Sufficient Skimming

[piscesblue]

I keep reading this term in many posts, usually to do with algae or bioloads, etc.... Anyways, I've never seen a "rule of thumb" for skimming. Something like an inch of height per gallon or something stupid like that. I currently have a built-in skimmer on my 75gal which seems much smaller than the SeaClone on my old 30gal. All of the water that enters my overflow is directed thru a prefilter pad and then into the skimmer department (which is rectangle) and then into the wet/dry portion which is full of chaeto and LR rubble. Like my old SeaClone, the skimmer only produces skimmate (sp?) shortly after feedings, then not much else the rest of the day. I have it on the highest setting and it definately produces thick green foam followed by brown water and then more foam before hibernating again. Does this mean I have "sufficient skimming" or crappy skimming? Should it produce skimmate all day long?
Here is what the back of my tank looks like (the skimmer is added to #3 and mine has two of the bioball/refugium compartments since it's the 75gal):

And here are the skimmer parts that slide into chamber #3 above, using the chamber walls as the walls of the skimmer:

C goes in first with A on top of it then E at the top with D covering it. You adjust it by sliding E higher or lower in D. It really is a unique tank/system and I'll let you know how it works for reefs.

 

[fedukeford]

you should be getting skimmate all time, time for a upgrade!

 

[rcbruce]

I disagree.
If you get constant waste (skimmate) then you have a severe problem in the tank, i.e. overfeeding, overstocking.

 

[miaheatlvr]

Originally Posted by fedukeford
you should be getting skimmate all time, time for a upgrade!
No I agree with Fed, i am always getting somekind of disolved matter out of my skimmer, whether it be fish waste or proteins it is always working, and I am not overstocked and I do not over feed, If you are not contantly getting foam, the question become "Why Not"?

 

[my way]

A skimmer can only pull out what's available. If your skimmer is set up to skim wet then chances are you will always see it pulling DOC's out, if you are set up to dry skim then it won't always be pulling DOC's out. This is from my experience. If you have a light bio load and a skimmer that can pull out faster than the tank can produce, there is no way it will always be collecting foam.

 

[miaheatlvr]

Originally Posted by My Way
A skimmer can only pull out what's available. If your skimmer is set up to skim wet then chances are you will always see it pulling DOC's out, if you are set up to dry skim then it won't always be pulling DOC's out. This is from my experience. If you have a light bio load and a skimmer that can pull out faster than the tank can produce, there is no way it will always be collecting foam.
I agree to an extent were mine is set to a more "wet" skim, where i would rather get EVERYTHING out, even if it is mixed wet/dry. Look what I get every 2 or 3 days, Gross! This should be a promo for why the PS is by far the most important periphial for your SWFT.

 

[piscesblue]

Now my tank is just on it's 6th week with 100lbs of LR and 3 fish, so there is no organic build up yet, but my old 30gal was fully stocked for a few years and I only emptied the modified SeaClone once a week. With the SeaClone, I went for the thickest gunk I could get. With my new tank, I have it set on turbo, sucking as much water as I can (I still don't trust this rectangle with powerhead design) and I get a 1/2" of brown liquid in my mayonaise jar drain every day, not really much since it liquid. I guess my biggests thing with this skimmer is that since it broke in after 5 days, I couldn't set it high enough to pull clear water, like I could with the clone, meaning it is just a really thought out design, like the entire tank seems to be, or it is an inadequate design that doesn't have a wide range of adjustment.
I'm under the overall impression that if there isn't waste, how is your skimmer going to pull gunk? I could pull clear water with SeaClone after the waste was extracted, but I don't consider that skimmate.
Thanks for participating in this discussion and I hope more will join in becuase I don't recall reading any threads that discuss the actual skimming, they only discuss what skimmers suck/rock without really explaining why.