Do you sometimes pour some skimmate back in your tank?

[danreefman]

Just joking on that last one. Don't do that.

 

[427HISS]

You guys that have no nitrates and phosphate, why even run a skimmer ?! Waste of money....

 

[Chad3407]

You guys that have no nitrates and phosphate, why even run a skimmer ?! Waste of money....

Gas exchange and it bumps pH up

 

[Mhart032]

It's a good way to defeat dinos, I tried everything for 3 months. And I mean EVERYTHING, I started dumping the skimmer cup in the tank after 3 days of skimming pretty dry and let the bacteria fight for population and Walla gone in 3 weeks, did a few small water changes after the dinos we're gonna seeded the pod population back and that's all she wrote. Never had them again.

 

[Sir Chris]

the comtents of the mate would never be stable enough to give a stable dose and facilitate a stable parameter load. 1OZ could be qual to 5OZ the next week... to save a few bucks in this industry can cost way more then those few bucks

Like above me with Mhart032 said it’s good for that one use but not consistency. If you don’t empty your cup for a week. That’s dead decomposing waste and dead cells, Not just that NO2-3 and po4

 

[Peter Clark]

I've heard of people using it to help cycle another tank

 

[madweazl]

Never on purpose but I've had it overflow at least five times over the past three years (never noticed a change in the corals).

 

[qstorm]

Well I can't speak for anyone else since I am a noob. But in life I am a trial and error person and I can say that I have watched BRS tubes for a year before getting into this hobby and duplicating ULM tank and haven't received much progress..Then they came out with, ULM is really not the way to go. So I stop skimming and got results and skimming and dumping and I am getting super results and coral growth with only doing WC once a month to up my ALK. Everything else is within range, but once I do a water change, corals close up, and tank is too clean

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Love the polyp extension when I dump the cup back into the sump.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I just feed more. Happy fish and more fish poo for everything else!

 

[ca1ore]

Good grief no .....

Either feed more or just dispense with the skimmer - in a properly circulated tank, it’s overrated as gas exchange anyhow.

 

[Chad3407]

Good grief no .....

Either feed more or just dispense with the skimmer - in a properly circulated tank, it’s overrated as gas exchange anyhow.

Cut your skimmer off and look what your pH does. Good skimmers are great at gas exchange.

 

[ca1ore]

I have, many times. Makes essentially no difference to ph or oxygen saturation (I don’t bother to measure for the latter anymore, but I used to) in my systems. Key point in my prior comment is ‘well circulated’. In a poorly circulated tank, the skimmer may well be a necessary part of gas exchange.

Anyhow, it’s an off topic discussion. Happy to debate it elsewhere
.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

On accident I have, when my skimmer goes crazy and (when) that happens it doesn’t take long to overflow. But on purpose eww no. I would rather feed more than do that, darn the cost.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Never on purpose

Spills happen, and if water levels change from ATO over filling, runnin dry or whatever, skimmers overflow, and if theres one thing all corals love, its fish dookie.

Spread the love.

Dont sweat it.

 

[Casey Erb]

Even if it accidentally gets back in the tank, it was just in the tank a little bit ago. As far as dumping it back in, wouldn’t it be easier to turn the skimmer off for awhile?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Say What???
Why have a skimmer? I have a skimate collection unit and contents go to the toilet. To me, it’s like doing an oil change on a vehicle and putting the old oil back in,

Ah yes, you tube ...... many helpful videos but also many with loose screws.

 

[um02122]

Both my Tunze 9002 and Tunze 9006 skim until they start building sludge on the neck, no more skimmate after.
But the sludge continues to thicken until about 1cm builds on the neck.
The collection liquid is nothing compared with the thick mud on the neck of the cup.

 

[Montireef]

I have to say that you are wrong (generally speaking).

Does anybody know what is skimmate? it is basically bacteria. Skimmers pull out polar compounds very efficiently, NO3, PO4...have little electronegativity, so you will not find nitrates or phosphates in the collection cup.

In a mature skimmate you will find thousands of cilliates, nematods and millions of bacteria. But, if you check fresh skimmate you will find other compounds, some of them harmful apart from the ones previously mentioned. If you let it sit for about 5-6 days (mature), the bacterial cocktail will process most of these compounds as cilliads and nematodes keep eating whatever they find, and breeding.

I have poured mature skimmate (never pick from the surface of the collection cup where threre are usually floating fats) back to the reef tank and thus recovered bleached corals and even triggered breeding events (specially snails and stomatellas), as well as copepod blooms. Nitrates and phosphates never rise after doing so.

Conclussion: mature skimmate is good, once in a bluemoon. Fresh skimmate might be harmful.

 

[Tastee]

This is an interesting thread. I run my skimmer 24x7 currently and the only time I dump skimmate back into the tank is immediately after a clean or WC if I bump the skimmer control and it wet skims like crazy. So that skimmate would be 5-15 mins old max.

My NO3 and PO4 are quite low (0.25/0.04 ppm) so I am certainly considering not running my skimmer 24x7 to see if that allows nutrients to grow a little naturally if I feel that is needed. That seems to make more sense to me than returning mature skimmate to the tank.

For the moment my fish and corals are happy so I am leaving things alone.

 

[um02122]

I have to say that you are wrong (generally speaking).

Does anybody know what is skimmate? it is basically bacteria. Skimmers pull out polar compounds very efficiently, NO3, PO4...have little electronegativity, so you will not find nitrates or phosphates in the collection cup.

In a mature skimmate you will find thousands of cilliates, nematods and millions of bacteria. But, if you check fresh skimmate you will find other compounds, some of them harmful apart from the ones previously mentioned. If you let it sit for about 5-6 days (mature), the bacterial cocktail will process most of these compounds as cilliads and nematodes keep eating whatever they find, and breeding.

I have poured mature skimmate (never pick from the surface of the collection cup where threre are usually floating fats) back to the reef tank and thus recovered bleached corals and even triggered breeding events (specially snails and stomatellas), as well as copepod blooms. Nitrates and phosphates never rise after doing so.

Conclussion: mature skimmate is good, once in a bluemoon. Fresh skimmate might be harmful.

While you're right about microbes, the principle of protein skimming relies on the superficial tension.

Any substance increasing the surface tension of the water will make it into the cup. Let's say soap, not electrically charged. Will get skimmed.

 

[Gaufl]

Hey there!
I would not dump the skimmate back in,
especially not to increase nutrient levels.

If you take a look at it from am microbiological standpoint, we dont know which pathogenic bacteria are growing in this isolated, high nutrient environment. Dumping that concoction back into the tank could lead to coral health problems down the road.

If you are struggeling with low nutrients, just feed a little more and give the corals quality nutrients.

Greetings,
Flo