Green skimmate?????

[jill]

I haven't put any phyto in my tank for 4 days and all of the sudden this afternoon I started to get a green skimmate. This is very strange as it has always been brown and stinky - except right after I have added phyto.

Why is it suddenly green? Any ideas? The tank looks great - corals, fish and inverts all safe. What gives?

 

[Peppie]

A bump for you
I am curious

 

[Sasquatch]

many possibilities come to mind, first would be a change in skimmer operation... dry foam tends to be browner than wet, if the water level has changed in the skimmer you could be doing more of a wet skim, also if your air supply line is starting to clog you will pump more water and raise the level

 

[jill]

This does make sense as I had just valved back the flow to my display so the skimmer was skimming wet. I had just never seen it so green without phyto.

 

[Peppie]

So on an average how often do you need to clean/replace the air line for a typical skimmer?

 

[Sasquatch]

I let mine suck up some ro/di water every 3 or 4 days, it will dissolve whats inside the tube. Question?? do you have a lot of filter feeders? feeding phyto is courting trouble if its not needed

 

[akunochi]

Microwave a cup of water and insert the intake side of the hose into teh cup. Let the hot water run through the line and presto....unclogged.

 

[Peppie]

Thanks for the cleaning tips.
What will happen to my skimmate if I put a adjustable air nozzle on the end of my air intake, and reduce the amount of air going to the skimmer?
Will it skim wet? Will it skim dry? And what is the advantage of skimming wet or skimming dry?

 

[1guydude]

well my cpr has a air valve on it...as do all the skimmers ive owned (only 3)...
It just created more or less bubbles in the chamber...u want a lot of smaller ones!
Playing with the air valve and lowering and raising the collection cup are how i find the sweet spots on mine...kinda like fine tuning if u will! Skimming to wet will start to take the salt out i do believe and too dry and ull get more brown sludge me thinks..
my cpr skims wet as does my korillia....one produces green tea and the other is more brown watery stuff!
HTH lol...

 

[Peppie]

Mine is a med tea color Not coffee dark.
If you skimm to wet will it overflow the cup with clean looking bubbles?

 

[1guydude]

if u skim to wet...ull get a more wet (watered down) skimmate in the bottom of the collection cup! Imo the more color in the tea the more stuff its pulling and the better results ur getting...its great to even see some chunks of crap in it! The more wet skim tea is clear and watery...still dump it but try and "dry" it up a bit by raising the collection cup or turning down the bubbles a bits.

wat kind of skimmer are u dealing with? On wat size tank? Is this an overrated skimmer for ur system? I love the idea of "up" sizing my filtration for my tanks!

Some people dont even do skimmers and instead run their tanks the more natural way of turf scrubbers, good flow, and lots of rocks...im all for a skimmer! Something about crude in the water for the coral and shiz...if i want it in my tank, ill add it lol
anyways im rambling...close to my bed time

 

[jill]

Okay all,

I've got it skimming dry and its STILL green. Now its a dark green - a color I have not seen in the 2 and 1/2 years I have been doing this. Not hurting anything though - everyone is healthy.

Anyone else experienced this? I'm sure someone out there has.....

 

[Skimmy]

was there any other change in foods or chemicals??
i wouldnt worry too much about it, as long as everyone is obviously healthy.

 

[jill]

The only thing I can think of is that I started adding ZEOvit about 10 days ago. So I just looked at the info on it again and this is what it said...


Korallen-Zucht ZEOvit Coral Vitalizer Coral Food

"Unlike many coral foods, Coral Vitalizer interacts with your corals by directly satisfying their carbon demands and reducing the need to harbor massive densities of tissue zooxanthellae (symbiotic algae)."

Maybe the green is the zooxanthellae?????

was there any other change in foods or chemicals??
i wouldnt worry too much about it, as long as everyone is obviously healthy.

 

[Skimmy]

well that definately could be your culprit...
just the coral food or the entire zeovit regime??
anyway, for the time being, i would consider your skimmate color change harmless.

 

[jill]

well that definately could be your culprit...
just the coral food or the entire zeovit regime??
anyway, for the time being, i would consider your skimmate color change harmless.

just the zeovit... you mean their is a way to spend even MORE money on a whole zeovit line? I'm all over it!

 

[Sasquatch]

just the zeovit... you mean their is a way to spend even MORE money on a whole zeovit line? I'm all over it!

hmmm, you must be locked in your room and fed through the key hole

 

[jill]

i was kidding

hmmm, you must be locked in your room and fed through the key hole

 

[Sasquatch]

i was kidding

were not lol, zeoheads sheesh!