salt levels and skimmer waste

[Randy-L]

Hi,
My question is about how musk salt is removed with the skimmer waste.
The salt levels SG has been dropping in my tank evenafter I have add a gallon of double saly water.

[dakar]

How much skimmate is your skimmer removing daily? Ideally that same amount of salt water should be replaced back into the system. Though far less critical for larger systems, for smaller systems the amount removed cab be add up to a significant amount over time.

[Randy-L]

I have been removing about a cup( 32 fl/oz ) a day. When I added that gallon, I had not added any water for several days and also had extra room.

[chrisl1]

You are pulling a quart a day (32fl oz)? That sure seems like alot of liquid,( I have a 120 that I empty my skimmer out every 2 to 3 days, the skimmate is almost as dark as coffee and stinks like rotten eggs or worse) I would think the skimmer may not me set up correctly, you should be getting nice rich dark skimmate, not watery barely green stuff coming out, and alot less than a quart daily.

[Randy-L]

oops! 1 cup=8fl/oz that would be a max.

[davejnz]

I like to measure the capacity of my skimmers collection cup.The skimmer on my 40breeder is an ER RS5-2,it holds 16oz.Its not unusual for me to have this collection cup filled up daily when i clean it regularly.When i get lazy,it usually fills up in 2-3 days max.I make it a point to replace all skimmate with fresh saltwater.

[Randy-L]

Davejnz - you replace your skimmer waste with fresh water (no salt)?
I understand replacing evaporation with fresh water as evaporation leaves the salt behind. So the question still stands, is skimmer waste more or loss saltier than tank water?

[dakar]

It'll really depend on how much actualy water volume your system consists of, if it's smaller than additional salt may be needed to maintain the SG... for larger systems, say 55-75+ it usually has very little impact, to compensate, during waterchanges on our 270g system, each time I would draw off 33-34g of water from the tank and replace it with 35g new SW. Salinty held dead on at 1.025. The extra gallon of water would evaporate off within 8-12 hours and gently raise the salinity that extra fraction.

My assumption is this is better (easier on the system) than simply replacing the same amount of water with a higher salt content to compensate.

Still do the same with our smaller tanks, with just less quanity.

The best way would be to monitor the SG of your tank over a long period of time and chart it, if the salinity starts dropping off as you near your usual waterchange time and figure from there what the effects is on your specific system.

[davejnz]

Randy,I think you misread my post.I said i replace all skimmate with fresh "saltwater".
BTW,next time you empty your cup,pour it into one of those swing arm hydrometers,only way to tell for sure what the S.G. of skimmate is.

[chrisl1]

"The salt levels SG has been dropping in my tank evenafter I have add a gallon of double saly water." You are adding a gallon of double salt every few days? This is a 55 Gallon tank correct?A few days is exactly how many? 3 or 4? If you are loosing a quart of skimmate in 4 days and replacing it with a gallon of double concentration mixed water, your salt level should be increasing, not decreasing. " I have been removing about a cup( 32 fl/oz ) a day. When I added that gallon, I had not added any water for several days and also had extra room." What is your normal sg/ how much did it drop? In a 55 gallon tank a gallon is a little less than 2% of it's volume, you should not be getting any noticeable drops from the amount of loss you are talking about. I could see if it was 5 gallons or more but for such a small amt, nahhh I think this is an issue of more than a few days. If you get your tank back to whatever s/g you keep it at, add your daily fresh topoff and clean your skimmer out daily you should be able to keep track your concentration and see actually how long it goes without a drop.