Skimmer wet, dry or in between

[Terry Mattson]

My cup fills in two to three days. Light green. Been dialing back a little. What is better wet or dry skimming.

73 gallion, 19 gallon sump. Moderate load, fish and lps corals.

 

[ZoWhat]

Skimmer is there to exports excess nutrients harmful to corals and fish

I say, leave your skimmer dialed in and run some NO3 nitrate tests with some PO4 phosphate tests.

Then...... dial in how much you get in the cup based on your NO3/PO4 levels and what types of coral you keep.



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[Dan_P]

My cup fills in two to three days. Light green. Been dialing back a little. What is better wet or dry skimming.

73 gallion, 19 gallon sump. Moderate load, fish and lps corals.

Wetter skimming removes more organic substances per hour than dryer skimming. I shoot for 0.5 -1.0 gallon of skimmate per day for my 100 gallon fish only system. The goal is what I can conveniently handle per day not that I know less skimmate collection would end in disaster. By the way, this is about a 1% water change per day.

Definitely collect as much skimmate per day as is convenient for you if your goal for the skimmer is to maximize waste removal in your system. Also, if you are into water changes, use wet skimming if you can to remove the water rather than scooping it out.

 

[Terry Mattson]

Wetter skimming removes more organic substances per hour than dryer skimming. I shoot for 0.5 -1.0 gallon of skimmate per day for my 100 gallon fish only system. The goal is what I can conveniently handle per day not that I know less skimmate collection would end in disaster. By the way, this is about a 1% water change per day.

Definitely collect as much skimmate per day as is convenient for you if your goal for the skimmer is to maximize waste removal in your system. Also, if you are into water changes, use wet skimming if you can to remove the water rather than scooping it out.

Thanks. Will keep it wet. Now I do dose phytoplankton twice a week. Helps keep pod population high. And since I started, made a big difference. I have a happy fat mandarin. Was thin when purchased it. Does wet skimming remove the plankton?

 

[Dan_P]

Yes, skimming can remove microorganisms from the water column. I don’t know how you could maximize removing dissolved organic carbon while minimizing phytoplankton removal. One strategy to give coral a chance to feed is to turn off the skimmer while feeding, or off during the day, on during the night. See @Dana Riddle recent post on controlling nitrates with phytoplankton addition.

 

[Johnnybananas]

I prefer a nice dark skim mate. But I also have a 175 gallon fully stocked with a couple tangs who love to eat so I like to pull as much of that as possible out of my water

 

[Johnnybananas]

But also your corals feed off of a lot of waste from the fish so Some people prefer to leave the water a little more dirty

 

[Dana Riddle]

Yes, skimming can remove microorganisms from the water column. I don’t know how you could maximize removing dissolved organic carbon while minimizing phytoplankton removal. One strategy to give coral a chance to feed is to turn off the skimmer while feeding, or off during the day, on during the night. See @Dana Riddle recent post on controlling nitrates with phytoplankton addition.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Just an update - I'm still adding at least 250 ml of green water during the day. Skimmer on only at night and the collection cup has a great of settled green algae in it. Nutrient (N and P) still low. I received the Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus reagents this morning and hope to get a thorough investigation underway soon.

 

[Terry Mattson]

Thankyou all....