Socks

[100gallon]

I make my own socks using felt or floss and they seem to have been good in my system.

 

[Reef Hero]

How do you keep the water clear with all that particulate would it not be kind of a foggy effect? and leaving that detritus to buildup even if suspended in water column would it not start to rot and contribute to param spikes leading to higher dosing levels and more water changes and media needed? You must be removing it somehow.

I could see it working well for a coral only system but what about a few fish pooping in the mix especially a pig of a tang.

Eventually the detritus settles again just as it always does.... And the water is clear again usually quite quickly for me. If the detritus is actually a form of organic compound then it will eventually "rot" yes but this is nature and how natural seawater deals with them too. The tank will dissolve these compounds and form ions such as nitrite, nitrate, po4, etc....
If you are that concerned about the compounds you can see with the naked eye or what you are catching in your mesh, just think of all the compounds you cannot see and are smaller than what most mesh filters will catch. Take mysis for example.... When you feed mysis the majority of the organic compounds which will eventually form nitrate, po4, etc is in the "oils" of that product. You will not catch these using most mesh filters that I know of.
As far as working for a tank with corals only and not with a heavy fish population..... I'm not sure what you are trying to get at here. You're worried about fish poop over most other organic compounds? If so, don't be cuz fish waste will easily be dissolved into your water column.... And again for every fish poop particle you can actually see, I bet there is Atleast double what you cannot see or catch with a mesh filter.

I want to also note that I don't usually feed my corals that much either..... Just my fish....so maybe that helps....idk. I used to try reef roids but it has always caused noticeable no3 and po4 spikes for me so I gave it up.

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[scubasteve]

I just use it to help pull out as much as it can to minimize what contributes to params the oils and dissolved stuff gets pulled out other ways because i feed my corals and fish heavily the best way i have found to keep everything stable for me was a deep seafloor special sandbed my overflow has no sponge on it goes down through my floss through a bio ball trickle filter over baffles past skimmer and reactor with carbon then past my fuge with lr deep sandbed and 3 kinds of macro lit 24/7 past another baffle then in return pump area

 

[yveterinarian]

i cant put sponges on my return pumps because I need all the copepods and amphipods in my refugium get pumped to my display tank... a sponge would trap them also there is small planktonic particles rasped off the macro algae that feed the corals
so I have to catch the crap before the refugium

I agree. I didn't put a filter sock into my system because of this but ended up putting a sponge on my return pump because I got rid of my refugium and just have a sump with rock in it.

 

[barebottomcouple]

Eventually the detritus settles again just as it always does.... And the water is clear again usually quite quickly for me. If the detritus is actually a form of organic compound then it will eventually "rot" yes but this is nature and how natural seawater deals with them too. The tank will dissolve these compounds and form ions such as nitrite, nitrate, po4, etc

and that is why we use floss or socks to remove the "rot" and reduce the compounds that cause po4 and the no's... natural seawater has nothing to do with what we do in a closed few gallons of water compared to the whole ocean and its natural process... if that's the way then we don't need protein skimmers bio pellets carbon or any other thing we use in our tanks....
why not remove what we can so it don't rot in our limited water space I have no problem washing out a sock or filter rather than adding other methods to remove nitrates or phosphates just my opinion and it works for me
this post was intended to save a few bucks for the people that use socks not start another "refugium is wrong" thread

 

[Reef Hero]

and that is why we use floss or socks to remove the "rot" and reduce the compounds that cause po4 and the no's... natural seawater has nothing to do with what we do in a closed few gallons of water compared to the whole ocean and its natural process... if that's the way then we don't need protein skimmers bio pellets carbon or any other thing we use in our tanks....
why not remove what we can so it don't rot in our limited water space I have no problem washing out a sock or filter rather than adding other methods to remove nitrates or phosphates just my opinion and it works for me
this post was intended to save a few bucks for the people that use socks not start another "refugium is wrong" thread

First, the same chemistry that is applied to natural seawater can also be directly applied to a reef tank. To say that natural seawater has nothing to do with what we do in our reef tank is a very ignorant statement. I am simply pointing out the fact that many reefers have strayed away from mesh filtration and are still seeing very good results. As for the refugium comment, I think a lot of ppl missed the point of that whole discussion..... The argument there was GAC being in question of actually being capable of removing no3 from seawater. I never once questioned the reliability of a refugium, but again I did point out there are many new modern ways to reduce no3 and po4 now that we have more info on how bacteria works in seawater.


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[barebottomcouple]

ok there you go guys if you use socks you can save a few bucks...

 

[pulpfiction1]

i personally feel that socks hold and create amonia and nitrates,especially if left for any length of time,when i did run socks it was only for a day or 2 once a month to polish the water a little

 

[scubasteve]

thanks barebottomcouple this is gonna come very handy for adding my substrate anything i dont get rinsed off wont take long to clear up at all with these