Dosing Pump

[Troy Valentine]

Who uses a dosing pump, and what do you dose? I use one for Calcium and Alk, but I am thinking of adding another for some form of food. I have heard of people dosing their skimmate back in to their aquariums. Thoughts?

[Europhyllia]

I have heard of people dosing their skimmate back in to their aquariums. Thoughts?
Why skim in the firt place then? Just for aeration?

[Troy Valentine]

Skimmate is a very concentrated form of food, full of proteins and phyto. I believe it was Shimek who would reccommend adding it to homade fish food. Moderation is the key I would only dose 5mls a day to my fuge as a microfauna food.

[Europhyllia]

I get that it's food but even most filter feeders don't really like the concentrated version so it seems you'd use the skimmer to concentrate it and then put it back in the water column to dilute it so that your filter feeders can take it up. Why not leave it in the water in the first place if that's what you're after?

[Europhyllia]

Oh and I need to look at my skimmer post again because Jordan posted a really great link to an AdvancedAuqarist article about the true contents of skimmate. After nap time...

[Pennies2Cents]

Wow, interesting thread.

I thought what was skimmed out of the tank was the bad stuff?


Always learning something new! :) Thanks Troy..

[Europhyllia]

okay I'll leave you'll with something to read while I nap -courtesy of Jordan N:
http://maast.org/forums/showthread.php?t=59113

[Big_Pun]

i believe the skim is good and bad stuff, but this is real intresting, what if i just rinse my pipe cleaning brush in my fuge after cleaning the colection cup chamber lol

[justahobby]

Adding skimmate back (w/ moderation being key) as food sounds pretty logical if your skimmer is a beast and your DOs are ultra low. Are you still dosing vodka Troy?

[Europhyllia]

Adding skimmate back (w/ moderation being key) as food sounds pretty logical if your skimmer is a beast and your DOs are ultra low. Are you still dosing vodka Troy?
From the AdvancedAquarist articles:
None of the skimmers tested removed more than 35% of the extant TOC, leading to the conclusion that bubbles are really not a very effective medium for organic nutrient removal.
...
The majority of the recovered skimmate solid, apart from the commons ions of seawater, was CaCO3, MgCO3, and SiO2 - inorganic compounds! The origin of these species is not known with certainity, but a good case can be made that the SiO2 stems from the shells of diatoms. The CaCO3 might be derived from other planktonic microbes bearing calcium carbonate shells, or might come from calcium reactor effluent. To the extent that the solid skimmate consists of microflora, then some proportion of the insoluble organic material removed by skimming would then simply be the organic components (the "guts") of these microflora.

[BIGBIRD123]

in other words...skimmers are crap....and we pay a lot of money for them...and AA doesn't make any money from skimmers, so they give an honest opinion...

[Big_Pun]

So why have skimmers been used so long and no real bad side affects, anyone??

but the author uses the word might a couple times so no real answers to his theory

[Europhyllia]

So why have skimmers been used so long and no real bad side affects, anyone??

but the author uses the word might a couple times so no real answers to his theory
bad side effects such as? They don't take out enough to really hurt would be my guess. And they do produce some visible results. You can see something is being removed.
They do an excellent job at aeration (I really need that because I am running the bacteria reactor)
I am keeping my skimmer. :) I am just not upgrading. My skimmer is off for a couple of hours every day anyway for when I dose phyto etc.
As for the use of the word 'might':
I think they speculate on the source of some of the things found in skimmate. The actual skimmate analysis (what compounds are in it and what is not, etc.) seems to be more definite though.

[Troy Valentine]

Still dosing Vodka Justin, just not nearly as much. I turned my skimmer all the way up, and use a pound of carbon once a week. However my concern is that I am beginning to starve a once nutrient rich aquarium. I prefer to have the nutrients and grow the exporters ie Xenia, Macro algae,and Clams. I find the tank is more stable, and has a greater buffering ability. I am looking for the best of both worlds that is why I am thinking about dosing skimmate to the fuge. But I am open to suggestions? Skimmate is an interesting prospect.....

[Troy Valentine]

20% to 35% is a lot if you think about it, I am suprised it was that high. That means our aquariums are extremely efficent nutrient exporters. That is why it is key to diversify the life in your tank.

[BIGBIRD123]

I love a full SPS tank but that is why I keep some other corals in it...

[justahobby]

That's interesting. I was combating algae w/ vodka (seeing good results), but a few SPS suffered along the way. They are regaining color slower than I expected, but I also continued to heavily skim..... this is something to think about.