No socks/sponges in fuge. pros/cons?

[IndusE]

I had a nitrate spike about 3 months ago and took my sock out and all of my sponges and prefilters..I noticed a significant drop in nitrates and an increase in the growth of my corals (softies/lps). I havent really had any problems after doing this, just curious if anyone knows of any adverse affects that could occur.

 

[garys reef]

how often did u change sock i wouldnt use sponges but u use socks and have no problems with nitrates

 

[IndusE]

i would switch off evry week

 

[garys reef]

how much do u feed ?? and what type of skimmer are using

 

[IndusE]

i dont feed much maybe a cube every other day for the fish and phyto and zooplank for the corals twice a week

 

[Aquadicted]

I always wondered about the same thing. My conclusion was that the reefers like to take the food caught in the sock manually as opposed to letting the bacteria do it's thing. So......... If you don't feed much.... I don't see a problem.. Maybe a good skimmer can pick up the slack

 

[d5332]

I am going to revive this thread instead of creating another.

Filter socks pros and cons, I think this may help others that are considering socks, maybe not using properly or maybe don't know the how socks can affect the tank.

I personally do not like the sock idea but I am using them. trying to change it every 2 days but would like to know if the effort is even worth it.

Pros:
aesthetically cleaner water, no free floating particles

Cons
it traps starfish, baby bristle worms and other organisms that I would otherwise just let be
Need to be cleaned often

What I don't know is if all this effort is even worth it. If you leave a sock in the tank for too many days the trapped food breaks down, more harm to the tank than actual good

Who is keeping corals, a full tank of corals and inverts regardless of type of corals and using socks? What is your opinion?

Who is not using socks and simply relying on the skimmer?

 

[skene]

If you use the crappy felt type, you will end up removing organics from the system.
If you use the mesh type any solid organics will be eaten by those bristle worms, stars and such.

Much quicker to wash out a mesh sock than to wash out a felt sock.

 

[d5332]

I was not aware that felt like material was crappy.

so what you are saying is that felt or felt like material prevents the critters from being able to transit within the sock hence they cannot eat the filtered matter

On the other hand Mesh does not tie up the critters so they are able to glide over the material eating the matter?

if that's the case than that sucks for me, I have like 25 7 inch socks and 9 4 inch socks

If you use the crappy felt type, you will end up removing organics from the system.
If you use the mesh type any solid organics will be eaten by those bristle worms, stars and such.

Much quicker to wash out a mesh sock than to wash out a felt sock.

 

[skene]

exactly... you can leave the mesh in there if you like and let the critters dine on what comes down the drain into the sock.
Finer materials/detritus will still end up in the sump which will feed the smaller guys like pods and such.

I haven't changed my mesh sock in 6 months.

 

[d5332]

wow, 6 months
so you use the sock to stop free flowing particles not so much to extract matter before it becomes nitrates.

I am trying to be a model citizen and keep tank as clean as possible hence the sock question, cleaning socks sucks. I don't mind free flowing particles, trying to determine if socks are really worth the trouble when it comes to detritus removal before it becomes nitrates.