No more skimmate? Problem or Good?

I've always had the same problem, too...a coralife 65 on my 45 gallon system. 10% weekly wc. Never pulled much skimmate, but my bioload consists of coral and 2 seahorses.
I figured it was just a low-end skimmer problem, but I noticed when I got busy and neglected some water changes that it started pulling more out.

 

Hi guys, I'm new. My very first post. Apologies in advance if my etiquette is off. I am experiencing exactly what jimmy beaner describes. Have always gotten thick dark skimmate from my protein skimmer. Added a fairly large amount of fresh rowaphos yesterday and have no skimmate at all today. Same story...lots of bubbles but nothing crawling up the tube. Would love an update on what you experienced over the next few days or weeks. Did the skimmate come back? Should I be worried?

All testing within normal parameters.

150 gal mostly FOWLR with few soft corals. light bioload

 

Carbon is more effective at removing organics from the water than a protein skimmer is. If you just changed your carbon, that might be the likely reason.

 

i actually took my carbon out a couple of weeks ago. have been struggling to get my phosphates down below 0.05. they tend to hover around .1 to .12. i read an article that said that activated carbon can leach phosphates. ive already covered the usual sources. i feed lightly, rinse all frozen food, use only ro/di water, use only phosphate free additives. im suspecting phosphates may be leaching from the rocks. anyway...took the carbon out just in case

 

A high quality carbon should not leach any phosphates. What brand are you using? Even if your rocks are leaching phosphate, continueal use of carbon dosing or GFO can remedy that situation over time.

 

ive been using marineland black diamond. i just put in a larger reactor and doubled the amount of rowaphos in it two days ago. am hoping for decreased phosphates when i test today. think i should put the carbon back in?

 

If you are trying to remove phosphates then you should use GFO in the reactor.

 

I know. Rowaphos is a brand of GFO. That's whats in my reactor. The carbon was in a filter bag in my sump before I removed it..

 

gcarroll...just found an excellent research article comparing different brands of carbon and how much is leached into the water. marineland came out the worst (darn it), two little fishies came out the best. have ordered some of the fishies and will return carbon to the sump when it arrives. thanks so much for the input.

 

Sorry, for some reason i confused that with a brand of carbon. My bad