Skimming Questions

[brianjfinn]

What effect on nutrient export does skimming dry have vs. skimming wet? Actually, I'm not so sure I really understand these terms very well either.

Assuming one has an over-sized skimmer for their system, I understand there's a point at which the skimmer is removing the maximum amount of nutrients possible, but other than removing water from the system and wasting energy, are there any negative effects to the system of over skimming?

 

[drnecropolis]

My basic understanding is this:
Wet skimming removes less concentrated skimate but does so faster
Dry skimming pulls the thick super concentrated skimmate but at a slower rate..

Ask Barry about how my skimmer is set.. I have it set to skim so dry that a vast portion of the body tube is black.. Its not that I did that for any reason other than tired of pouring out 4 gallons of skimate a week.. And not 4 gallons of green water.. 4 gallons of black, sulphur smelling nightmare haunting skimate..

 

[grouper therapy]

I'm not sure it is possible to over skim. Some research has shown that at present 37% of total organics was the most any of the skimmers tested could remove.

 

[snowmansnow]

wet skimming = wet , as in water
dry skimming = dry , as in foam (think sea foam... don't eat the stuff haha)

Wet skimming will pull out more water, obviously, than dry, but it also pulls out the bad stuff at a higher rate than does dry. The down side is that it removes all sorts of "macros" from the water, thus EVENTUALLY depleting your supply of these "elements".

so

its a trade off.. remove waste faster, but at the cost of removing other beneficials.

now, i don't know this to be true, but I thought it sounded good. Everything in the above statement is simply a fabrication, and may or may not be valid. any adherence to the above is at the OP's discretion.