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View Full Version : What is better A wet skim or dry skim


DANtheMan95
08/29/2010, 12:34 PM
I was wondering what skim do most people prefer.Are there pros and cons to each one. Wet skim or dry skim?!?

MandM
08/29/2010, 01:59 PM
I like mine thick, but not really dry. A very wet skim removes more water that needs to be replaced with the top-off and the cup needs to be emptied more often. In the equipment forum you will see a lot of opinions on tuning skimmers to get what people decide is the perfect consistency. I don't think there is a wrong answer, as long as you are exporting the surplus nutrients and not overflowing the collection cup.

shifty51008
08/29/2010, 02:14 PM
I also like mine a thicker dark skimmate

BigRig450
08/29/2010, 02:27 PM
I was wondering what skim do most people prefer.Are there pros and cons to each one. Wet skim or dry skim?!?

I started a thread like this awhile back on another forum and there are alot of different opinons on this. as stated above skimming wet will remove more water but what i learned will remove more organics than dry, as it is more aggressive, dry will allow them to re enter the water column.also dry pulls out waste slower and quickly makes the skimmer less efficient sludging up the riser and top part of the skimmer.i aim for a tea color and usually get 3x as much skimate versus dry but some of that is water too.but like i said youll get alot of opinons on this...

gweston
08/30/2010, 01:06 PM
I now run mine tea colored/wet, but the cup fills faster. I have an overflow tube that goes down into a plastic container, so that isn't a problem. For my system it seems to do a better job than dry. But I'm sure it is a matter of what skimmer you use as well as your tank. I played around with it until it 'felt' like it was working well enough.

DustinB
08/30/2010, 01:46 PM
also dry pulls out waste slower and quickly makes the skimmer less efficient sludging up the riser and top part of the skimmer.i aim for a tea color and usually get 3x as much skimate versus dry but some of that is water too.but like i said youll get alot of opinons on this...

I'm in about the same boat here. If I have it too dry skimming performance will degrade after about 3-4 days before the riser is heavily coated. I was cleaning about 1/4" thick sludge off of every surface.

Now I set it to where I need to clean it at 7 days. Skimmate color doesn't change either, just the output doubles. Seems the be the optimal spot for me.

I think most would agree to play with it and see what happens. You can try skimming a little wet and slowly drop the water level each week until the skimmate turns a nice dark/black color, almost fully opaque.

gldnegle76
08/30/2010, 01:58 PM
I have to echo what several previous posters have said. I started adjusting mine from dark toward light until the neck stopped gumming up.

Chris27
08/30/2010, 05:08 PM
I prefer a wetter skim simply because it doesn't smell as bad as a dry skim...all in all I don't think it really matters as long as you're skimming.