Skimmate. Wet or dry?

[Biggen]

I have been running my Aqua C Urchin for about a month now. It consistently pulls about 3/4 to a full cup of skimmate out of the water a day, however, it is very wet as far as skimmate goes and it is not dark. Its not clear mind you, but its not the dark dry skimmate that I hear everyone talking about. My old Bak-pack use to pull out some dark skimmate but I cant seem to get this one to do it.

I keep inching the collection cup higher and higher in hopes it will produce a drier skimmate, but to no avail. Still semi-clear and wetter than ever. In fact, if I move it too high, I get no skimmate produced at all so I guess there is a threshold level that, once passed, will not produce anything.

I was just curious as to what everyone else gets out of their skimmer and if a dry (dark color) or wet (semi-clear color) skimmate even makes a difference. I do know that the stuff still smells extremely bad when I pour it out so it must be doing its job.

 

[reefrunner69]

Mine is dark, but you can see through it. I prefer and shoot for a wetter foam, imo, you will pull out more and do it faster with wet foam, you just gotta keep a closer eye on your salinity.

 

[Biggen]

you will pull out more and do it faster with wet foam

I must be pulling a ton out then since I have to empty the cup about once a day. I guess the skimmer is working perfectly then. Thx Kevin.

 

[loganj]

My Remora, running on the bottom tank of a stacked set of 20 longs, pulls a cup full of dark, nasty stuff about once a week. I usually clean it about every three days. I had to fiddle with the height of the collection cup for a while. I also turned the PH around so the intake was opposite the skimmer return...that seemed to make a difference. These tanks are full of corals, but the fish load is 2 green chromis and one really evil tempered blue damsel...pretty light bioload fishwise.

 

[douggiestyle]

i agree wetter is better although i cannot get wet foam from my skimmer? just real thick guiness stout looking stuff.

but if i may question you to wether youve added anything else new to the tank setup. recently i changed some 1.25" tubing and got no foam for a week. i have come to the conclusion that some type of lubricant was used in the manufacturing of the tubing and it coated the riser in the skimmer preventing the foam from rising up into the cup.

for instance it took more than a year when i worked for sony to tie a specific defect to the replacement of ball valves. there was silicon lube in the ball valves and on the o rings. we ended up tearing down the valves and running them in a ultra sound cleaner with acetone (dangerous) first before using them from then on. should have got a raise for that :?

 

[Guest]

I shoot for a little thicker on mine..

 

[scuba_steve]

i agree with rr wetter pulls out more faster than it collecting up till enough dark stuff is pushed out !!

 

[Biggen]

Thanks for the replies guys. I guess I won't worry about it then. Just thought it was odd to be pulling so much out of the tank.

I did add a clam last week, but the skimmer was pulling out cup fulls of gunk before that. Maybe it just really effective.

 

[douggiestyle]

How do you like your aqua c urchin? i am looking at purchasing one. appear to be rated highly. were did you buy it? what type of pump did you use?

im all ears

also i found some tips on aqua c that say their skimmers may over produce for 3-4 weeks or longer due to residues left over from manufacturing.

 

[Biggen]

How do you like your aqua c urchin? i am looking at purchasing one. appear to be rated highly.

One heck of a skimmer. Pulls stuff out consistently every day. I had a Seaclone and a BakPak before this skimmer. They didn't pull half the "gunk" out of the water this thing does. Highly recommended.

They are extremely easy to use. All you do is plug the pump in and let it run. No venturi knobs to fiddle with at all.

were did you buy it?

Actually, I don't remember where I got the darn thing. I have ordered so much stuff over the 'net, it all runs together. I do know that our sponsors, Captive Raised Corals and Captive Reefs carry the skimmer. I am sure either one could help you out.

what type of pump did you use?

I have a Maxijet 1200 on it and wouldn't recommend anything else. You can buy them with either a Rio or Maxijet. The Maxijet costs a little more, but well worth the extra cost.

Let me know if you need anything else.

 

[Biggen]

How do you like your aqua c urchin? i am looking at purchasing one. appear to be rated highly.

One heck of a skimmer. Pulls stuff out consistently every day. I had a Seaclone and a BakPak before this skimmer. They didn't pull half the "gunk" out of the water this thing does. Highly recommended.

They are extremely easy to use. All you do is plug the pump in and let it run. No venturi knobs to fiddle with at all.

were did you buy it?

Actually, I don't remember where I got the darn thing. I have ordered so much stuff over the 'net, it all runs together. I do know that our sponsors, Captive Raised Corals and Captive Reefs carry the skimmer. I am sure either one could help you out.

what type of pump did you use?

I have a Maxijet 1200 on it and wouldn't recommend anything else. You can buy them with either a Rio or Maxijet. The Maxijet costs a little more, but well worth the extra cost.

Let me know if you need anything else.

 

[douggiestyle]

how does the return back into the sump work? any splashing? i too have the sea clone and was very dissatisfied

 

[Biggen]

how does the return back into the sump work? any splashing?

No splashing at all. It returns out the side of the unit and falls to the sump. Its a gentle fall that kinda "rides" down the side of the skimmer.

 

[douggiestyle]

beautiful. thanks.