ridetheducati
20 and Over Club
Socks and sponges have their place and purpose and its not in a reef.
Do yourself a favor and remove ALL sponges and socks that restrict flow.
Take Out Filter Sock???
- Thread starter markaren
- Start date
Socks and sponges have their place and purpose and its not in a reef.
Do yourself a favor and remove ALL sponges and socks that restrict flow.
i have just recently jumped on the no sock bandwagon as well. Improved skimmer function has been the result. So far so good. I researched it a good bit before taking the plung.
Best of luck with your tank adventure. I live right up the road if you want to take a look at my tanks. I cant tell you how to do it "correctly" but i can list the things that I have done wrong!
Best of luck with your tank adventure. I live right up the road if you want to take a look at my tanks. I cant tell you how to do it "correctly" but i can list the things that I have done wrong!
ReefNation
New member
Its a tough call whether to use a filter sock and filter out plankton the corals will eat or risk going sockless and possibly filter out nasties like AEFW/MENB larvae. Not that the later has been well documented. Anyone seen research on that at all?
AcroporAddict
There is no substitute.
I use three 7" filter socks on my 155 gallon sump that services my 465 gallon reef. They are only nitrate factories if you don't clean them regularly. If you are honest enough with yourself and your maintenance habits to say I won't clean them as often as I should, then you should not use them, plain and simple. With proper cleaning they are very effective at mechanical filtration and water polishing, depending on what micron rating you use. I use 100 micron nylon mesh socks instead of the nylon felt ones you use, as they are exponentially easier to maintain. Take them outside, turn inside out and blast clean with a garden hose. Once every couple months soak them in a 10% bleach solution for a couple hours, then rinse and air dry.
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
sock it to it
sock it to it
I love all the boneheaded commercial sump designs that waste valuable space with a bunch of nifty looking useless baffles while NOT including a mechanical filter sock holder bracket. This is why DIY sumps are best.
The pros of using mechanical filtration far outweigh the cons IMO/IME
sock it to it
I love all the boneheaded commercial sump designs that waste valuable space with a bunch of nifty looking useless baffles while NOT including a mechanical filter sock holder bracket. This is why DIY sumps are best.
The pros of using mechanical filtration far outweigh the cons IMO/IME
azjohnny
Active member
Agree.....I siphon the sump with a shop vac while doing a WC
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Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
oh... you mean a filter sock! :lmao:
Nope, that's a detritus removal accessory :spin2:
I have no proof of what I'm about to say, perhaps someone more knowledgeable can chime in.
Filter socks cause water to flow through trapped detritus while water moves over a bed of detritus.
I hypothesize that the increased surface area of detritus in the sock, and the larger volume of water moving through it, leads to nitrate production more quickly and efficiently than detritus sitting at the bottom of the sump.
AcroporAddict
There is no substitute.
But where a filter sock is better is that it removes organics before they decay, whereas with a physical settling location the stuff will decay to nitrates before it can be removed. No one is going to siphon their sump every two days.
If you have softies/LPS you might want to not use a sock to keep the organics circulating. In my situation with an all SPS tank, however, using socks is just one of several ways to export nutrients.
I doubt that. Junk at the bottom of a sump gets all sorts of water passed through/over it with any decent flow rate. You wouldn't find any difference. Key is getting the stuff out before it decays. Once it turns into that fine tan powdery stuff we all see in the bottom of our sumps, it's too late to worry about whether it has decayed or not...it already has.
The stuff in the sock is the same stuff that's in the bottom of the sump. It's just in a different location
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
no it's not. The color of the day old junk in a sock is aprox. the same color as skimmate. The junk that settled at the bottom of your sump weeks ago is grey dust like detritus.The stuff in the sock is the same stuff that's in the bottom of the sump. It's just in a different location
Hm, when I was running mechanical filtration, it was always the same color as detritus, and I changed it daily. That's with 1600 GPH in a 10g nano with barebottom. Maybe I was doing it wrong.
AcroporAddict
There is no substitute.
The stuff in the sock is the same stuff that's in the bottom of the sump. It's just in a different location
When I clean my filter socks, I sometimes find food that has made its way into the socks through the overflow, even though I turn off my pumps off for 10 minutes in feed mode. It is still recognizable, which means it hasn't decayed yet, or not completely at any rate. Just an example, but if that just dropped to the bottom of the sump to settle, it would decay completely and be nitrate material if it weren't for the filter sock.
I vacuum the bottom of my sump maybe every 2-3 weeks maximum, but I rinse my mesh filter socks every day or every other day.
scar79
Member
I don't use socks. One less thing to worry about, one less maintenance item. It gives every piece of particulate an opportunity to get picked up by the skimmer which removes it from the water column entirely (instead of trapping it in a high flow area). Everything else settles on low flow areas of the sump. When I perform weekly water changes, I simply pull the water from the sump, siphoning off detritus.
One thing I've seen mentioned around here is the idea of the conical settling tank.
When I upgrade to a larger system with a dedicated fish room, I'll certainly entertain the idea. I like the idea of the having overflow dump directly into a settling tank, then it can move onto the sump. For water changes, you could simply turn some valves to divert water directly to the sump, drain the settling tank through the bottom, refill it with new water, and open it back up to flow. You wouldn't even have to shut the system down!
One thing I've seen mentioned around here is the idea of the conical settling tank.
When I upgrade to a larger system with a dedicated fish room, I'll certainly entertain the idea. I like the idea of the having overflow dump directly into a settling tank, then it can move onto the sump. For water changes, you could simply turn some valves to divert water directly to the sump, drain the settling tank through the bottom, refill it with new water, and open it back up to flow. You wouldn't even have to shut the system down!
rldcpa
New member
I use a 7" felt sock and have a really good skimmer. The skimmer takes out alot more than the sock. I clean the sock once a week with my washing machine using hot water, pre soak with vinegar and it cleans it well without bleach.
I have no phosphates or nitrates and do not use GFO or a bio pellet reactor. I do use Chaeto but that is not so much for nitrate control but just to feed the fish and to alternate day/night lighing in the sump for PH.
My sump is spotless (no gunk and no algae and never have to clean it).
Without the sock the sump would be a mess. Why not take out the big stuff with the sock and clean it once a week. No big deal, as I alternate between 2 felt socks so one is always clean.
Cleaning the protein skimmer every other day is more of a chore, but only takes 5 minutes. Mine gets filthy and could be cleaned daily (sometimes I do).
However, let me say that all tank setups are different as it would depend on how much you feed, size of the tank and size of the skimmer.
I just could not go without a sock knowing that you are just recirculating filth that you just drained out of your display tank, back into the display tank, as you know the skimmer does not catch everything, but the sock does catch everything that is not microscopic.
I have no phosphates or nitrates and do not use GFO or a bio pellet reactor. I do use Chaeto but that is not so much for nitrate control but just to feed the fish and to alternate day/night lighing in the sump for PH.
My sump is spotless (no gunk and no algae and never have to clean it).
Without the sock the sump would be a mess. Why not take out the big stuff with the sock and clean it once a week. No big deal, as I alternate between 2 felt socks so one is always clean.
Cleaning the protein skimmer every other day is more of a chore, but only takes 5 minutes. Mine gets filthy and could be cleaned daily (sometimes I do).
However, let me say that all tank setups are different as it would depend on how much you feed, size of the tank and size of the skimmer.
I just could not go without a sock knowing that you are just recirculating filth that you just drained out of your display tank, back into the display tank, as you know the skimmer does not catch everything, but the sock does catch everything that is not microscopic.
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
Why would you want to return particulates to the main tank?
Even in the highest flow BB systems not all particulate matter gets filtered out of a reef aquarium.
I realize everybody has different goals and ideas of what their reef aquarium should be. In some cases you might want detritus returned to the reef aquarium but in the vast majority of situations there's a reason we run filtration on reef aquaria.
Run a marine aquarium where particulate matter gets returned to the main display for a couple of years and see what you end up with.
I've done this in the past believing particulates are best returned to the display.
I was mistaken.
Even in the highest flow BB systems not all particulate matter gets filtered out of a reef aquarium.
I realize everybody has different goals and ideas of what their reef aquarium should be. In some cases you might want detritus returned to the reef aquarium but in the vast majority of situations there's a reason we run filtration on reef aquaria.
Run a marine aquarium where particulate matter gets returned to the main display for a couple of years and see what you end up with.
I've done this in the past believing particulates are best returned to the display.
I was mistaken.
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