Skimming: wet vs dry
- Thread starter rigdon87
- Start date
R
rcreations
Guest
By wet skimming he means the skimmate collected is more wet or diluted, lighter in color. Dry skimming, the skimmate is very thick and dark.
Personally I have it set somewhere in the middle. My skimmate is dark, you almost can't see through it, but it's not thick as sludge.
Personally I have it set somewhere in the middle. My skimmate is dark, you almost can't see through it, but it's not thick as sludge.
rigdon87
Member
Originally Posted by GeoJ
http:///forum/post/3175227
Well just based on what it sounds like you are saying, as dry as cotton candy. What are we saying is wet Skimming, a flow of water and bubbles?
Wet: yellowish weak tea colored
Dry:thick black sludge
Is that better
http:///forum/post/3175227
Well just based on what it sounds like you are saying, as dry as cotton candy. What are we saying is wet Skimming, a flow of water and bubbles?
Wet: yellowish weak tea colored
Dry:thick black sludge
Is that better
geoj
Active Member
Skimming is all about surface tension the smaller the bubble with little water makes a more efficient skimmer. I would say that wet skimming is not skimming but a large air stone with a small mechanical filter
So after I set the skimmer and then dump the cup so there is no water in it to start, I want Dry: thick black sludge, not Wet: yellowish weak tea colored
”Is that better
” what do you want out of skimming? This is a good question and for me I want efficient skimming.
Yellowish weak tea means most of the waste goes through the skimmer and back in the tank.
So after I set the skimmer and then dump the cup so there is no water in it to start, I want Dry: thick black sludge, not Wet: yellowish weak tea colored
”Is that better
Yellowish weak tea means most of the waste goes through the skimmer and back in the tank.
R
rcreations
Guest
Actually I read the opposite. Wet skimming is more agressive and removes more waste. Negative is of couse for one you have to empty the cup more often, two, you're removing more water so you need to watch your salinity.
rigdon87
Member
Originally Posted by RCreations
http:///forum/post/3175252
Actually I read the opposite. Wet skimming is more agressive and removes more waste. .
+1
keep em' comin people
http:///forum/post/3175252
Actually I read the opposite. Wet skimming is more agressive and removes more waste. .
+1
keep em' comin people
geoj
Active Member
The darker the stuff is the more waste has been removed. Here is a contradiction to what you believe
Protein Skimmers - Part 1
What Is Protein Skimming, and How Does It Work?
by Don Carner
Next to primary biological filtration, foam fractionating, better known as protein skimming, is the next most important aspect of any healthy marine system.
Wow, pretty powerful statement, huh? Although there are systems that claim to be "skimmer-free", such as Dr. Jaubert's Live Sand Plenum System, for most of us DOC's (dissolved organic compounds), phenol oils, and other yellowing agents are a nuisance that only active protein skimming can eliminate. Before we jump into the subject matter any deeper, let's discuss how these devices work.
To be as unscientific and as clear as possible, let's simply say that the air bubbles inside the skimmer's body strip the water of undesirable waste by-products. How the bubbles accomplish this is a neat trick that needs some explanation. Ever blow bubbles as a kid? Remember all the rainbow colors on them? Just as the soap clung to the giant bubbles you were creating so too, does all the junk and other organic gunk in your aquarium water. Those pretty rainbow colors were the light refracting off the soap film...you could actually see it! In our skimmers, the bubbles are microscopic and the results can only be "seen" after they burst and deposit their "films" into the collection cup! No pretty rainbow of color here...nope. Only the vilest and nastiest looking sludge imaginable ride our skimmer's bubbles.
How does this happen? It was discovered long ago in waste treatment plants that by injecting high volumes of air bubbles into a column of waste water, the resulting effluent was purer and much cleaner than before. How could this be? Actually, quite simple. Surface tension. Surface tension? Whatzat? The interaction between the oxygen bubble and the surrounding water creates a kind of friction between the two. This friction in turn "charges" the molecules in the water.
Playing on the old Physics Law of "opposites attract", the charged gunk molecules "stick" to the bubbles, riding them up the column of water. Once the bubbles reach the surface air they burst, depositing their hitchhikers into a collection cup. This collection cup keeps the accumulated gunk from slipping back down into the water column inside the reaction chamber. Due to the very nature of saltwater, this process is possible. Freshwater protein skimming just isn't feasible at our level as the technology to make it possible just isn't practical at the hobby level.
Protein Skimmers - Part 1
What Is Protein Skimming, and How Does It Work?
by Don Carner
Next to primary biological filtration, foam fractionating, better known as protein skimming, is the next most important aspect of any healthy marine system.
Wow, pretty powerful statement, huh? Although there are systems that claim to be "skimmer-free", such as Dr. Jaubert's Live Sand Plenum System, for most of us DOC's (dissolved organic compounds), phenol oils, and other yellowing agents are a nuisance that only active protein skimming can eliminate. Before we jump into the subject matter any deeper, let's discuss how these devices work.
To be as unscientific and as clear as possible, let's simply say that the air bubbles inside the skimmer's body strip the water of undesirable waste by-products. How the bubbles accomplish this is a neat trick that needs some explanation. Ever blow bubbles as a kid? Remember all the rainbow colors on them? Just as the soap clung to the giant bubbles you were creating so too, does all the junk and other organic gunk in your aquarium water. Those pretty rainbow colors were the light refracting off the soap film...you could actually see it! In our skimmers, the bubbles are microscopic and the results can only be "seen" after they burst and deposit their "films" into the collection cup! No pretty rainbow of color here...nope. Only the vilest and nastiest looking sludge imaginable ride our skimmer's bubbles.
How does this happen? It was discovered long ago in waste treatment plants that by injecting high volumes of air bubbles into a column of waste water, the resulting effluent was purer and much cleaner than before. How could this be? Actually, quite simple. Surface tension. Surface tension? Whatzat? The interaction between the oxygen bubble and the surrounding water creates a kind of friction between the two. This friction in turn "charges" the molecules in the water.
Playing on the old Physics Law of "opposites attract", the charged gunk molecules "stick" to the bubbles, riding them up the column of water. Once the bubbles reach the surface air they burst, depositing their hitchhikers into a collection cup. This collection cup keeps the accumulated gunk from slipping back down into the water column inside the reaction chamber. Due to the very nature of saltwater, this process is possible. Freshwater protein skimming just isn't feasible at our level as the technology to make it possible just isn't practical at the hobby level.
reefkprz
Active Member
I go for a medium dark skimmate, not tea not black. (way to sit on the fence about it eh?)
as a side note
I dump and clean my skimmer cup every day because the longer the waste/gunk sits in the neck of the skimmer contacting water the more it breaks down releasing stuff back into the water column (not the protiens but the nitrate from their breakdown) if you dump it every 2-3 days the first stuff that has had started to build up in the neck has had 2-3 days to decompose, and release the non-hydrophyllic byproducts of decomposition back into the water supply making the job the skimmer has done less effective.....
as a side note
I dump and clean my skimmer cup every day because the longer the waste/gunk sits in the neck of the skimmer contacting water the more it breaks down releasing stuff back into the water column (not the protiens but the nitrate from their breakdown) if you dump it every 2-3 days the first stuff that has had started to build up in the neck has had 2-3 days to decompose, and release the non-hydrophyllic byproducts of decomposition back into the water supply making the job the skimmer has done less effective.....
geoj
Active Member
I found some more free info that describes it better
Batch foam fractionation of kudzu (Pueraria lobata) vine retting solution.
Eiamwat J, Loha V, Prokop A, Tanner RD.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.
The aqueous protein solution from kudzu (Pueraria lobata) vine retting broth, without the addition of other surfactants, was foam-fractionated in a vertical tubular column with multiple sampling ports. Time-varying trajectories of the total protein levels were determined to describe the protein behavior at six positions along the 1-m column. The lowest two trajectories of this batch process represented a loss of proteins from the bulk liquid and tended to merge and decay together in time; the other trajectories displayed a gain in proteins in the foam phase. These upper column port protein concentration trajectories generally increased in time up to 45 mm, followed by a decrease, reflecting the removal of proteins from the column ports. The foam became dryer as it passed up the column to the top port. The protein concentration was about 5-8x higher in the top port foam than in the initial bulk solution, mainly as a result of liquid drainage from the foam along the column axis. This concentration increase in the collected foam was dependent on the initial pH of the bulk solution. The mol-wt profile of the proteins in the concentrated foam effluent was determined by one-dimensional gel electrophoresis. An analysis of the gel electropherograms indicated that the most abundant proteins could be cellulases and pectinases.
Batch foam fractionation of kudzu (Pueraria lobata) vine retting solution.
Eiamwat J, Loha V, Prokop A, Tanner RD.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.
The aqueous protein solution from kudzu (Pueraria lobata) vine retting broth, without the addition of other surfactants, was foam-fractionated in a vertical tubular column with multiple sampling ports. Time-varying trajectories of the total protein levels were determined to describe the protein behavior at six positions along the 1-m column. The lowest two trajectories of this batch process represented a loss of proteins from the bulk liquid and tended to merge and decay together in time; the other trajectories displayed a gain in proteins in the foam phase. These upper column port protein concentration trajectories generally increased in time up to 45 mm, followed by a decrease, reflecting the removal of proteins from the column ports. The foam became dryer as it passed up the column to the top port. The protein concentration was about 5-8x higher in the top port foam than in the initial bulk solution, mainly as a result of liquid drainage from the foam along the column axis. This concentration increase in the collected foam was dependent on the initial pH of the bulk solution. The mol-wt profile of the proteins in the concentrated foam effluent was determined by one-dimensional gel electrophoresis. An analysis of the gel electropherograms indicated that the most abundant proteins could be cellulases and pectinases.
