Just wondering what the advantages or disadvantages is to either method. Right now I am skimming dry and am thinking about adjusting my DIY skimmer to skim wet and want to know which way produces a better environment for the livestock. Right now I am looking ot do this on my 12g nano tank that has 2 percula clowns, various zoas, a 4 head hammer and a xenia. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
wet vs dry skimming
- Thread starter ckfazz
- Start date
jeffbrig
Premium Member
Reaction time isn't impacted by wet or dry skimming. It's just a question of how far the foam has to rise before it makes it into the collection cup. I run mine so high that the spray from bursting bubbles hits the skimmer lid and runs into the collection cup. You'll never see a real head of foam on my skimmer, but every week I dump 1 gallon+ of nasty brown water. And that's with a light bioload in the tank. The disadvantage of wet skimming is that you need a big collection cup or you'll find you're dumping it constantly.
One of the secondary benefits of wet skimming is that the skimmer neck stays wet. This helps avoid the buildup of skimmate solids inside the neck, which reduce the skimmer's efficiency by impeding foam production. When dry skimming, this can can be a problem if you don't clean the neck regularly.
One of the secondary benefits of wet skimming is that the skimmer neck stays wet. This helps avoid the buildup of skimmate solids inside the neck, which reduce the skimmer's efficiency by impeding foam production. When dry skimming, this can can be a problem if you don't clean the neck regularly.
Wet skimming also has the ability to remove more organic and other bi product in your tank (ie phosphates) then dry skimming. Mostly because you are removing more volume of water in a sense. Kind of like doing a water change. But with wet skimming you need to make sure you are monitoring your salinty because you are also remove salt from the system.
Blown 346
Active member
I think tht dry skimming will pull out more since the skimmer has the chance to get the most organics/proteins skimmed out of the tank. Wet skimming will pull alot of saltwater outand less organics. How wouldnt it, the dwell time is far less and the skimmer cant pull out all of what it can.
Blown346 - I am under the same impression that dry would pull out more "nasty" stuff than wet skimming but wanted to get everyones opinion. I know that the skimmate is darker with dry skimming which leads me to believe more organics are being removed than wet. With wet skimming, it is usually a lighter green color.
jeffbrig - Could you explain this a little further? I don't understand how the reaction time would not be affected by wet skimming since your water column is higher in the main body of the skimmer and then almost immediately entering the collection cup. With dry skimming, the reaction time in the water column is longer due to the foam taking longer to move to the collection cup. Also, would the foam being produced create a second contact "zone" since it is still touching the water column?
jeffbrig - Could you explain this a little further? I don't understand how the reaction time would not be affected by wet skimming since your water column is higher in the main body of the skimmer and then almost immediately entering the collection cup. With dry skimming, the reaction time in the water column is longer due to the foam taking longer to move to the collection cup. Also, would the foam being produced create a second contact "zone" since it is still touching the water column?
The dwell time does not really change regardless of if you are skimming wet or dry. The dwell time is dependent on how long the bubble are in the reaction chamber. Skimming, wet or dry does not change drastically, in fact dwell time would be fractions of a second longer in wet skimming (negliably spelling). To wet skim you would raise the wet level in the skimmer very very slightly increasing dwell time, but this is not important right now. In wet skimming you allow the foam head (where almost no organics are binding to the 'bubble' because it is above the water in the reaction chamber) to over flow in to the collection cup before most of the water has fallen out of the foam head. Where in dry skimming you allow the water to fall out of the foam head before the foam over flows into the collection cup.
The Reefer91
New member
hold on, what is wet and dry skimming? exactly waht do you mean "wet" and "dry"? like, it's in water or not? or what?
Craig Lambert
Premium Member
Read about this on the AquaC website. It's on page 6-7 of the (downloadable) manual for the EV-180. It says there is no difference in waste removal between wet and dry skimming. They remove the same amount of waste.
http://proteinskimmer.com/
As for slow water movement through the sump, I think that is far less important, than the flowthrough rate of the skimmer itself.
http://proteinskimmer.com/
As for slow water movement through the sump, I think that is far less important, than the flowthrough rate of the skimmer itself.
RichConley
New member
Guys, no one has really ever done any sort of legitimate study on this. Its all oppinion.
I skim a little on the wet side, but only because my skimmer stays cleaner longer that way.
I skim a little on the wet side, but only because my skimmer stays cleaner longer that way.
rottface4 - with that logic, I would assume that dry skimming would "hold" more of the organics to the foam and removing them from the tank resulting in a darker skimmate. I could also look at it another way and figure that the same amount of material is being removed skimming either wet or dry, just a different dilution amount resulting in emptying the cup more frequently when wet skimming.
NoSchwag - I am confused as to why you think that dry skimming is allowing things to breakdown in the tank causing the darker foam. Isn't the dry skimming just allowing the foam to pick up more nutrients due to being in the body of hte skimmer longer? The water entering your skimmer is coming from the same tank regardless of dry or wet skimming so your nutrient removal should be the same for either method just in a different format. What I mean is that wet skimming is allowing the water and foam to enter the collection cup. Wouldn't dry skimming give you the same affect with less water content?
NoSchwag - I am confused as to why you think that dry skimming is allowing things to breakdown in the tank causing the darker foam. Isn't the dry skimming just allowing the foam to pick up more nutrients due to being in the body of hte skimmer longer? The water entering your skimmer is coming from the same tank regardless of dry or wet skimming so your nutrient removal should be the same for either method just in a different format. What I mean is that wet skimming is allowing the water and foam to enter the collection cup. Wouldn't dry skimming give you the same affect with less water content?
