Wet Skimmate Water Changes?

I have found that the etss 800 is nicely suited for this water change approach. I see more efficient use of salt with this hands down. No more weekly 40 gallon water changes here. The simple fact that roughly 10 gallons of wet skimate/week - quick and dirty math took a 4 week supply (1 bucket of reef crystals) to 4 months! Anualized salt cost from ~ $850 down to ~$200 bones! Pays for lamps and some power to boot!

Now is it worth a try?

Regards,

--Rich
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14821994#post14821994 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randy Holmes-Farley
Assuming that pH of 12.07 is accurate, and it likely is not perfectly accurate at that high of pH, then that limewater is only 34% saturated.
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Randy, how to you figure out the limewater saturation. I just got a new probe and it reads 12.57 with ACII.
Thanks,
 
I have been doing the wet skimmate water change for about a month now after seeing this thread and it is by far the most productive way to do a water change! When I first did it I could not believe how nasty brown the wet skimmate was. So Thanks for the info.
 
What is the typical time frame you guys are doing this in..Im am trying this today for this first time and just hooked my topoff to the container with my new SW in it then cranked up my skimmer to what I thought was equal in and equal out...then just let it do its thing....Is this too quick to get a real benefit from it??
 
I had major problems with a aqua controller, The probe would be off when there was stray current, and yes it was grounded, The company aknolaged the design flaw and told me to diy a drip onto the condutivity probe, and even then it wasnt accurate, well not enough for this pourpose. I now have a wet neck skimmer, and I love the fact that I dont have to clean it, but it removes skimmate at about twice the salinity, so I have to add higher concentrated salt mix back into the tank everyday, some days its only 3 gal other days its more than 10. I hope to have the system more dialed in, but I have noticed that if a coral gives off toxins or spaws or any thousand of other things happen in the tank that day I dump much more water. Lucky I plumbed the drain from the skimmer head into the toilet air vent in the attic, In this way, skimmate goes down the drain and the skimmate odor vents to the roof.
 
Little Update:

I took the Saltwater offline from the float. Back to just using Kalk. What I do now is whenever my skimmate reaches 1 gallon, I empty the bucket (Skimmate) and add 1 cup of Salt to my reef (Along with Calcium and Magnesium). I am using a small fish net with the ultra fine brine mesh to hold the salt. I made a little holder that holds the fish net and salt in the overflow of my reef and SLOWLY mixes the new salt into my reef over a two hour time frame.

I still keep the Venturi intake tube in my 5 gallon skimmate bucket so the Maximum skimmate I can remove via my skimmer is 2 gallon (Just in case my bristle worm or snails decide the breed and cause the skimmer to go nuts ;) )

All in all, my tank is looking better than ever using this method, and now I can keep my PH and ALK higher just dripping Kalk :)

Later,

Jim
 
My wet skimmate change is easy... Just set the skimmer up to skim at a faster rate, drip that into a 5 gal bucket... when the waste bucket gets full, I replace it with the same amount of newly mixed and aerated saltwater. Takes me about 3 hours... I do about a 5 gal change in this time and the water that comes out is always a darker/ yellowish color. I see no need for automating any of this, as that is just something else to go wrong... my sump can take a 5 gallon loss of water without getting too low, so it's really easy to perform.
 
Just curious but does this method of continous changes alter the size of a skimmer on a tank? Could you put a skimmer rated at 200 galllons on a 500 gallon tank? The skimmer would still be a higher quality skimmer just smaller.
Thanks.
 
Originally posted by JMBoehling
...What I do now is whenever my skimmate reaches 1 gallon, I empty the bucket (Skimmate) and add 1 cup of Salt to my reef (Along with Calcium and Magnesium). I am using a small fish net with the ultra fine brine mesh to hold the salt. I made a little holder that holds the fish net and salt in the overflow of my reef and SLOWLY mixes the new salt into my reef over a two hour time frame...
Click to expand...

Jim,

Perhaps just an oversight on my part but one cup of salt per one gallon of water seems to be a bit much. Seems to me it takes about 1/2 cup of salt per one US gallon, give or take depending on what specific gravity you're trying to achieve.

Originally posted by KafudaFish
Just curious but does this method of continous changes alter the size of a skimmer on a tank? Could you put a skimmer rated at 200 galllons on a 500 gallon tank? The skimmer would still be a higher quality skimmer just smaller.
Click to expand...

You could get away with a smaller skimmer right from the get-go without utilizing this wet skimming system. It's all about export. You will need to test your water parameters like you normally would to make sure they are in check. On a larger tank the only downside would potentially be wasting a little bit more water than you may have needed to. That's definitely not going to harm anything.

Originally posted by JMBoehling
I still keep the Venturi intake tube in my 5 gallon skimmate bucket so the Maximum skimmate I can remove via my skimmer is 2 gallon (Just in case my bristle worm or snails decide the breed and cause the skimmer to go nuts )
Click to expand...

16az2ac.jpg


Just for kicks I've attached a photo of my skimmer collection jar lid. It's a bit rough "” you've been warned "” when the jar fills it will trip the float switch, which in turn shuts off the skimmer & ozone. It's a bit more fancy than that (SMS notification!) but you get the idea, and can take it as far as you want. Yes, there is only one float switch. A possible nightmare. I do plan to add another one eventually, but so far it's pretty fool-proof. I like your idea of putting the supply line for your venturi into the collection cup, all but the idea of putting that garbage back into the tank. Yuck.

Awesome thread by the way. Great replies. Even better topic. :-)
 
I love this thread gave me a lot of ideas, I like the disolving of the salt through the fish net. I'll deffenantly give this method a try. thanks everybody.
 
If you like the disolving of the salt through the fish net.

If you like the disolving of the salt through the fish net.

Try a filter sock i dont knowwhat mircon but it will keep the water cleaner some salts leave a crust when i mix them for water changes but when i use a filter sock the rubber made contaner doesnt get dirty.
 
i have heard from several people that wet skimming can be bad because it removes good and bad at the same time. What good does it remove and isn't that made up with coral and fish food feedings?
 
is there any danger of removing too many beneficial trace elements by doing a water change in this fashion?



i have heard from several people that wet skimming can be bad because it removes good and bad at the same time. What good does it remove and isn't that made up with coral and fish food feedings?

I suppose it depends on what you consider good and what you consider bad (which varies a lot from reefer to reefer), but I don't see any substantial differences being likely, and there is certainly no demonstrated difference in what sort of trace ions are removed in wet and dry skimmate. Anyone who says otherwise is likely speculating wildly.
 
Randy Holmes-Farley said:
is there any danger of removing too many beneficial trace elements by doing a water change in this fashion?



i have heard from several people that wet skimming can be bad because it removes good and bad at the same time. What good does it remove and isn't that made up with coral and fish food feedings?

I suppose it depends on what you consider good and what you consider bad (which varies a lot from reefer to reefer), but I don't see any substantial differences being likely, and there is certainly no demonstrated difference in what sort of trace ions are removed in wet and dry skimmate. Anyone who says otherwise is likely speculating wildly.
Click to expand...

good to hear from you again Randy, I was hoping you would see this as I'm doing wet skimmate water changes, it has had a positive impact on my water quality
 
Been a while since my last update. I'm continuing to remove 1 gallon of wet skimmate a day and everything seems happy in my reef as well. I did recently change to Reef Crystals from Instant Ocean so i don't have to add Calcium and mag to my scoop of salt I add when I dumpo my skimmate bucket. ;)

As far as trace elements are concerned, I'm confident the 1/2 cup of new salt I add every day handles that.
 
I did recently change to Reef Crystals from Instant Ocean so i don't have to add Calcium and mag to my scoop of salt I add when I dumpo my skimmate bucket.

IO has higher levels of magnesium now, so that may not be as necessary:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1714505

from it:
.....................................Calcium ......Alkalinity...... Magnesium
Instant Ocean (new)..........400..............11.................1350
 
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