Wet skimmate water changes?

[Jaycen B.]

Has anyone used their skimmer, set wet, for a continues water change system? I am thinking about setting my skimmer to skim wet and replacing all lost water with new salt water. I would also take into account evap.

 

[eagle9252]

dont see why it would not work. you would have to play with the SG

 

[jef4y]

If you get the skimmate too wet, I would think it would defeat the purpose of the skimmer all together. Additionally I think you'll have trouble controlling the exact amount out of the tank. Dunno. To me it seems like too much hassle to make it worth while.

 

[frantz]

It's an interesting idea. I hand fill my tank daily for evap and it changes daily, so you'd have to keep a close eye on your parameters. Perhaps if you ran this with a second skimmer for the heavy stuff it would work. I'm not sure if its worth the effort, but you might be on to something with some tinkering to how we understand skimmer design.

 

[ripped tide]

Seems like risky business, If you skim too wet, you won't give the foam head the chance to efficiently work. The foam head builds up, and then gets pushed up and out. If you are just wet skimming, you'll not be overly effective at getting all the organic waste removed. That waste requires contact time, and just flushing it through will decrease the purpose of the skimmer.

If you want to do a daily water change, set up a relay with a pump that pumps out 5 gallons and then another relay that pumps in 5 gallons. Have it run with float switches.

 

[Jaycen B.]

Can you point me to any info that states dry skimming is more efficient than wet skimming?

Edit: O and as far as contact time, I do not think are hobby size skimmers can tell the difference. Now if it's 10' tall that could be a different story.

 

[ripped tide]

When a skimmer dry skims, do you feel that it is less effective than wet skimming? And why?

Regardless the removal method, when wastes builds up in the neck of the skimmer, it is still out of the water, right? And does wet skimming not remove more water? Trace elements and nutrients that did not need to be removed are in that water too.

When I say efficient, I don't mean better, I mean remove less good. The reason I would not want the water change based on skimming is because skimming isn't consistent.

However, I think you should try it. New ideas and concept aren't made from a lack of trying different things.

Edit: The reason I vote for the relay, is because it would be a consistent number and you could prepare for variables easier(I.e. different evap rates)

 

[Jaycen B.]

I have no idea if dry skimming is more or less effective than wet skimming. I think the wet skim will help flush that buildup out of the skimmer neck and onto the drain. All water out through the skimmer would be replaced with new saltwater which would replace the trace elements that may or may not be lost to skimming. Dylan, I have not run an ato on my tank in 3 months, I use a dosing pump to match my evap. rate.

I will try this I just wanted to ask and see if anyone here has tried it before. I'll have to get a few thing together first and then I will share my plan.

Also how the heck can you tell if your skimmer is skimming good stuff or bad stuff???

 

[ripped tide]

Sounds good, either way, I look forward to seeing it. I think constant water changes can really benefit tanks, but don't know if through the skimmer is the route that I would take.

But you know the whole deal, what works for you may not for me and blah blah blah

 

[eagle9252]

Jaycen B.;768961 wrote:

Also how the heck can you tell if your skimmer is skimming good stuff or bad stuff???

by the taste / smell

sometimes the skim is wet with a small odor and sometimes in the beginning it was dry and pasty and just smelled bad.

 

[dewkey]

If you had the skimmer drain into a 5gal bucket for example and have a 5gal of new water to replace it you shouldn't have issues with salinity. Your top off will have to take place after you replaced the water removed from by the skimmer. Nothing a few float switches couldn't manage.

 

[rdnelson]

May be a dumb observation here but.... I guess you guys are used to my dumb observations.

Makes perfect sense to me that the salt does not evaporate with the water. But, does anyone know if the salt migrates out with the skimmate? Haven't thought that through but it seems to that if the salt is not coming out with the water in the skimmate it would be the same as top off except on a continuous basis. But then again, I haven't a clue.

Edit: I haven't tasted the skimmate to see if it is salty or not. Maybe Eagle can shed some light on that one.

 

[Jaycen B.]

I apologize for may inability to convey my thoughts properly in the OP. What I was thinking is to use my skimmer to perform a water change over a period of time, not 24/7. So maybe come down on Saturday morning and crank it up to skim wet. Then whenever the time is right fill it back up.???