Throwing all that skimmer waste into the fuge

I would never tell anyone to pour waste skimmate back into a system you want that water as clean as possible from any DOC's plants just help as does the skimmer this is why we toss the skimmate and pull and toss plants aswell to remove them and the excess waste they have collect as food. I'd never even use Vodka to help with the job that the DSB's do not take care off either . Purne the plants and toss the skimmate and make a screwdriver with the vodka and drink it , But never put it into the tank

 

Sorry I was just joking about the large Red text.

J

 

Are you sure you didnt quote that Tangster? I could have sworn you did, will have to check for it. I hope you did somewhere cause I dont like saying something about someone thats not true, thats so not me! Now, I NEVER said you said to put skimmer poo back in, just thought it was you that used the loosly phrased "what goes in should stay in" for something. If you didnt, I do apaologize, but, if you did, I will find it, lol.

 

skimmer poo makes good fertilizer

 

Now that's just wrong!!!!

 

The marianis is the deepest and I believe there are 3 subs in the world that can touch its floor. In the deep deep deep is where the amonia and heat based organisims live. They threw the whole definition of life according to science for a loop. But that is another discussion I guess.

 

I was hoping it was a good idea so I could have made some kind of sprayer on the top of the skimmer. Then it would flush that stuff into the refugium where it could decompose and send magic fairy dust all throughout reef land. Maybe even solve world hunger to boot!

That stuff in the skimmer really scares me, I dont want to touch it or come near it. :-/

Life at the bottom of the ocean, mars or somewhere in the universe, its all plausable, except for my idea .

 

I have said on many occasions to never filter the refugium water , Or to feed the refugium with the skimmers outlet water , I would have never told anyone to toss skimmate back into the system. And as for what goes in stays in is truer enough unless you filter it out, Skimmer and Carbon and any other methoed you can find to remove DOC's from the system I say its a good idea , This has always been the knock on the use of DSB it will just keep building up in hopes some magic bug will totally break it down to a harmless gas .

 

Well, skimmer goo IS a part of the real world cycle. Fortunately though, the skimmer is designed to remove those unwanteds out of our little slice of reef just as they're "removed" by dilution in nature.

You theorize that what the skimmer removes would have to be put back in to keep things in balance. What you're saying would be true if the skimmer removed vital compounds in addition to the bad stuff--but it doesn't. I think you may be under the impression that a protein skimmer removes things like trace elements and other necessary items in the tank. The protein skimmer is a vital organ, so to speak, in a reef tank. It sort of acts like a liver in a human. It has the incredible ability to remove toxins and bad things while leaving other necessary compounds undisturbed.

Dissolved organic compunds are like surfactants in nature (soap) in that they cling naturally by surface tension to water bubbles. By design, when a protein skimmer does its thing, it removes these organic compounds. As far as I know, there are no beneficial organic waste compounds produced in the aquarium that would require replenishment upon their exit.

Further, while I'm no chemist, I would postulate that no appreciable amount of trace elements, salinity, or beneficial compounds are chemically bound to those dissolved organics removed by the skimmer. It's also a good thing that the skimmer can remove the bad while leaving the good; because a refugium could never keep up with the sludge if you emptied the skimmer's cup back into it. Forget for a moment that that sludge would go directly back into the tank and become very dilute in nature, but as one poster pointed out, why remove it in the first place only to redeposit it into the tank? Additionally, pouring this sludge in the fuge, expecting that it would be broken down or neutralized is not realistic. It's like using a rechargable battery for 12 hours, depleting it completely, and expecting to put it back into service after 5 minutes on the recharger.


I hope I answered your question.

To review, skimmer good. Redepositing items removed by skimmer back into aquarium water, bad.