dry foam vs wet foam

kstyle13

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I did a little digging this morning on dry foam skimmate vs wet foam skimmate. I have built my own protien skimmer and it's producing a large amount of dry foam. I mean like produces about a quarter cup of nasty looking skimmate overnight. It's very dark brown and had quite a bit of large particles floating around in the collection cup. While I'm pleased with my diy skimmer I'm wondering one how do I know if it's effective for my tank or should a build a second one just to be safe.... but what is the best wet or dry foam? Wet foam seems like it would waste a lot more good water than the dry foam. I haven't experienced wet foam in my system so anyone else have any suggestions. Maybe run my current one dry and a second smaller one wet????
 
I guess the short answer is, "it depends". IMO ideally the foam should be somewhat in between. Dry foam doesn't extract as many organics, very wet foam extracts more, but yes, it wastes a bit of water (not that much in the big picture.)

The best answer to your question is to see how your parameters do over time, with whatever 'setting' you choose. If you're skimming dry, doing regular water changes and moderately feeding a moderate bioload, and your nitrates stay low, then it's good. If nitrate creeps up, you might want to skim wetter (and perhaps up the water changes a bit.)

Every tank is different, so your mileage may vary.

I try to aim for wet, tea-coloured (greenish or brownish) water in the collection cup.

Also, if you skim dry, you'll get a thick build-up of schmutz (that's a technical term LOL) in the neck of the skimmer and the cup. Be sure to clean that regularly or the skimmer won't work as well.

Jenn
 
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