Skimmate?

[MizTanks]

Apparently my skim mate is supposed be of a darker color~??

http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/j338/NanaReefer/IMG_0028.jpg

[BikerBret]

been doing a ton of research on adjusting skimmers, looks like yours is running a little wet. i was having a similar problem and i dropped the water level a little and tightened the air intake and mine is running beautiful.

[SaltCreeps]

wet to dry skimming is a preference that the tank owner has to choose. truly wet skimming pulls out more stuff faster as the water surface tension needed to get the foam into the cup is lower. dry skimming will get you darker stuff in the cup but will leave more in the tank. so...... if i do sps i wet skim if i do any other corals i will usually dry skim to leave more particulates in the water.

[MizTanks]

I know it's running wet~the skimmer never came with an air adjuster~I wrote them and told them this and they said one is not needed that's why there isn't one. So I added one myself and so far the only thing it's been good for is a muffler.
I guess I'm confused as to what I should be looking for as far as bubbles in the chamber, in the cup. Do I let the skim mate build up on it's own?

Heck I've no idea....

[SaltCreeps]

first of skimmers can be um... well finiky to say the least. to answer the Q above yes let the foam just build up eventually your cup will fill. foam will change to as you feed, doing a water change, top off and so on. the best thing you can do is study your skimmer and slowly adjust and mod it till you are happy with the result. good luck miz

[MizTanks]

first of skimmers can be um... well finiky to say the least. to answer the Q above yes let the foam just build up eventually your cup will fill. foam will change to as you feed, doing a water change, top off and so on. the best thing you can do is study your skimmer and slowly adjust and mod it till you are happy with the result. good luck miz

Finiky ahh yer just being nice :smash: was wondering if I was missing something :doh: Thanks SC

[Sir Patrick]

Alot of time, if your tank is new, or really clean- your skimate will be more yellow or green than brown or black. Alot of it depends on what, and how much nastiness the skimmer is getting hold of to pull.

I will take a closer look at the skimmer you purchased, and look for more ways to adjust it. See if I can help.

[Rabidgoose]

It seems on the wet side to me as well. How often are you having to dump the cup? I would lower the water level in the skimmer to make it skim dryer. I prefer starting a new skimmer very dry and bump up the water level every day or two, that allows for some break-in and easier fine tuning IME....I never go by color, a lot of variables can affect nog color. I grade my skimmers worth by the smell of the nog :big_grin:

[MizTanks]

By raising/lowering the water level in my case you mean to raise/lower my skimmer right? However there is about an 1 1/2" piece of tube that at one end is cut at an angle that allows for flow. Do I turn that to raise/lower the water level?

I think I may have been hit with the skimmer stupid stick-:0

[zenpytho]

raise the lift tube to right of cup in pic raising tube makes skimmate drier lower is wetter

[Heidi]

By raising/lowering the water level in my case you mean to raise/lower my skimmer right? However there is about an 1 1/2" piece of tube that at one end is cut at an angle that allows for flow. Do I turn that to raise/lower the water level?

I think I may have been hit with the skimmer stupid stick-:0

Yes, this is how you adjust the "tension" or how high up the bubbles come in the neck and cup. Turning this angled tube adjusts how fast water leaves the skimmer, that makes you skinmate or "nog" wetter or dryer. I agree that smell is a good indicator, better then color when you have a newer tank etc.
Hope this helps,
Heidi :big_grin:

[MizTanks]

Ok so if I want to run it dry the bubbles will be lower in the neck, wet the bubbles will be higher? Oh and what I do empty (yellow stuff you see) doesn't smell.

My tank is to clean to make nog UGH! lol

I'm sorry folks if I'm getting on your nerves but I want to fully understand what your saying compared to what I'm doing-does that make sense?

[Sir Patrick]

Ok so if I want to run it dry the bubbles will be lower in the neck, wet the bubbles will be higher?

Exactly.



what I do empty (yellow stuff you see) doesn't smell.

You can just dump it in the toilet, or down a drain, and clean the skimmer cup w/ a skimmer dedicated toothbrush after dumping. Oils from your hands will make the bubbles less effective for a while, so a toothbrush is a nice tool to have.


I'm sorry folks if I'm getting on your nerves but I want to fully understand what your saying compared to what I'm doing-does that make sense?

No worries miz- we are here to help, and we all know how hard, at times, it can be to explain somthing, in type, and not be able to physicaly show it.

[MizTanks]

(((hugs))) Thank you Sir :)

[jolson10450]

i gave you the best info in your thread for it, just go re-read that =) i will add here that for those that wet skim usually have a bigger tank and pull more out but having the bigger tank it will not cause the salinity to spike. having a small tank like miz has if she wet skims then she has the potential of pulling a lot of saltwater out with the wet skimming and then making it up with top off water will cause the salinity to drop over the next week or two and if it is not carefully monitored it could lead to a disaster that is why most people with smaller tanks dry skim.

[CalmSeasQuest]

Skimmate color can also be influenced by bacteria/carbon dosing. Here's a photo taken early in my experimentation with MB-7 showing lighter colored skimmate that was so dense/sticky (even skimming as wet as possible) that it literally blew the top of of the skimmer...

http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy141/tconwell/Skimmate.jpg