Skimmate question

Hopefully this will be my last skimmer related ? for a while.

Anyway, my skimmer is now producing a bunch of foam (knew I needed one since the sump inlet was foaming). Anyway, its still foamy as the skimmer has only been on like an hour since I got it working, but assuming its crappy and I only get "iced tea" instead of "coffee" skimmate, its still better than nothing right? I have a few more things to tweak on the pump and everything, but the skimmer cup is fairly full of foam and its starting to settle in, so that's my big question of the night.

 

Skimmers need to run a bit to break in and then the produce better. I am not sure of your skimmer type, is it adjustable? If it is you can cut it back and less foam will collect in the cup and you will produce more sludge. If not, it’s fine – like you said, it’s producing.

 

Anything is better than nothing. I normally get a fairly dark greenish brown skimmate and it takes almost a week to fill up the cup on my octopus nw110. I'd be pretty happy with a brand new skimmer that is already producing but if it keeps skimming wet you may want to add a collection bucket to automatically drain the skimmate into.

 

Judging skimmer performance based on skimate color is like judging a car's performance based on what color it is painted. You can set it to skim wet or dry, but color does not really matter. tea is fine.