don-n-sa, come pick this up, I owe it to you

[pickle311]

couldn't have done it without your help bud, now come get this crap out of my house, this is 2 days worth. :D the milk jug is there for reference.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/pickle311/P1010060.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/pickle311/P1010061.jpg

[don-n-sa]

:lol :lol

glad to be of help....good job!

[duc]

OK someone smarter than me chime in if I am wrong but isn't that bad? Doesn't all that liquid mean his bubbles are to wet, shouldn't that be a couple months worth of liquid not a couple days? I only get a 1/3 cup tops per week not a milk jug in 2 days?
Anyone or is mine adjusted wrong?
Clif

[pickle311]

I skim wet

[duc]

Advantage/dis-advantage?
Why?
I use to then made mine dry any reason I should go back?
What do you do about all the water loss? Doesn't it dilute your salinity quickly at that rate?
Clif

[gjuarez]

Yeah, Im with Joshua. IT really depends on what you are trying to achieve. With a barebottom, you are supposed to skim real wet to take organics out before they break down and the way by doing that is to skim real wet. WIth a DSB, that is not required as the DSB will help to process them.

[Reef69]

I skim wet..

[gjuarez]

ME too.

[hobogato]

me too right now, because i just moved everything into the new tank. in about 2 months when things really settle in, ill readjust. i still dont skim too dry
i like to see skimmate that looks like green coffee - very dark but still liquid, not sludge. no research to back it up other than my corals seem to stay happier
and grow more doing it that way. just my experience.

[rocketeer]

On the whole wet or dry skimming question, here's my possibly oversimplified philosophy.

My prism has a flow control valve. If my water was perfect, I could run it all the way open and produce no skimmate. With nasty water, I have to run it nearly closed otherwise I get gallons of almost clear water out for skimmate.
This implies that my valve is a sort of water quality indicator. The better the water, the more I can open it without producing large quantities of skimmate. My goal is to run the valve as open as possible without flooding my house.

I know from experience that if I run it more closed for a few days or a week, (producing drier skimmate) that it's more difficult to get it to run more open again without producing excess skimmate.

My conclusion is that running drier skimmate (at least with my skimmer) removes less organic material per day (before equilibrium is reached). Equilibrium with dry skimmate coinsides with nastier water than equilibruim with wet skimmate because after running dry skimmate for a period of time (more closed valve), it's difficult to open my valve again. It takes a while to gradually open it again because as I open it excess skimmate is produced. Only after opening it gradually (producing wet skimmate) can I run it at a more open setting without getting clear water. Wetter skimmate is cleaning the water better.

Salinity change is almost negligible and is easily compensated for during water changes. I add extra water at the tank's salinity and let evaporation adjust my salinity gradually.

I hope that made sense.

Jack