IMHO, R2R in it's whole is so much more advanced and towers above all the rest, no need to separate.
If you join R2R you know you get the best of all best and if you mess up we turn you into..................... Skim-mate
Shut that Skimmer Down! Over skimming your tank.
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IMHO, R2R in it's whole is so much more advanced and towers above all the rest, no need to separate.
If you join R2R you know you get the best of all best and if you mess up we turn you into..................... Skim-mate
twilliard
Tank pests..
That was awesome!!IMHO, R2R in it's whole is so much more advanced and towers above all the rest, no need to separate.
If you join R2R you know you get the best of all best and if you mess up we turn you into..................... Skim-mate
JasReef
Active Member
I'm not a scientist so can some tell me what this means?
Conclusions
The chemical/elemental composition of skimmate generated by an H&S 200-1260 skimmer on a 175-gallon reef tank over the course of several days or a week had some surprises. Only a minor amount of the skimmate (solid + liquid) could be attributed to organic carbon (TOC); about 29%, and most of that material was not water soluble, i.e., was not dissolved organic carbon. 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. These microflora do concentrate P, N, and C nutrients from the water column, and so their removal via skimming does constitute a means of nutrient export.
Conclusions
The chemical/elemental composition of skimmate generated by an H&S 200-1260 skimmer on a 175-gallon reef tank over the course of several days or a week had some surprises. Only a minor amount of the skimmate (solid + liquid) could be attributed to organic carbon (TOC); about 29%, and most of that material was not water soluble, i.e., was not dissolved organic carbon. 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. These microflora do concentrate P, N, and C nutrients from the water column, and so their removal via skimming does constitute a means of nutrient export.
so. im playing devils advocate. so dont get me wrong. (i like challenging the status quo)
what skimmer would you recommend i get for my 265 / 80 fuge?
also. what will adding that skimmer do for me?
i already have a nitrate and po4 deficit. will it drop it even faster?
im not against skimmers. so please dont think im trying to convince anyone of that. you know your own systems better than any forum could tell you.
but if you know my system well enough to find the correct skimmer for me. you better tell me my alk, calcium, mag, potassium, etc.
point is, i cant tell anyone they dont need a skimmer as much as you cant tell me i do.
it is not as crucial as lets say... ~1.025 sg water.
twilliard
Tank pests..
You would have to ask Randy he is the chemist!
I understand what it is saying but would be hard to explain in a way it is understandable.
Thanks for reading it!
it states 29% of skimmate is gooey life. of that gooey life they hold concentrations of nitrogen, phosphate, and carbon. so they do remove nutrients.
the rest is calcium carbonate and the like (not organic life) (calcium shells/rock/media)
in a nutshell
Simple............. it means you have to empty and clean your skimmer cup.
By all means we can go into chemistry terms on every topic or subject but it won't change the basics.
We all know in what kind of parameters our fish and corals will be happy and we try to stay close within the boundaries.
Some have great results with 0.02 and others again with 0.2 Po4.
Skimmers are skimmers and they all do the same thing, some better than others but that's up to the user as it will be his experience.
When something goes wrong than we all are lucky to be part of a forum like this that there are awesome members that would try to get a understanding about the system at trouble to reach out a helping hand.
Now I'm going to have to empty my own skimmer, what ever I eat yesterday at midnight made my Po4 go sky-rocketing
JasReef
Active Member
Here is something from Randy's article.
Hence, skimming may effectively lower the concentrations of nitrate and phosphate that may otherwise build up in an aquarium, by exporting the organics that are often precursors to some portion of the nitrate and phosphate present in aquarium water.
Phosphate also may be incorporated into certain inorganic particulates, such as calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which could be skimmed if they were coated with organics. Of course, calcium and possibly magnesium in these particulates are also removed. Ammonia might be blown off into the air in a skimmer because it is always in equilibrium with atmospheric ammonia gas, and strong aeration will eliminate some of it.
Many of the ions that aquarists are most concerned with are not appreciably impacted by skimming because they do not adsorb onto an air water interface, and are not primarily bound to organics. These include calcium, magnesium, strontium, bicarbonate and carbonate (alkalinity) and silicate. In addition, none of the other major seawater ions will be impacted by skimming, including chloride, sodium, sulfate, fluoride, bromide (except as organobromine compounds), borate and potassium.
Hence, skimming may effectively lower the concentrations of nitrate and phosphate that may otherwise build up in an aquarium, by exporting the organics that are often precursors to some portion of the nitrate and phosphate present in aquarium water.
Phosphate also may be incorporated into certain inorganic particulates, such as calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which could be skimmed if they were coated with organics. Of course, calcium and possibly magnesium in these particulates are also removed. Ammonia might be blown off into the air in a skimmer because it is always in equilibrium with atmospheric ammonia gas, and strong aeration will eliminate some of it.
Many of the ions that aquarists are most concerned with are not appreciably impacted by skimming because they do not adsorb onto an air water interface, and are not primarily bound to organics. These include calcium, magnesium, strontium, bicarbonate and carbonate (alkalinity) and silicate. In addition, none of the other major seawater ions will be impacted by skimming, including chloride, sodium, sulfate, fluoride, bromide (except as organobromine compounds), borate and potassium.
water is homogenous. no such thing as wet skimming.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homogeneous_(chemistry)
I think that you already know the answer.
If I was 5 and read through this thread I would put all my LEGO's, Hotwheels and iPhone 6s+ on Ebay to get me a great Skimmer ASAP.
again... homogenous. whether you turn it on or off will not change the composition as a whole.
even if you cleaned out all organics. leaving it off for a few hours will not accumulate enough material imho. - i could be wrong!
just doesnt make sense
reminds me of the day when experts were convincing us of "dwell time". oh boy....
i got flamed for chuckling at that too
and then there was skimmer matching for returns... oh man. i am so glad i got off that skimmer bandwagon.
Last edited:
JasReef
Active Member
Ok, all this talk just caused my skimmer to overflow my 5 gallon jug, lucky the ALD on my Apex alerted me and shut it off. My question now is did one of you do this?
Haha, best and most important comment in this thread!
Now I'm going to have to empty my own skimmer, what ever I eat yesterday at midnight made my Po4 go sky-rocketing
Haha, best and most important comment in this thread!
twilliard
Tank pests..
Scratching my head on this one Russ
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