Does a skimmer affect salinity?

[720 Reefer]

I was just curious if the skimmate pulled out with the skimmer affects salinity at all? Does it pull out some of the salt, which in turn lowers the salinity once the top off water is added?

 

[madweazl]

It has a minuscule impact on salinity.

 

[720 Reefer]

It has a minuscule impact on salinity.

I would also assume that the more wet the skim, the more it would be affected? Or am i thinking too much about this? lol

 

[Bluespottedjawfish1]

If you are running a fast wet skim it sure does reduce salinity by removing salt water and having it replaced with fresh. Or if you lose control of your skim like after a chemiclean treatment etc. and it overfoams.

 

[LegendaryCG]

Yeah dry skimming helps stabilize it, if you are pulling cups of water out of your skimmer you could be losing salt.

 

[madweazl]

I would also assume that the more wet the skim, the more it would be affected? Or am i thinking too much about this? lol

You're putting way too much thought into it. If your skimmer goes wonky and "over foams" it will just be pushing all of that water back into the tank so it's a no factor unless you have it draining outside the tank.

 

[720 Reefer]

You're putting way too much thought into it. If your skimmer goes wonky and "over foams" it will just be pushing all of that water back into the tank so it's a no factor unless you have it draining outside the tank.

That's funny you say that because that's what triggered this thought. I was contemplating hooking up my skimmer cup to a drain and into a separate container. Maybe i will just leave as is to be safe.

 

[Quietman]

Yes. I keep track of skimmate removed (and water I use for testing) and add same level of SW back into tank weekly. So far, my salinity has stayed rock solid for 2 months. I match WC very carefully. Salinity is one of those things I really shoot for unchanging levels.

Edit: Also I have 37 gallon tank - so I have more impact due to such things over shorter time. If I had larger system, probably wouldn't track so carefully.

 

[720 Reefer]

Yes. I keep track of skimmate removed (and water I use for testing) and add same level of SW back into tank weekly. So far, my salinity has stayed rock solid for 2 months. I match WC very carefully. Salinity is one of those things I really shoot for unchanging levels.

Edit: Also I have 37 gallon tank - so I have more impact due to such things over shorter time. If I had larger system, probably wouldn't track so carefully.

My system is a total of about 85 gallons, so i do have a little more flexibility i suppose.

 

[Quietman]

My system is a total of about 85 gallons, so i do have a little more flexibility i suppose.

Monitor it...I kept noticing a drift low over time the first several months. Now I don't. If I hadn't noticed anything, I wouldn't have done anything.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Every bit of water the skimmer pulls put is salt water. This gets replaced by your ATO which should be RODI. Over time, this will eventually lower your salinity, but will take a while depending on tank size, wet or dry skim, ect.

2 part dosing will actually raise salinity, and can kinda ballance each other out. Still, all of it is easily corrected if you keep up with regular water changes.

 

[X-37B]

My skimmer tunze 9410 dc's cup has amount in ml marked. Every week I just replace skim with new water. Mine skims around 3-400ml a week. Not much of an impact on a 120 but does help keep salinity stable .

 

[Vincent Azzano]

I was just curious if the skimmate pulled out with the skimmer affects salinity at all? Does it pull out some of the salt, which in turn lowers the salinity once the top off water is added?

Shouldn’t be a very noticeable difference. It may make water evaporate just a little faster

 

[Dan_P]

I was just curious if the skimmate pulled out with the skimmer affects salinity at all? Does it pull out some of the salt, which in turn lowers the salinity once the top off water is added?

The skimmer removes tank water and organic matter. If you replace the volume of skimmate tank with freshwater the salinity will decrease exactly the same amount as if you removed the same volume of tank water by scooping it out and replacing it by freshwater.

 

[SeaDweller]

Wet skimming does reduce your salinity over time, especially if you're skimming alot weekly.