How do you skim?

[Crabs McJones]

I 24/7 skim with an internal skimmer (reef octopus 110int)that is rated slightly more than my tank, and I would say I medium skim, not wet, not dry but kind of in the middle.

 

[dblue]

I skim 24/7 with a Red Octopus 150SSS on a 90 gallon system that is heavily stocked. The skimmer skims medeium at this moment.

 

[Vahanyos]

B.M. Curve 5 on my 75 gallon (total water volume) system. Run it 24/7 and dry skim.

 

[chamjack]

I skim 24/7 with a Red Octopus Regal 200 INT on a 125, 250 total gallon system that is medium stocked. I run a wet skim.

 

[HB AL]

My Vertex specs make it oversized for my tank and skims away24/7, some of the time wet and the other time dry.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Whats the difference in dry skim or wet skim?

Here's a cut and paste from one of my article:

Wet vs. Dry Skimming

Foam draining is a critical stage for most skimmers. One problem with drainage is that some organics are washed away with the draining water. There is always an equilibrium between organics in solution, and those actually attached to the interface. As water continues to drain, some of the organics are lost. Further, as some bubbles pop and their organics are redistributed into the nearby water, the local concentration of organics in the water between the bubbles in the foam can rise to concentrations far higher than are present in the aquarium. For this reason, the most effective skimming, in terms of total organic removal, comes from removing somewhat wet foam, rather than waiting for this same wet foam to drain prior to removal. The primary difference between wet foam, and drained dry foam, is that additional water and some organics have drained away. A dry form is more efficient in terms of the amount of organic removed in relation to the water volume, and all skimmers and their potential adjustments strike some balance between removing more water and slightly more organics, or less water and slightly fewer organics. Perhaps a careful analysis of different types of skimming will, in the future, show this expected result experimentally.

 

[Newb73]

Im switching to low maintenance....or my version of it.

I don't skim on my 225 but i run the skimmer as an ozone reactor.

About to move my Davey Jones to my 90g so i wont have to empty as often. It runs a "medium skim"...not too dry. (Its a heavily fed FO "anti-reef").

My goal for my main tank is do eliminate as much weekly maintenance as possible.

I have also gotten rid of my media reactor and just run a half cup of Rox.8 in filter sock 1-2x a month (with a little GFO sprinkled in IF my levels are above 0.4).

Most aggrivating maintenance items on a tank.
1) Skimmer
2)Media reactor.

And then a big "head ache gap" between #2 and #3 because filter socks are relatively easy to service and #4 Water changes can be automated and #5 Harvesting Chaeto is a necessary task.

I've eliminated #1 and #2, living with #3 and #5 and automated #4.