Wet skimming better nitrate removal?

solpete

solpete

Member
3 dragonets, 3 small-medium surgeons, 4 clowns, and perhaps 3 more very small fishes dont remember the name
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
I completely agree in regards to water changes. One of the nicest tanks I've seen in person didn't do water changes but maybe 2x a year. To help with that he had TONS of live rock, tons of water volume, very light bioloading, and he was a skimmer FREAK! He ran TWO skimmers that each were rated around 3x-4x tank capacity. With that being said one way or another the NO3 needs to be lowered and then let the system run for a few weeks to see how quickly the NO3 comes back up.
 
reefle

reefle

Active Member
sirrealism said:
Yes letting the mud build up lowers efficiency. Yes wet skimming is better for this issue. There are plenty of reefers who will skimm very very wet and use it for water changes. I have thought about this as an Idea for some time. Most of your better skimmers have a drain plug in the cup so you can have it drain into something else. so why not put fresh salt water in you ATO and a waist line on your skimmer. Turn it up and have it do a water change like that. It would take some creativity but it could be done. Maybe put a timer on your Skimmer so it doesnt use up all your ATO water and run dry but I think you get my idea
Click to expand...

I have never thought about this, but I just want to say it's AWESOME.

The only issue for me is determining the top off of saltwater from the skimmer vs. freshwater actually gone to evap. besides that, I love this idea as it does do a lot of things at once.
 
sirrealism

sirrealism

Well-Known Member
Thanks Reefle. Its not something to do every day but maybe 2 times a week over night or something. Like to change out 5g. As a matter of fact I am going to do this and I will make a post about it as to how well it worked and what I did. Thanks for the encouragment
 
sirrealism

sirrealism

Well-Known Member
back to this issue. I would do a water change and stop feeding for a few days to see if you can get it down some. 100 is just way to high. Also get your self some filter socks and change them everyday. I bet that would help a lot
 
Luukosian

Luukosian

Well-Known Member
I have always been on the fence on this wet vs. dry skimmate debate. My skimmer has a waste drain but I never use it on account of the very rare occasion my skimmer overflows and I'm not home that would be a major disaster running kalk on my topoff(it only takes once right). This could probably be solved with a apex or other controller or float valve on the waste bucket that turns off the skimmer but I don't really want to go to that length yet when it is relatively easy to clean the skimmer cup on my vertex. Every time I adjust my skimmer it's a bit different for example a week ago I pulled some thick coffee colored nasty skimmate from the cup then 3 days later on the same setting it was full of tea colored wet chunky skimmate. Hard to say which makes more of a difference I think it's just personal preference. Just my 2 cents :)
 
Choff

Choff

Well-Known Member
In regards to the "neck mud" my single favorite reef purchase was my SRO auto neck cleaner. It keeps the skimmer neck whistle clean and I never have to adjust my skimmer and output is consistent. I clean it maybe once a month. Admittedly, it's a sightly bigger chore when I do clean it, but not much.

...stupid auto correct
 
sirrealism

sirrealism

Well-Known Member
I was waiting for someone who has a neck cleaner to speak up. They are a good investment. I read how people clean there skimmers all the time. I guess i am old school when it comes to this as I clean the cup but its been years since I took a skimmer and really cleaned it. I think I would be scared they would fall apart or never work again. Some of my skimmers have been running for 5 years and not once been cleaned. Not saying it should not be done. I just dont do it.
 
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