Salt level in skimmate

[S.O.MLemos]

So other than the fish hobby I also have a pretty decent sized organic garden that I take pride in and I compost a lot of my waste but I’ve been wondering about the waste from my skimmer. I guess my basic question is does the proteins out weigh the salt thus making the collection cup mostly protein waste or is the salinity the same as the tank? I know most my veggies won’t like much salt but all that fish waste seems like it would be very beneficial even if I had to dilute it a lot. There’s no way I’m going to taste, test or even smell the skimmate so an educated answer would be great lol

 

[reefrf]

Following along for the answer.

 

[reefrf]

Nobody has tried this?

 

[smoothmove]

Salinity is the same as the tank

 

[Shon]

I use Sea90 fertilizer. All it is is dried sea salt. It was something along the lines of 1Lb salt to 5 gal water at 12 inch (I use it at 1-6-12) for compost.

Im sure the skimmate would be a nice boost your compost N ratio. I am not sure to what percent to effect though. If your pile smells like an old cat litter box (ammonia), you used too much and could mess up your wrigglers (if you worm).

I am actually going to get into gardening again. All I have done at my new place is weed my lawn with clover and planted some bananas (Blue Java; IceCream, small but Delish!), my persimmon did not make it.. I want some odd end plants and herbs. Like the jambu (toothache plant), and jujube (the apple-date, not the candy). I would get Surinam Cherry (grew up on these) but they're banned now in Fl as invasive.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes, the salinity in skimmate is very close to seawater salinity. It is easily measured by conductivity, assuming it is liquid enough to put a probe in it.

 

[S.O.MLemos]

Thanks for the reply’s. Hasn’t seemed to bother my roses yet so I’m sure it’s fine

 

[S.O.MLemos]

I use Sea90 fertilizer. All it is is dried sea salt. It was something along the lines of 1Lb salt to 5 gal water at 12 inch (I use it at 1-6-12) for compost.

Im sure the skimmate would be a nice boost your compost N ratio. I am not sure to what percent to effect though. If your pile smells like an old cat litter box (ammonia), you used too much and could mess up your wrigglers (if you worm).

I am actually going to get into gardening again. All I have done at my new place is weed my lawn with clover and planted some bananas (Blue Java; IceCream, small but Delish!), my persimmon did not make it.. I want some odd end plants and herbs. Like the jambu (toothache plant), and jujube (the apple-date, not the candy). I would get Surinam Cherry (grew up on these) but they're banned now in Fl as invasive.

Yeah my compost is gold with all the extra sawdust from side jobs, unlimited amounts of coffee grounds from Dutch Bros Coffee, eggshells gallor from local restaurant, and epsom salt all kinda balance out all the “green”(nitrogen) and I only have a 55 gallon tank so it’s not an abundance of skimmate. Just wasn’t sure if the salinity was concentrated since salt tends to rise.

It’s cool to add rare plants that aren’t heard of much, I’m jealous of your region though because I’m in southern Oregon so the winters can be pretty cold sometimes and I’ve lost a few things that are supposed to be ok around here but we get big freezes sometimes and I can only bring in so many plants and I prefer in ground over pots. I have 2 bananas but they won’t produce fruit because of the winters. My pomegranates, goji berries, pine berries, Logan berries, raspberries, blue berries and 15 types of grapes do well though. I also have Passion flower/fruit and kiwis but they also don’t produce(kiwis don’t like when it gets over 90 degrees and it hits 115 every summer). You have so many options though your pantry and freezer should be stuffed with sweet goodies. I wonder if you can get your hands on mangosteen, rambutan, custard apple, soursop, kaimito or any of those exotic plants from islands. I’d also grow Buddha’s hand and finger limes if I was where you are. Lol

 

[S.O.MLemos]

Anyone who might have been wondering the stuff works great and the salinity doesn’t seem to harm anything. I’ve been dumping all my skimmate in various spots for months now as well as my usual organic concoctions and this year all my produce, flowers and anything that’s green seems to be growing twice as fast/large. So don’t just flush that liquid gold, use it! lol