Skimmer gunk
 

Does anyone know.. Is the gunk in the skimmer cup salty?

Yes it will contain salt

As I was scraping the gunk out this morning I was wondering that.. If not i was going to start using it as plant fert.

The only way to know for sure if its salty is to give it a taste

I have read that people use it for plants....I guess the salt doesn't matter that much. Its pretty low anyways.

Let me know after you do!:razz:

check the salinity of the skimmer juice with a refractometer.

Salt is a major. It binds nutrients making it impossible for plants to take them in. And or coats the roots prohibiting nutrient uptake.

Anyone who has done any amount of indoor or potted horticulture will agree salt is bad. It's in all fertilizers and needs to be flushed out periodically. No matter how low it will build over time

When oil spills happen from the well or pipeline it's not the oil that's bad as it's organic but rather the saltwater that comes with it

Ok Jess, who the heck wants to taste the revolting gunk from a skimmer cup. But ya I guess it's the only way to find out. How's the new tank doing?

Lol , I put a smiley face after I wrote that so people would know I was joking ,but the smiley face never showed up. I won't be tasting it to find out anytime soon lol.

New tank is doing well thanks.

+1 to the notion that skimmer gunk is way to salty to use on plants. The water component of the gunk in the skimmer cup will be the same specific gravity as the water in your tank, which is many, many times more salty than any land plant not adapted to an alkali or salt slew can handle long term.

Theoretically you can remove the salts, but doing that in a way that does not also remove most of what you're trying to save in the gunk in an efficient and speedy manner would require equipment you probably wouldn't have or want to invest in (like a centrifuge).

Though perhaps I'm thinking too much like a scientist, Maybe you could try collecting it in coffee filters (though the pore size of the filters might be too high for the super fine material in skimmate) and rinse it thoroughly until the salts have all been leached. If you bought the right coffee filter could then compost the skimmate and the filter together. It might take longer than it's worth for what you'd get out of it though.