skimate?

So I had a conversation with someone the other day that says if you cup full of skimate overflows into your sump that it will do no harm to the fish or the tank. They told me that its what was already what was in the water before being pulled into the skimmer so its not going to harm anything. I was explaing how mine had overflowed into it one time and the fish acted as if the water had some poision in it because they were bouncing off things and you could see they were very badly stressed. Then I explained I went on vacation and the o-rin on my skimmer blew and water got into the air hole/line of the skimmer and pored it out for hrs into the tank. Again alot of you ready about this situation in another post about the but point im making is I lost a few fish when this happened and they said impossible. Has anyone ever seen the cup overflow badly and stress everything or lose anything?

 

mine has overflowed before and never a negative result and mine went for a day while i was at work.

 

The only thing I can think of is that when you pull skimate, you are doing it gradually so it doesnt affect anything BUT when it dumps back into your tank/sump, it is concentrated and can shock the fish/livestock.

I could be wrong but just what I would think could happen.

 

There seems to be a few factors to consider. 1. where is the skimmer in the sump. If in a chamber that is going to be directly pumped back to the display, yes a potential adverse effect may be noticed but should wane after the over flowing skimmer becomes essentially just an oxygenating agent. 2. Depends on how much skim-mate was in the cup before it over flowed into the sump. Even in this scenario, if the polluted water is not directly pumped to the display, effects should be minimal.
I was real concerned about this and talked to my guy at LFS and he gave that same response about it being in there anyway. Although I understand the logic of it, I came to the conclusion that I should do everything to minimize the effects of a possible dire consequence. I drilled a hole in the collection cup approximately 3/4 of the way up and put in a piece of air line tubing and ran that over to the main chamber of my sump so the over flow will run through the pre filter, bio balls and then come out underneath where my Chemi-pure elite is. Variations of this can be applied.

 

I had a lot of skimate. It was very dark and dry. I usually do until now that most of my fish died. The stuff that is in that cup is very toxic it only makes sence but I was wondering if it happened to anyone else. The owner of the lfs I go to tells me its really bad the skimmer manufactuer says its not bad. I tell them to go dump there cup in there main tank and see if its ok they say no it will make the fish sick so I guess if it overflows in my sump right next to the pump where its placed and then pumps into the main tank its ok but not if you dumped it into the main tank its toxic haha. Sorry I got a kick out of hearing that.

 

Well the concentration that the fish are exposed to will make a difference.

If you have foam that's overflowing, it will be diluted by the time it gets to the fish. If you dump the whole cup in, you'll have a very concentrated, toxic substance that's circulating round the tank.

 

I'd find someone else to talk to the guy is a fool or just stupid why even run a skimmer ? , I bet the guy does not run a ORP meter either! the stuff you are allowing to run into the tank is just pure concentrated DOC's that have been removed .. Already from the water as waste .. Its like just taking a dump in there allowing it to run back into the water.. a beer seldom makes anyone drunk but suck down a 12 pack at once time.. tell me what happens ? I bet the ORP bottomed out to less them a not much above minus zero .

 

Tangster thank you. That was the point I was trying to make with the person. They told me its nothing that made my fish sick! Then they said it would be dillouted and would be find my skimmer epties right at my pump so the pump basically put that grime right into the tank! within seconds of the overflow. I clean it about every 4 days and This time it happend the 6th day and let me tell you day 4 was pretty gross due to a heavy bioload. So When I arrived looked at dead fish and then opend the cabinet to see the skimmer over flowing 2 plus 2 seemed like 4 haha. For a few minutes when the person(i will leave the rep for a skimmer manufacture unamed)Told me thins I thought for sure that the gerbil wheel wasent spinning on there end. They told me its absoutly impossible but told me that they wouldent pure the skimate into the main tank. Like you said tangster have one beer no biggie but the twelve pack makes the world a bit more fuzzy.

 

You have got to be kidding me a adult human and a supposedly skimmer rep actual was dumb enough to say this ? I guess the water in the sump never makes it to the main tank LOL Keep the skimmer clean and maybe consider getting a skimate collection chamber with auto cut off to prevent overflowing and not dumping the concentrate fish waste back into the system.. Education $$$$$$ common sense priceless . I'd ask him why does hat lower the redox to zilch from high 300's and low 400's if its not sucking the oxygem from the system and feeding bacterial blooms .