Wet Skimmate Water Changes?

[mobert]

yes, just blue tape
yes drilled in the middle and the
tube extends down to 2" off the bottom so that it leaves the really thick sludgy stuff that has settled behind.

[Jerm77]

Originally posted by mobert
yes, just blue tape
yes drilled in the middle and the
tube extends down to 2" off the bottom so that it leaves the really thick sludgy stuff that has settled behind.

thank you.

[mobert]

the venturi air intake I just drilled through the top of the skimmer lid and stuck the tube in so that the end is just below the stand pipe overflow to the sump. Vent tube for the drain container just needs to be above the skimmer cup so that if it were to fill up the liquid would not overflow in my cabinet. It can be stuck in through a hole in the skimmer lid also to contain any odor.

[Jerm77]

Originally posted by mobert
Vent tube for the drain container just needs to be above the skimmer cup

just to clarify, when you say above the cup, do you mean the tube is vented into the cup at the highest point?

[mobert]

Originally posted by Jerm77
just to clarify, when you say above the cup, do you mean the tube is vented into the cup at the highest point?

The tube must be vented at a point where it would cause the skimmer to stop working. Imagine if your regular skimmer went crazy. If the cup were to fill up, what happens? The skimmer cup just overflows back into the skimmer. So my drain container is vented so that if the skimmer were to go crazy, the drain container fills up and backs up in the the skimmer cup. If the vent was lower than the skimmer cup, it would fill up and overflow out of the vent opening----same as if the drain container was just an open container.

[Jerm77]

ok understood.

sorry for hijacking the thread, but this is probably one of the most innovative
things I've seen and I was looking to try and do something like this myself.

I promise to make a diagram once I fully understand what you've done mobert.

Originally posted by mobert

the venturi air intake I just drilled through the top of the skimmer lid and stuck the tube in so that the end is just below the stand pipe overflow to the sump.

in the event of the skimmer going nuts, the stand pipe acts as an overflow, right?
so if the venturi intake was below the overflow "line", wouldn't this continue to
make the skimmer go nuts untill the venturi intake gets more air rather than water?

[mobert]

Originally posted by Jerm77
in the event of the skimmer going nuts, the stand pipe acts as an overflow, right?
so if the venturi intake was below the overflow "line", wouldn't this continue to
make the skimmer go nuts untill the venturi intake gets more air rather than water?

when the skimmer sucks fluid instead of air, it stops making bubbles and stops working. I put it below the standpipe as this is a better scenario than skimmer cup overflowing into the sump.

Here are a couple of quick pictures.

Another overall shot showing the vent:


The skimmer cup with the intake for my two venturi pumps going in the lid on the left. The black tape is so I know how far in the cup to push the tubes. the center is the stand pipe that goes to the sump and to the right of it is the 1/4" drain to the collection container that then goes to house sewage. I have to put a pipe cleaner in the 1/4" drain every so often as it can clog up:



Here is a top view of my collection container with the standpipe drain to sump next to it:


Here is a look at the collection container. See how clean the 1/4" polyethelene line to house sewage is? It has never been cleaned in the years it has been in use:


Hope this helps.

[Traill]

I need a little help understanding this. Does a skimmer that has a lot of water running through it skim better or more than one that doesn't? I would imagine wet skimmate would just be a diluted version of the other stuff. So, if I empty the collection cup periodically, and do water changes in the usual way, I should be removing the same amount of stuff. It seems to me that the advantage of this method is in the automation, and in the frequency of the water change, rather than that it is removing more DOCs than the other method. Y/N?

[Traill]

I need help understanding this. Does wet skimmate have more DOCs than the less wet variety? If I clean my skimmer cup periodically, and do water changes in the usual way, I would think I'm pulling out the same amount of stuff as with this method. Y/N? In either case, it's pretty cool that I could eliminate manual water changes and not have to clean the skimmer cup. I'm just unclear whether there's any benefit in terms of overall tank health. Maybe the benefit is in the slow, but frequent water change?

[downhillbiker]

i use this method....kindof.....i have 2 homemade foods that i feed my reef. one is using cyclopeze, mysids, rotifers, and oyster eggs. the other has all of those, plus daphnia, G/R/B algae sheets, raw shrimp, clams, oysters, squid, eggplant peels, garlic, and more.

basically i feed the first one every other day alternating with the second one. the second one causes the skimmate to turn very slimy and sticky, and overflow like crazy. this makes the skimmer overflow about 2-3 gallons of wet skimmate. i dont adjust it, or change anything. the food just makes it run wet.

as far as real water changes i haven't done one in over 2 months. i think i might do one today. i'm probably due.

[mobert]

Originally posted by Traill
I need help understanding this. Does wet skimmate have more DOCs than the less wet variety? If I clean my skimmer cup periodically, and do water changes in the usual way, I would think I'm pulling out the same amount of stuff as with this method. Y/N? In either case, it's pretty cool that I could eliminate manual water changes and not have to clean the skimmer cup. I'm just unclear whether there's any benefit in terms of overall tank health. Maybe the benefit is in the slow, but frequent water change?

I fought high nitrates (in the 60 to 70's range) for over six months. I added a deep sand bed refugium with chaeto and did regular water changes. I think wet skimming is the most helpful thing I do to bring the nitrates down.

[mobert]

Originally posted by Traill
I need help understanding this. Does wet skimmate have more DOCs than the less wet variety? If I clean my skimmer cup periodically, and do water changes in the usual way, I would think I'm pulling out the same amount of stuff as with this method. Y/N? In either case, it's pretty cool that I could eliminate manual water changes and not have to clean the skimmer cup. I'm just unclear whether there's any benefit in terms of overall tank health. Maybe the benefit is in the slow, but frequent water change?

Three years ago, I fought high nitrates (in the 60 to 70's range) for over six months. I added a deep sand bed refugium with chaeto and did regular water changes. The nitrates didn't go down until I started wet skimming.

I periodically saturate the tank with plankton size food and I think wet skimming is the most helpful thing I do that keeps the nitrates down.

[JMBoehling]

A little update and tweak in my design:

Took one other idea from you guys and removed the standpipe from my 5gallon collection bucket. I ran my venturi to my 5 gallon collection bucket. When the water rises to the venturi is shuts down my skimmer untill I get home to dump it.

Here's a picture showing my 5 Gallon bucket with the drain from my collection cup



Here's a picture with the top off showing my skimmer venturi airline and regulator.



A side note:

I started dosing Vitamin C 2 days ago.. Like any additives, watch your skimmer as they will skim much more when you add the VC and other products to your reef. I had to turn it way down to make it skim around 1 1/2 gallons a day. I've got it dialed in and she is working like a champ.

Later,

Jim

[mobert]

Jim, make sure when the power is off to your skimmer that the water doesn't drain out of your venturi line. Mine will if the intake is not higher than the sump water level.

[JMBoehling]

Originally posted by mobert
Jim, make sure when the power is off to your skimmer that the water doesn't drain out of your venturi line. Mine will if the intake is not higher than the sump water level.

Great point. My pump is below the venturi line...

Thanks,

Jim

[mobert]

Originally posted by JMBoehling
Great point. My pump is below the venturi line...

Thanks,

Jim

Vernturi line has to be ABOVE the sump/skimmer body WATER line when the power is out.

Just want to make sure nobody floods out there home. Test and re-test all possible scenarios.

[mobert]

Jim, I just reviewed your pictures and now see that your skimmer sits inside your sump and and venturi line has to go up over the edge of the sump before going to your drain container. Looks like you are good. My skimmer sits out in the open and water would just drain out of the venturi intake if it were open below the water line.

[JMBoehling]

Originally posted by mobert
Jim, I just reviewed your pictures and now see that your skimmer sits inside your sump and and venturi line has to go up over the edge of the sump before going to your drain container. Looks like you are good. My skimmer sits out in the open and water would just drain out of the venturi intake if it were open below the water line.

You are correct. My venturi line that enters my collection bucket is above the water line in my skimmer neck, so no back siphon worries.

Thanks,

Jim

[2 TAZ]

I had a cheaper Nautulis skimmer on a 200 gal. system that no matter how I adjusted it I would never get 10 gallons a week from, Changed to a MRC skimmer and can get 10 gallons in a few hours or less, depending on how I adjusted it, I try to do weekly water changes in addition to about 5 gallons of wet skimmate per week or more, Having it collect in a measurable container is a must though.

[chieuxuan]

does anybody have the formula to calculate the volumn?? not talking about tank volumn but ROUNDED or CIRCLE?? thanks

[JMBoehling]

Woot! Thanks to all for making this Thread of the Month! My reef has never looked better using this setup! I am not using any GAC, GFO, etc , just continuous water changes and wet skimming. (I am playing with Vitamin C right now and think I like that as well )

Jim

[joeyvu]

This is very interesting thread and interesting idea. what do you guys think about adding calculated fresh salt water into the sump near the return line slowly by a timed pump in an hour or so and this will eventually increases water level in the sump. When water level increase, the skimmer will skim wetter, as it happen by accident with me when I add too much of salt water during WC. And ofcourse one will need to have their skimmer collection waste hooked up to extra collection waste. I will try to see if it works for me. yet I have to hook my skimmer to extra waste collector.

[midgetwaiter]

This is a cool idea and I think I have a way to set it up that's pretty simple and safe. I'd appreciate everyone taking a look in case I'm missing something.

I have an ASM G-2 skimmer so I'll have to add a drain to the cup. The tank is in the basement and the drain line for the upstairs toilet is about 6 feet away so I'm going to tap into that somehow. I have a buddy who's a plumber so I will ask him how to do that properly.

I have a 10g barrel that I use to do top ups now via a Tsunami ATO and an aqualifter. Once I get the drain in I could just fire it up with SW in the top up but I'd like an automatic way to shut down the skimmer when I run out of make up water so I thought of this:

Tsunami Pump Protector

This is a Tsunami ATO with the relay wired backwards so that when the water level drops below the sensor it shuts down whatever is plugged into it. I figure that if I put the sensor in the bottom of my top off barrel and plug my skimmer pump into that there is no way for it to drain my sump unless the sensor fails.

Will that work?

[Elliott]

Originally posted by midgetwaiter
This is a cool idea and I think I have a way to set it up that's pretty simple and safe. I'd appreciate everyone taking a look in case I'm missing something.

I have an ASM G-2 skimmer so I'll have to add a drain to the cup. The tank is in the basement and the drain line for the upstairs toilet is about 6 feet away so I'm going to tap into that somehow. I have a buddy who's a plumber so I will ask him how to do that properly.

I have a 10g barrel that I use to do top ups now via a Tsunami ATO and an aqualifter. Once I get the drain in I could just fire it up with SW in the top up but I'd like an automatic way to shut down the skimmer when I run out of make up water so I thought of this:

Tsunami Pump Protector

This is a Tsunami ATO with the relay wired backwards so that when the water level drops below the sensor it shuts down whatever is plugged into it. I figure that if I put the sensor in the bottom of my top off barrel and plug my skimmer pump into that there is no way for it to drain my sump unless the sensor fails.

Will that work?

yes it will work, however make sure the relay on that switch can handle the load requirement of your skimmer pump. If not, there is a link higher up in this thread to a heavy duty switch

[rsisman]

I have an ASM G-2 skimmer so I'll have to add a drain to the cup. The tank is in the basement and the drain line for the upstairs toilet is about 6 feet away so I'm going to tap into that somehow. I have a buddy who's a plumber so I will ask him how to do that properly.

I wouldnt just tap into the house drain unless you setup some sort of P-trap. If you do not setup a proper P-trap you will let dangerous gasses from the sewer to go inside your home.