skimate

1mg

1mg

New member
in all my research i see all ato don't and salt because salt doesn't leave the system through evap. but do you lose salt in the skimate. i ask because the detritus would make a great plant fertalizer like aquapotics if it was not over loaded with salt. they do this with fresh water where they flot cabbage and lettuce on sheets of plywood with holes cut out for roots in troffs with fish. it would be great for house plants.
 
it's salty. Sorry bro. My skimmate reads the same as my tank on my refractometer. I keep some bonsai trees and I went through the same thought process when I first got my tank running. Too bad too because you know plants would love that nasty.
 
in a hydroponic system it probably wouldn't become toxic and might add a small amount of nutrient, but in a potted plant or a garden situation it would collect enough salt in just a few applications to kill most plants. Any skimmate would have to be diluted to the point that it wouldn't really be worth the trouble. It would be great for a mangrove growing system, but regular plants or crops just can't tolerate salt at all. And since the only way to get salt out of water is to take the water out of the salt you're left with salty, but highly nutrified muck. Trying to get fertilizer out of skimmate would take a baxter lab and Miracle-gro works pretty darn well and comes with a dropper.
 
dang thats what i figured but it was worth asking because i know the fresh water is good. it had started to clog the skimmer hole from building up, normaly it stinks like chit but when i whiped it out it had a smell like topsoil and the texture of mud. it made the wheels start turning. but your right if it is salty than it would build up quickly. most fertilizers are salt and thats how they get burnt. thanks for the imput though.
 
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