Rookie question: What exactly is "aggressive" ski

[SAtiger]

I'm just wondering what it means to skim aggressively. I run my skimmer 24/7 and clean it just about every day. Is that "aggressive"?

[gjuarez]

Nope. Skimming aggresively is to skim very wet 24/7. The skimmate will look like tea as opposed to looking like coffee. The plan is to take nutrients out quicker out of the water.

[SAtiger]

Okay, looks like I missed the first day of Skimming 101. Please can you tell me what "very wet" means. When I empty out the skimmer cup I have a green, smelly liquid.

[miked78231]

is it best to skim aggresively? i empty my cup maybe once a week. in the beggining i did skim aggressively and i had to empty it out like once a day so it didnt flow over the top.

[thedude]

Aggressive skimming is to basically run the water level of the skimmer higher, thus getting a much less concentrated skimmate, but much more of it. It goes along with Anthony Calfo's recommendation of getting a full skimmer cup daily.

Instead of dark green or muddy looking skimmate, think light yellow tea looking skimmate.

[gjuarez]

To skim wet is to adjust the skimmer so it takes out more skimmate. WIth my skimmer, I raise the level of the output and it increases the contact time of water in the reaction chamber. The foam line rises upwards closer to where it overflows into the collection cup. Consequently, more water and less foam is taken out. It means to take out a little wetter skimmate as opposed to taking out the drier foam. The foam will be wetter, and there will be more water being collected. The skimmate will be lighter.

[SAtiger]

Ah, I see. I only have the cup slightly below the surface. My skimmate is always a dark green. Maybe I'll try the more aggressive method and see if there are any big changes in my water. Thanks for everyone's input.

[Thunderkat]

Here is a good link on aggressive ski.

http://www.unitednothing.net/flashga...pineskiing.php

[SAtiger]

I don't know what happened to the rest of skimming on that title. I could have sworn I typed the whole word...

[GaryP]

There is a limit on the number of characters in a thread's title... I think.