Best way to get new sump/skimmer going?

[DanG]

I'm just finishing the plumbing and am now starting to think about the best way to get my skimmer going.

It's built into the sump. I am due for a water change in my old tank and was thinking about just dumping in the water I take out of there into the sump for the skimmer to work on, or my other idea was to take the skimmate my old skimmer has collected and dump that into the sump with a batch of NSW.

Or is there a better way to do it?

[mseepman]

I wouldn't every dump skimmate into nice water...it's counter productive.

I recently started up a new sump/skimmer and I filled the sump with NSW (that I made 24 hours before and had mixing for a while). I had made sure that the salinity was matched where I wanted it and that the temp was good too. Then I turned on the skimmer and the pumps and basically gave the tank a new infusion of clean SW. My tank is a 70g with a 20g sump. I didn't do a water change at the same time as I was worried that would change too much in the tank. I did do a change about 2 days later though only a small 5% one.

[mark]

If it hooked into your display, would just turn it on. Should start making skimmate when the demand is there. Just be prepared for some fiddling until things settle in.

[Chad]

I see what you are trying to do.. just want to break in the new skimmer. I see no problem with using your change water.. just dump it in the sump and let the skimmer work for a bit. Then when its time to bring your old tank into your new tank setup (which I am assuming this is) .. just dump the contents of that sump.. clean out the skimmer and then let'er rip with the system. You will just have to adjust it accordingly.. but your initial break in will get rid of any residuals on the skimmer/sump..

So, I say go for it :-) .. its just the effort of dumping the water in and then removing it later.