Wet foam vs Dry foam

[MarkD40]

Just something I have been curious about. What are the definitions of wet and dry foam and what conditions lead to each. I have read in the past statements like "adust your air-flow to create a dry foam". How does air flow affect the foam. I take it that more air wold lead to a fluffier foam which would be drier, but I really don't understand the mechanics of this. Thanks!

 

[Andrew]

When you wet skin you skim rather fast and don't get the darkest skimmate vs dry skimming which may take longer but you get a darker color skimmate.

 

[MarkD40]

Ahhh O.K.

 

[pvtschultz]

When you wet skim, you keep the water level in the skimmer higher up the neck so that the skimmate doesn't sit on top of the water column long before it overflows into the cup. Dry skimming is the opposite and results in a more concentrated skimmate. I personally wet skim because I think that it allows more of the organic material to be removed because it isn't sitting on the water column as long. My personally preference. Plus I have found that wet skimming keeps the neck and collection cup cleaner longer reducing maintainance.

 

[MarkD40]

Thanks Private.

 

[Greg129]

I'm tagging along on this thread. I have a Remora Pro that will only wet skim.

 

[mckeec]

I am with "pvtschultz" on the wet skim. I have also read that SPS tanks should be wet skimmed but not sure why. When I dry skim I see a quicker build up over time of algae on my glass. Less so when I wet skim. People like to brag about how dark their skimmer product is as though that was a measure of performance. I don't care what it looks like as long as it works.