Protein skimming:Wet or Dry

[forzaazzurri]

I skim to the point that I empty the cup just once a week. Would love to skim more wet but not always at home to empty that cup. May modify the cup to empty through a tube and drain.

 

[Alan26]

i don't do saltwater, but here's my thought...tell me where this is wrong...

in a saltwater reef aquarium you are attempting to mimic the natural environment as much as possible for optimal coral, fish, etc. health...

in a natural reef ecosystem there is a high rate of "water exchange" (whatever you call the combination of current carrying in/out water)...essentially keeping the reef clean and clear of everything the skimmer will remove (the skimmer is the abyss and open ocean in this scenario)...

...so, why not skim as much as possible?

 

[bribo12]

You do want to skim as much as possible but the debate is do both methods actually skim the same amount? With wet skimming you pull out more but it tends to be more dilute since you're pulling out a lot of water too. With dry it takes longer but you don't pull out a lot of water and the skimmate is thicker

 

[Alan26]

in that case i'd say wet....dry would be removing less because you're only removing what's accumulated at the very surface...this is really just more about preference in how often you wanna do the yuk then?...

 

[bribo12]

in that case i'd say wet....dry would be removing less because you're only removing what's accumulated at the very surface...this is really just more about preference in how often you wanna do the yuk then?...

Well they both remove organics from the water column but yeah it probably just comes down to how often you really feel like cleaning the thing haha

 

[mr_X]

The higher the water level, the closer the "dirt" is to exiting the system. Eventually water exits the skimmer, and some of it leaves still dirty. Skimming dry would allow more water to exit dirty.
Not only that, but It would allow a lot of build up on the inside of the collection cup neck, which some of just dissolves back into the water.
Again, even with a large bio load and a huge skimmer that failed, my testable levels remained/depleted the same, until I got a replacement.
Emptying the cup more often is a small price to pay for clean water IMO.

 

[bribo12]

Got it, so keep the water level high to pull out a lot of junk