Skimmer cleaning

[allan]

Me either karin. I think it's been about six or seven months since I've cleaned it. Around Christmas sometime.

[350gt]

Has anyone else that rinses there's off in there yard noticed a greener patch? Even in these dried up times I have a patch of grass that always gets my skimmer crud and water from my water changes... I call it my avatar patch, as its green with thick blades of grass...

[roscozman]

We recently unplugged our skimmer and forgot to turn it back on... Our tank is doing much better.

[kkiel02]

Has anyone else that rinses there's off in there yard noticed a greener patch? Even in these dried up times I have a patch of grass that always gets my skimmer crud and water from my water changes... I call it my avatar patch, as its green with thick blades of grass...

Another problem that you may encounter eventually is the acidity of the soil if the salts dont percipate from your top soil. So it may be green for awhile but as the acidity rises your grass will stop doing so. Easy way to prevent it is- Rain which is exinct here in Texas or watering quite awhile for the salts to leach out of your top soil. Im not saying to do this now though, just if you start seeing a problem with your grass over time. There are other ways to combat this as well. The reason its so green right there is because you are basically fertilizing that patch of grass. Fertilizers are sold by their NPK percentages and by adding a skimmer we are trying to reduce the nitrogen and phosphorus waste in our tank(s).

[justahobby]

Troy was talking about dosing skimmate. IIRC the idea behind it is that skimmers take the good with the bad and strips our aquariums. By dosing the skimmate, you feed the tank at a controlled rate.

[Europhyllia]

but wouldn't you jsut be putting both back in? then why bother? Other than for aeration?

[justahobby]

Without having read much on it I don't believe you add all the skimmate back or even most of it. Plus it is at a controlled rate vs. Letting be used up by the tank's discretion. I suppose the same argument could be said for dosing phyto and running a skimmer since skimmers remove phyto produced by our tanks.

[justahobby]

I also believe that this isn't the solution for everyone, but tanks suffering from defencies. Skimmers remove a lot of phyto (think green skimmate) and do very little for reducing phosphates. They do help reduce nitrates, but perhaps too efficiently. Not advocating the use, but i do see how it sounds plausible and worth trying if you find your tank is too sterile but want more control than reducing filtration, extra feedings, etc.

[Big_Pun]

heres my cup of 5 days!

[Texreefer]

thats what mine looks like every 4-5 days as well