Socks AND no socks...

D

droog

New member
So I'm about to start an experiment with this Theiling rollermat I got from Santa this year. Its basically a mechanical filter roll that will act like self-cleaning socks. That explains the "socks part". For "sockless" part, I'm thinking of driving by a pump connected to my Apex controller. So I can run "socks" for (say) 4 hours or 8 hours a day rather than 24. Best of both worlds, or a waste of time? Not sure yet...

The case for socks
- pristine water quality
- help prevent nitrate formation at source

The case against
- may remove food and pods from water column
- hassle to change regularly

I have a mandarin, mostly LPS, some SPS and a couple of NPS. My water parameters are generally good.

Alk 8-9 dKH
Ca: 450
Mg: ~1300
No4: ~7.5ppm
Po4: 0.05ppm

Look closely at the water and can see quite a bit of gunk stuff suspended in the column.

Thinking I could run the rollermat continuously except for 4 hours after I feed corals. The reason I'm hesitant to run full-time is that I don't want to kill my pod population, nor do I want to starve my LPS/NPS that seem to prefer slightly dirty water. At the same time, I do have some nuisance lobophora (brown algae) that I'd like to starve out.

Any thoughts?

-droog
 
No socks. Just dont overfeed n ur good ;)

Keep in mind whatever you setup you have to keep maintaining that way consistently for the life of your tank. it'll get old doing all that work.
 
Last edited:
FraggledRock said:
Keep in mind whatever you setup you have to keep maintaining that way consistently for the life of your tank. it'll get old doing all that work.
Click to expand...

It will be completely automated... change the roll once in 6 months and thats about it.

Could still be worse than no socks though, I'll give you that.

-droog
 
Seen those systems used on quite a few machines for automated filtration.. They normally work very well, not much maintenance except for roll change. Would be easier than changing socks every few days
 
I agree....socks all the way. As much stuff as I wash out of them every week (and I am under stocked and underfed) it would drive me crazy knowing that all that detritus is circulating throughout my tank when it could be easily removed by something as cheap as a filter sock.
 
Waters40 said:
I agree....socks all the way. As much stuff as I wash out of them every week (and I am under stocked and underfed) it would drive me crazy knowing that all that detritus is circulating throughout my tank when it could be easily removed by something as cheap as a filter sock.
Click to expand...

it actually wouldn't be circulating that long, thats why you have a cleanup crew =)
 
Lobophora likes clean water so your not going to starve them out by making it cleaner. I love filter socks either way though but I don't run them 24/7.


Edit: Just wanted to add that the only success Ive heard of against lobophora is a Blonde Naso and a Sally Lightfoot.
 
I think I'm truly running "Socks AND no socks ..."

I've got two inlets into my sump, one goes through a sock, the other does not.
 
I have seven tanks on the system. I use a sock on one from the sehorse tank which is very heavily fed. None on the rest of the system which is fed heavily but not quite as much as the seahorse tank. I also use them during maintenance when larger amounts of detritus hit the water in a given tank. It's a matter of balance ,imo.
 
That roller system looks neat. Pricey at around 370 dollars though
 
I favor mechanical filtration because every weekend when I change it out I look at all the brown crap that it has filtered out and know that if I didn't use it that would all still be in there someplace.
 
JerseyGuy said:
I favor mechanical filtration because every weekend when I change it out I look at all the brown crap that it has filtered out and know that if I didn't use it that would all still be in there someplace.
Click to expand...

It eventually gets pulled out by your skimmer... but yeah.
 
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