Dosing Skimmate - Are we over skimming?

[Reef Supplies]

So we had a discussion at the shop this past Friday with some clients concerning DOSING SKIMMATE. Its apparently all the rage on RC.

One of our clients has been having great success by dosing some skimmate back into his tank. He swears that his corals are in the best shape they have ever been.

Skimmers have improved tremendously in the pas few years. Most people are buying skimmers rated for 2+ Times their volume.

I see how this would benefit. If you have a low bio-load and you are skimming the crap out of it, you are likely starving your coral unless you compensate with "coral food".

Pleas discuss. I'll be back later tonight...of to a Sunday lunch at moms.

Ray

[Aquattro]

Interesting topic, although I would lean towards lack of skimmer efficiency being under considered. Even with a BK skimmer on not enough water, I don't feel I'm pulling enough.
But let's assume this is a sound theory. Would it not be easier to put skimmer on a timer? I suppose pump restart issues would need to be considered, I know lots of people warn me with the BK to never turn off the pump :)
If you dosed skimmate back, would you dilute it? Is there toxicity concerns over concentrated skimmate? Dunno.

[Doug]

Not sure why they just don't cut back on skimming. Im not dumping that stinking crap back into my tank...:lol:
Is that not why we dose amino acids? Does heavy feeding, which is good for the fishes, do the same?
Seems so many better ways. Cant argue with someone having success doing it however.

[Bugger]

That's so dumb leave it to the rc crowd to figure something like this out. My secret to my tank is urinating in my tank. I do it all the time troll troll troll:question:

[Myka]

I watched this discussion on RC. I suggested a timer on the skimmer too. The OP of this method suggested he figured the skimmer pulled all the skimmate back out again within a couple hours. He swears it's better than feeding the fish more, but I don't know...there's lots of unwanted crap in skimmate too.

[Aquattro]

Also, for those dosing stuff to floc PO4, you'd then be dosing it back in, right?

[intarsiabox]

I suppose this would mean their skimmers are working at 100% efficiency and no longer need carbon or GFO and the like. Sounds like my car, it gets such good gas mileage that the gas tank overflows when I'm driving down the highway. If the skimmer continues to pull out gunk then obviously there is still organic material in the water. I wouldn't purposely add concentrated pollutants to my tank. Skim less or feed more if it's that big of a problem.

[Proteus]

Would it not make sense just to dose amino acids and cv.

Skimmate would not be consistent at all

[StirCrazy]

don't want to use a timer as your skimmer is adding O2 to your water also. people have had mysterious fish deaths and discovered it was due to the O2 levels dropping when there skimmer was off at night.

Steve

[Myka]

don't want to use a timer as your skimmer is adding O2 to your water also. people have had mysterious fish deaths and discovered it was due to the O2 levels dropping when there skimmer was off at night.

Steve

Yes, I did mention this potential issue in my suggestion to the OP on RC.

[Reef Supplies]

I'm with the naysayers. I would never dump that back into the tank. I get how It could feed your corals but like Aquatro wrote, what about "toxicity concerns"?

When we "feed" at least we know we are not dumping anything toxic in the water.

As for turning the skimmer on / off. Don't do it. That will only cause pump issues and as some stated, I would be concerned about oxygen.

Bugger! Thankfully you're secret is not solid dosing LOL

[mike31154]

Well I'm no pro but have been in the hobby long enough that I thought I've seen & read about everything! Who comes up with this stuff? Really? I run an old school wooden air diffuser skimmer & it works fine. Dumping any of that stuff back in the tank makes no sense no matter what flavour of tank you're running. I understand some folks actually dump perfectly drinkable vodka into their fish tanks..... carbon dosing eh?

BTW, I'm in the midst of having one too many brandies after dinner, so my ruminations may be somewhat whacko. Still, green slimy goo back in the tank?

[One_Divided]

Can someone link me the thread on RC? I can't find it..

[e46er]

This is weird to me

[shiftline]

To me it makes more sense to Just skim less

I'm thinking of changing mine to only skim at night when the lights are off

[Snappy]

Dosing skim mate actually works and so does stirring up the detritus in your sump to recirculate back to the display for late night coral feeding (I do this detritus feed about once a week myself). The idea is not about what was previously skimmed out or "over skimmed" but giving your system a nutrient spike the corals can use during lights out and the unused portion gets re-skimmed back out of the system by morning.
Again, the idea isn't to pollute your tank but as I mentioned to give a small nutrient spike after lights out that the corals can feed off of during the time they have their heaviest polyp extension. :smile:
It's called FREE FOOD.

[The Guy]

Hmm, I just spent a pile to put a good skimmer in my tank to get rid of that black toxic smelly crap, no way I'm putting it back into the tank. Makes no sense to me at all. I'll just feed the corals with healthy clean foods.

[Doug]

Hard to argue with Greg, considering his corals. I would start with the sump stir but my 2 socks clean it pretty good, unless I dump one of them back into the tank. :eek: