Help!Vacation Bad - Page 2

Geoff · 06-11-2003, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jimmer
Sorry for interrupting the thread but it seems I have always collected "wet" skimmate. I have a US Aquariums skimmer with a rio pump. I almost always have the venturi opened up all the way. Anyone have ideas how I can get "dry" skimmate and what does that look like?

On a related note, I seem to be growing a great deal of hair algae in my skimmer and there are bio-balls in it. Does anyone have any experience w/ this skimmer? I'm thinking I may have to bust it open, yank the bio-balls, and scrub out the algae.

you can lower the water level in the skimmer. that should dry the skimmate out. hopefully you can control the flow through the skimmer. the bioballs are prolly in there to slow the water down so it has its extended contact time. if you have algae growing in it, it is time to clean it out. you may only be skimming the stuff that the skimmer is producing.

HTH,

G~

chopper · 06-11-2003, 04:02 PM

Can anyone give me an educated guess on if my pieces are a loss or not? I have removed the mucus as tdwyatt suggested with the baster idea, but don't have a baster so I just made a water current with my hand. It seemed alot of stuff came off, I assume that is dead tissue. Is there any hope for my corals? Does removing all of the mucusy tissue give the coral a chance to regenerate, or does that mean that the coral is dead and the material is in fact the coral itself and all is lost? Please help. I am wondering if I should try to nuture these things, or if they are completely dead with no chance to revive themselves?

chopper · 06-11-2003, 04:16 PM

By the way Reefer Addict thanks for the picture of the "wet" skimmate.

Reefer Addict · 06-11-2003, 04:39 PM

No problemo chopper... I'm always ready to post gross skimmate pix...

Jimmer asked:

Quote:

Anyone have ideas how I can get "dry" skimmate and what does that look like?

Dry skimmate is a dark greenish-brown color and has the consistency of molasses (from what I've seen). I think it pretty much rests on the quality and capability of the skimmer on how dry the skimmate is produced. If you can adjust the water level in the skimmer (like Geoff suggested) that can also help produce drier skimmate, but that would depend on whether or not your skimmer has that type of adjustment.
My skimmer is the venerable SeaClone 150, so I'm pretty much stuck producing a wetter skimmate (the water level isn't adjustable). I don't think it would suffice if I had an SPS tank, which needs pristine water conditions, but it still does a fine job for what I need it to do on my softy and LPS tank.
HTH

tdwyatt · 06-11-2003, 04:42 PM

You have mail...

The mucus is a reaction to stimuli, whether it be due to physical pressure/touch, stinging by other corals, tissue distruction (as in being eaten by fishes or parasites), substrate on the coral (a means of clearing detritus from the coenosarc), temp peaks or sudden water quality/salinity changes. Sometimes they just do it, but it is most often in response to some physical stimulus. If they are spending metaboolic energy making mucus, they will most likely survive, although they will definitely be pouty for a week or so if the damage was severe.

Maintain good water quality and salinity, watch temps for a while, keep you alk and Ca up, things should settle down in a few days.

Reefer Addict · 06-11-2003, 04:46 PM

As a small aside... I just love your sig TDWyatt.

I'm still not sure where I fit into that philosophical statement...

tdwyatt · 06-11-2003, 04:52 PM

Heh!

Clear and concise when needed, and if it has already been said, there is no need to repeat it. I don't post a lot of the socal threads, and I tend to let others answer threads when the info is readily available, but unless it is a little off the wall or specifically wrong or needs more detail, I will usually not comment, heh, I guess that is why I have so few posts (How does Doug get the time to do that???)