Wet Skimmate Water Changes?

[witfull]

ive been doing the wet skim for a long time and i found an easier way to never have to worry about skimmer overflows or stinky skimate in the house. i drilled a 3/4"OD hole through the wall about 3 inches above ground level. then ran the skimmer cup drain line though the wall and outside. skimmate runs harmlessly into the side yard. no effect on plant life. its been running for yrs this way.

[innercirclepro]

im going to try the wetter skimate and see how it affects my salinity.

[ozzmosis]

This is a very interesting idea! I like the simplicity of it and I can see how it could have it's advantages if done correctly. I'm getting ready to upgrade to an Austin Oceans Foaminator Max 4200 (dual beckett skimmer) on my 120 gal tank. I think that I will have no problems putting this idea into action on my tank. The are a few things to figure out of course. 1)How much water evaporates daily out of the tank so that a R/O drip could be implemented? 2)How strong to mix the salt water for top-off from the skimming? I guess the questions that I have for you guys are this. If, topping off seperate for evaporation and for what the skimmer takes out, would you want to mix the salt water to full content 1.026? Or does a skimmer take out salt water at full content when skimming wet? Any help on these questions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

[Elliott]

Hi Chris,
Though I have not measured myself, I've read here on RC that skimmate is comparable in salinity to the tank, so I mix my reservoir to the same salinity. You can use either the reservoir salinity or the RO/DI drip rate to control the tank's salinity. Since I use a dosing pump to drip RO/DI it's easier for me to adjust the rate, if salinity rises I increase the rate to adjust it down and vice versa.
By the way my ORP has gone up considerably since I started this technique. Also, I love not having to clean my skimmer cup very often.
Elliott

[ozzmosis]

Very nice! I was thinking that it would be close to a normal mixture, but never tested it. So, I wasn't sure. Thanks for the reply.

[JMBoehling]

Update:

This new setup has finally got my DOC's down low enough to where my skimmer will run idle until there is something in the water column to remove. Never (in 5 years of running this skimmer on my tank) has this skimmer run idle, not producing skimmate. This is good stuff

Jim

[convict3]

this is a great thread i have a question that is along the same line i m setting up a 75 gal reef with a octo extreme 200 in a 20 gal sump/refugium. i have 2-2 gallon container one will be filled with clean saltwater and connected to my ato. the other will be for the skimmer to skim into. i hope to get 2 gal of wet skimmate a day. in one month i will almost completed a 80% water change, 2 gallons at a time. evaporated water will hve to monitored manually.

i live in a apartment so i have to dump the collection cup every day
sorry for the mini highjack

[JMBoehling]

convict3

My saltwater is replaced via a float valve connected to a 5 gallon bucket of fresh saltwater

Evaporation is replaced via a bucket of freshwater mixed with Kalk and set to drip at approximately 1 drip per second. You need to play around with the drip rate to get this dialed in.

Just remember, your Saltwater replacement should equal the rate that your wet skimmate is removed. You'll want to check your reefs salinity every few days to make sure it is correct untill you get everything dialed in.

Hope this helps.

Jim

[CoRPS]

Anyone have suggestions for people who skim with HOB skimmers? This sounds great and I can't believe I never thought to do it!

[Herpervet]

One question: The venturi is plumbed inside the collection cup or collection bucket.

Once it starts sucking water it shuts down the skimmer?

That's not what happens with my Warner Marine skimmer AS300

When the venturi starts to suck water instead of air then there is more water going through the skimmer and the water level rises quickly overflowing the collection cup.

Am I missing something? Does this require a recirculating skimmer to work?

If the skimmer is a recirculating model then the volume of water flowing into the skimmer isn't dependent on the amount of air going into the venturi. Right?

[Aimforever]

Originally posted by Herpervet
One question: The venturi is plumbed inside the collection cup or collection bucket.

Once it starts sucking water it shuts down the skimmer?

That's not what happens with my Warner Marine skimmer AS300

When the venturi starts to suck water instead of air then there is more water going through the skimmer and the water level rises quickly overflowing the collection cup.

Am I missing something? Does this require a recirculating skimmer to work?

If the skimmer is a recirculating model then the volume of water flowing into the skimmer isn't dependent on the amount of air going into the venturi. Right?

That sounds right to me. I thought the same thing when I read through this thread - they must be using recirculating skimmers. I know from experience if anything blocks airflow to my BK-mini (non-recirculating) it will quickly fill with water and start overflowing a few hundred GPH at the collection cup.

[Herpervet]

Actually I think it is the gate valve that is the problem.

If you stick the venturi tube in water on an ASM G-3 with a stand pipe it does indeed shut the skimmer down and the excess water flow exits the stand pipe.

My Warner Marine skimmer has a gate valve and the water flow is restricted so it can't escape when the extra water flows into the skimmer so it overflows.

[SirVilhelm]

Wow great thread! It's innovation like this that keeps pushing our hobby forward, before long this will become standard practice!

Anyway, I want to dive in and start doing this, I am running a Coralife Super Skimmer 220 on my 80 gal. Anyone try doing this with the Coralife?

I am having a hard time trying to figure out how to balance water replenishment. During summer I have to refill my 5 gal auto-topoff tank several times a week but now in the winter months that same 5 gal container will last a week or more. So I guess with this setup you just take a stab in the dark on how much fresh water you should be replenishing vs salt?

Does anyone know if Neptune Systems makes a salinity prob for the AquaController 3?

edit: I would never have found this thread if it wasn't for Thread of the Month, awesome.

[Jerm77]

Originally posted by SirVilhelm

Does anyone know if Neptune Systems makes a salinity prob for the AquaController 3?

its called a conductivity probe

[90g-reefer]

Could I fill My ATO with diluted NSW (taking into account evap) and let my skimmer drain into a collection setup. Would that work?

[Konadog]

Erik, I don't see why you couldn't do it that way, but you would need to constantly monitor your salinity and make adjustments as needed. It's much easier to just replace what's removed by your skimmer with the correct salinity water.

and

To Reef Central

[90g-reefer]

So if I just test my skimmate and match the salinity to that I should be ok?

[Konadog]

Yes, In theory, the skimmate salinity should be the same as your tank water.

The difference in replacing skimmate water is it should be the same salinity as your tank water. Evaporation water is pure water, no salt. What ever way you chose to do it, check you salinity daily to learn how your doing with water replacement, and adjust accordingly.

[SirVilhelm]

Originally posted by Jerm77
its called a conductivity probe

Could someone who had the Neptune system running a float switch and conductivity probe setup a system that when the float switch activates the Neptune system will read the conductivity then activate either a fresh water pump or SW pump accordingly?

[waldomas]

I think they are saying that it is much simpler to replace skimmate w/ mixed saltwater at the same SG as your tank (activated by float valve), and replace evaporation w/ freash R/O water via conductivity probe.

[waldomas]

I am unfamiliar w/ conductivity probes, and am wondering if the above scenereo is feasible. Are they reliable enough?
I guess you can make the "salinity stabilizer" fill tube small enough to help avoid a catastrophy and still keep up its job.

Anyone have a setup like this?

Anyone monitor w/ a conductivity probe?

[luther1200]

I think if I raised the level in my skimmer that much I would be skimming pretty much straight water. Is that what you guys mean? I have done it before when I first set it up, it was skimming way to much and overflowed my 1g external reservoir I use. I could definitely get the volume you guys talk about but what is the advantage. At that point isn't it straight water?

[nnahler]

So how have your testing parameters changed doing this method of water changes? Any noticeable drops in Nitrates?

[mobert]

For me, wet skimming was the only way I was able to lower my nitrates. I am now also wet skimming in my Bio-cube 29 gallon. I drilled the collection cup on the CPR SR3 with a 1/4" line and have it draining to an exterior one gallon container. Since this skimmer sits in the rear section of the tank, wet skimming is accomplished by adding a couple of cups of salt water to the tank, thereby raising the water level. This is great, I pour in clear water and out comes yellow water. It works amazingly well. The wet skimming automatically goes back to regular skimming as the water level goes back down. I am still tweaking the automatic top off of fresh water but this tank doesn't remember the last time it was this clean. The water actually sparkles now.

[nnahler]

I think I will have to start experimenting with this method...it has ALWAYS made sense to me, I just have never tried it..Thanks for the info