Wet Foam Good?

OK, maybe I'm loopy. Well I am, but a thought occured to me.

There have been many posts about heavy skimming and limiting water changes. Every now and then my skimmer gets a little out of wack and produces 1/3 to 1/2 gal a day or so of wet foam. I have a 1.5 gal holding jug so it's no big deal. While not the thick and dry green goop, it's certainly not stuff I want in the tank.

So here is my thought/question. As long as I have the capability to pull that much out or more and replace it with new RO why not really crank it up and use that as my primary means of water change? I can skim say 10% of my water a month and just replace it. The only thing I'll need to watch is the salinity as a FW top off won't replace the salt lost to skimming? My thought is that the water that forms foam has more impurities in it and may be more effective than a partial water change.

OK, gang punch holes in my theory. ;D

Thanks,

Bruce

 

The question is why is your skimmer occasionally producing wet foam? Are you adding any dechlorinator with a slime coat additive?

 

Naaa, no additives. Just RODI water, salt and Kalk. It's a big mother with an adjustable waste gate. As the venturi gets cloged with salt, the water level rises pushing more foam up the tube. If I don't open the waste gate to compensate I get wet foam.

 

If you have a grip on salinity then a little wet is not bad. But a 1/2 gallon seems excessive. Most go for in between wet and dry.

 

Well normally I do too. I've used SeaClone and Jebo hang ons in the past and have no trouble making good dry foam. I'll continue to do that on my smaller tanks. I just had a random bout of insanity/creativity and thought with this application it could be a really good idea.

 

OK, its been a couple of days and no one has said I'm totally wacked. I thiink I'll experiment. No more water changes. I'm going to start heavy wet skimmimg Monday through Friday so I can keep an eye on production. My goal is to pull 5+ gal a week out of the tank via the skimmer. That will yield a 10% change a month of what I hope is the "worst" water. I normally go with 20-25%. Of course, I'm going to watch this very carefully.

 

hey there how has your expirement gone

 

Well, I got hit with Red Slime. I don't think it has anything to do with skimming. M-F I pull out 3-5 gallons a day (the tank is in my office). The skimmate is just slightly off color. Like very weak tea. Since I've been treating the tank with Potassium Permanganate for the slime so I don't trust my readings, but there is nothing to raise my hair. I stopped the treatment last Friday as I'm going on Vacation this Saturday and don't want to risk a whoopsie when I'm gone.

Aside from the slime (and this is still a newish tank) all the critters are happy. I figure I'm pulling 15 to 20 gallons a week out of the 210. That is about 30+% per month. While in certain regards it isn't as effecient as a single 30% change, it should be much better at pulling out DOCs. Ultimately, I'll add a de-nitrifier (One came with my W/D that I have not rigged).

So far so good...

Later,

Bruce

 

Blade...

How do you replenish this amount of skimmate? Is it full strenght sea water, or fresh with a little salt to keep the SG at a constant...

this is just a question as i am thinking the skimmate (well that amount) surely has a salt content...doesnt it?

Levi

 

sorry thought i had read this link before..as you can tell i have not read those wise replies above your latest post! soz....