the body because of the way they purposely designed the bubble blaster to force to much air into the skimmer body. Im surprised you don't get skimmer cup overflows if that's the SRO model haha

I don't normally keep the level that high....was running a wet skim to try and remove whatever was causing the coal like skimmate lol......I actually never get overflows though, regardless of how high I run the level. That skimmer is extremely easy to tweak and make adjustments.

 

[Waters]

I have a RO POV DC2 and my skimmate can look darker then that. I don't run carbon at all.

I recommend rinsing your carbon in extremely hot water. Hot water opens up the pores and removes more carbon dust.

Thanks everyone for the replies.........I use the BRS Rox carbon which has VERY little dust.....plus I run it directly into a sock. The only problem with using hot water (unless you are heating up tank water), is that you are absorbing any impurities that happen to reside in your tap water, reducing the life of the carbon.

 

[bobbyM]

Then do what I do and use Polyfilter.

 

[Waters]

Then do what I do and use Polyfilter.

Normally those types of pads get "used up" extremely quickly....how long does yours last before you have to replace it? I actually run the carbon in a reactor but have thought about using the pads going into the final section of the sump but wasn't sure how well they worked.

 

[bobbyM]

I get the large pad. Change it once a week. I'm sure it gets spent quicker then that, but technically, so does carbon.

 

[Anthony Wood]

I don't normally keep the level that high....was running a wet skim to try and remove whatever was causing the coal like skimmate lol......I actually never get overflows though, regardless of how high I run the level. That skimmer is extremely easy to tweak and make adjustments.

ahh I see, I agree I love mine and don't mess with it much. I cant really say I have ever had an actually overflow from an inconsistant water level in the skimmer but more to the fact that I forgot to compensate for the cup filling faster running a wet skimmate hahaha. I wouldn't worry about the black skimmate though or where its coming from unless its causing other problems in the tank. The way to look at it is yeah there might be something in the water not causing problems but its there and your skimmer is doing its job by taking it out.

 

[luke33]

My skimmate is always black as black can be with tons of neck turds to go along. Here is what I get in a normal week, pry 1g or so. So I wouldn't be concerned at all, been pulling skimmate like this for 10+yrs : )

 

[Anthony Wood]

My skimmate is always black as black can be with tons of neck turds to go along. Here is what I get in a normal week, pry 1g or so. So I wouldn't be concerned at all, been pulling skimmate like this for 10+yrs : )

not sure this is the "black" he meant though. He can correct me if im wrong but I believe his concerns come from that fact that his skimmate looks like it would if a person didn't rinse carbon well enough or didn't run it through a filter sock before they let the reactor run normal. Either way I agree I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[luke33]

not sure this is the "black" he meant though. He can correct me if im wrong but I believe his concerns come from that fact that his skimmate looks like it would if a person didn't rinse carbon well enough or didn't run it through a filter sock before they let the reactor run normal. Either way I agree I wouldn't worry about it.

Could be. If his filter socks are clean then I wouldn't think the skimmate is pulling carbon, you would notice it in the filter socks. But as far as skimmate changing colors over time, sure that happens due to different food, higher bioload, more mature system....etc lots of reasons the color is different.