Wet or Dry skimming

[daveverdo]

I was reading Shawna's Octo thread and was thinking about skimming.

How about pros and cons of wet vs dry skimming?

I am never sure what is better for my situation.

What is your experience?

Dave

 

[museumguy]

When I'm first setting up a tank I'll do wet skimmate, but normally I run relatively dry. Though I have not implemented it yet, I like the idea of doing water changes by doing super aggressive wet skimming until X amount of wet skimmate has been removed then doing the water change.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I would have chosen a fourth option if it were available:
I adjust the skimmer and make it do what I want it to do

Wet skim water change all the way. You saw the thread, right?

 

[daveverdo]

Wet skim water change all the way. You saw the thread, right?

No, I guess not or at least I don't remember.

Dave

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

quite honestly I had never heard of anybody else doing wet skimming water changes when I started doing it several years ago. I think it's caught on since then:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1534930&highlight=wet+skimming

they've taken it to another level, too!

 

[daveverdo]

Thanks Gary. Sounds like a great idea. I think I'll take a simple approach at first. Off to Lowes for fittings tomorrow morning.

Dave

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

removing and emptying a skimmer cup gets tiresome real quickly.
Installing a drain line was one of the first mods I ever did to my equipment back in the early 90's.
I can't imagine running a skimmer without a drain line from the collection cup!

 

[puter]

Considering that skimmers:

remove around 20 - 30% of the TOC in the aquarium water, and that's it; 70 - 80% of the measurable TOC is left behind unperturbed by the skimming process.

the "water change" portion of wet skimming may be more important than the skimming itself.

A worthwhile read.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

the "water change" portion of wet skimming may be more important than the skimming itself

I do wet skim water changes- I don't wet skim all of the time. (See the thread in my link for wet skimming 24/7.)
In my particular case I use wet skimming to simply improve the efficiency of a water change- and I believe it does.
IME if you've got the time there's nothing quite like a wet skim water change: set the skimmate really high in the skimmer neck and let that thick heady ambrosia slowly bubble over the edge of the collection cup rim for a couple of hours. The whole wet skim process can be greatly enhanced with a slow dose of Lanthanum chloride if and when necessary (I have a Hanna Colorimeter). Let the skimmer pump and gravity remove the old tank water.
It's a really good way to do a water change IME.
The simpler it is to do a water change the more likely it is you'll perform one.

Funny you should link to that article, Mark. I was just reading this thread earlier tonight:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1553762&highlight=wet+skimming

 

[puter]

Wasn't disagreeing with the "wet skimming" comments at all (in case it came across that way). Just think it's good to be reminded occasionally of the limitations of our equipment. :thumbsup:

 

[Piazzon12]

For those that have a drain line, is there a safety feature to keep your skimmer from emptying your sump? Occasionally my skimmer goes crazy and overflows.... which would drain my sump if I had a drain line.
Thanks

 

[JMBoehling]

For those that have a drain line, is there a safety feature to keep your skimmer from emptying your sump? Occasionally my skimmer goes crazy and overflows.... which would drain my sump if I had a drain line.
Thanks

(02) options:

1.) Add a float switch to your collection bucket wired to your skimmer pump. When the skimmate rises to the switch point it will cut off your skimmer untill you empty the bucket

2.) run your venturi airline into the skimmate bucket. One the skimmate rises high enough for the venturi to suck in skimmate (but unfortunately back into your tank) it will cut off air into your skimmer and some producing skimmate.

If you do any of the options, ALWAYS do a practice "Loss of electricity test" and make sure you don't back siphon water from your skimmer and sump... This could cause an unexpected 20 or 30 gallon water change

Thanks,

Jim

 

[daveverdo]

For those that have a drain line, is there a safety feature to keep your skimmer from emptying your sump? Occasionally my skimmer goes crazy and overflows.... which would drain my sump if I had a drain line.

Adam,

The link Gary posted to a thread has all types of ideas to prevent this, including the summary that Jim posted.

I think I am going to try Gary's method. Rather than having the cup drain constantly and constantly refilling the tank, just open a valve on the cup drain during water changes. So instead of just draining 5 gallons of tank water, drain 5 gallons of "wet skimmate". Replace with 5 gallons new saltwater. Seems like a more efficient removal of misc crap.

Dave

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

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