Filter Socks?

[marvelfan]

Today I started another round of a black out period on my tank. The cyano was making a comeback =( . Currently it just looks like dust on the sand.. no slime spots like before. The glass used to have to be scrubbed every 3 days, not I'm down to once a week or less.
I have cut feeding down to 1 cube every other day and changed out my GFO Carbon. i did a couple 20% water changes over the last 2 weeks, but no I have some Green Hair algae and cyano starting back up as of yesterday. I also repositioned all my power heads and lock lines to maximize flow to areas that were really bad in regards to cyano build up. It seems to have helped.
Tonight I"m going to test phosphate and nitrate (my Seneye is reporting nitrate reading of 22 right now, but I'm just not sure how accurate it is).
My algae scrubber is growing green algae and my scrubber if removing greenish color water. It is just starting to take off again. I'm hoping the 3 day back out will help promote growth on the scrubber and kill off the hair and cyano in the tank.
Now FINALLY... to my question...
The one difference I made to the tank over the time I've been battle cyano is I added additional filter socks. After draining and cleaning my sump a couple weeks back, I realized how extremely dirty it was getting without additional mechanical filtering. Right now I have beananimal down spouts to the sump. 3 filter socks. I clean them once a week and get a nice yellow colored run off when I clean them. I clean until the sock starts looking white again and what runs clear through it.
After the the filter socks I have 30-40 lbs of live rock in the sump and a skimmer in the same chamber. It then runs back out to the return chamber.where some is passed through my GFO/Carbon reactor.
Does it sound like my filter socks could be a nitrate factory? They are keeping my sump clean, but is there a trade off?

 

[kylev]

I can't really answer your question, but at one point I was doing very similar to the same filter sock procedure and gave up on it due to the amount of work it was and am yet to see a negative consequence from it. I also have fought cyano bacteria to a pretty big extreme at
points but can't really say whether or not the socks had anything to do with it. Some are timid to kill algae with additives but chemiclean did me wonders and saved a lot of stress and headaches. I think I dosed it probably 4 times over a 6-8 month period and have seen very minimal traces of cyano since. Could simply be my water balancing out that did the most help, but who knows! Not sure if this is helpful to you but just my experience with cyano bacteria, it is one ugly pain in the butt

 

[snakeblitz33]

No, I don't think it's your filter socks. You're not running them long enough at a time for them to accumulate enough waste... I am used to not cleaning my mechanical filtration but once every month or so when I think of it... then it does become a trap for detritus and can be a cause of nitrates.
What you might consider is adding a powerhead to your liverock/skimmer chamber and blow it all out completely of detritus. It's probably going to all go in the display tank, but eventually get caught in the filters. Some will end up in the tank.. and that is where you will need to take a powerhead to deep clean the rocks out as well. Do this over the course of a week, not all at one time.
Once you clean and rid your tank of all the detritus... look for other possible reasons... like bad top off water, bad mix water, overfeeding, under-skimming, etc. etc.
A lot of people overfeed their fish, which causes a lot of problems. Fish don't need as much to eat as you would think, but they do need a little bit over a period of time... because fish can't store or produce a few key amino acids.
A pic of your system will help a little... sometimes key powerhead placement will also help...
Keep your scrubber growing green!

 

[tthemadd1]

I looked at your profile and did not see an RO unit on the list. Where do you get your water for changes and top off?

 

[flower]

Hi,
I totally 100% agree with Snake...but I just wanted to pitch in on what I do.
I put a HOB filter on my display, besides the sump system to accumulate the big stuff, and I can keep carbon in it to polish the water. It takes an instant to replace the filter, and it's a great thing to have if an emergency, when a quarantine or hospital tank is needed. It's easier to reach, and not as expensive or troublesome to clean as a filter sock.

 

[marvelfan]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///t/395737/filter-socks#post_3524062
Hi,
I totally 100% agree with Snake...but I just wanted to pitch in on what I do.
I put a HOB filter on my display, besides the sump system to accumulate the big stuff, and I can keep carbon in it to polish the water. It takes an instant to replace the filter, and it's a great thing to have if an emergency, when a quarantine or hospital tank is needed. It's easier to reach, and not as expensive or troublesome to clean as a filter sock.
Not a bad Idea. I have a very large HOB filter I recieved with my tank that the previous owner used. Maybe I could run the HOB on my Sump and add in a power head like Snake recommended to keep the water stirred up.
My biggest complaint was the amount of crap that settled to the bottom of my sump. My sump is not easy to access and its a pain to maintain a siphon so close to the ground.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tthemadd1 http:///t/395737/filter-socks#post_3524057
I looked at your profile and did not see an RO unit on the list. Where do you get your water for changes and top off?
I do use RO/DI - 5 stage setup. Its about time to change out my RO, but my DI is still good to go.. 0 TDS. I have to still measure my top off water Phosphate, but I just mixed a batch of fresh water this last week and it read 0.02. Not sure if its due to source water or Salt mix. I'll have to measure it straight from the source when I find some time this week.

 

[beaslbob]

I don't care if the filter sock is a 'nitate factory'.
To me what is important is that your system (especially the algae turf scrubber) consumes whatever nitrates (and phosphates, and co2, ect ect) the tank is generating.
Everything else is secondary and besides nitrates comes from the fish in the tank which are the real 'nitrate factory'.
But that's just me and my.
.02

 

[marvelfan]

Quote:
Originally Posted by beaslbob http:///t/395737/filter-socks#post_3524087
I don't care if the filter sock is a 'nitate factory'. To me what is important is that your system (especially the algae turf scrubber) consumes whatever nitrates (and phosphates, and co2, ect ect) the tank is generating. Everything else is secondary and besides nitrates comes from the fish in the tank which are the real 'nitrate factory'. But that's just me and my. .02
I think it just may take some time for my tank to consume all the nitrate. I can't think of any other sources, besides the fish that are adding phospate/nitrate in any large amount.
Cutting back feeding to 1 cube every other day (note that I also rinse the food in a cup of tank water before I serve it), should really cut down on the amount of added to the tank.
I'll leave the socks and clean them weekly to bi-weekly when I clean my skimmer cup.
I'm still trying to get my scrubber to grow full on green. Right now only the bottom of the screen is growing. I made an adjustment last night tot ry to get better bubble coverage over the top of the screen. Hopefully it will help, and I hope that he blackout period will give the scrubber and my cheato an advantage over the growth in the tank.

 

[deejeff442]

is it me but what ever grows on the scrubber every week you scrape one side? imo filter sock can clog and then cant put the water to the sump overflowing the dt. what ever happened to letting the tank mature and nature do its thing?

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by MarvelFan http:///t/395737/filter-socks#post_3524082
Not a bad Idea. I have a very large HOB filter I recieved with my tank that the previous owner used. Maybe I could run the HOB on my Sump and add in a power head like Snake recommended to keep the water stirred up.
My biggest complaint was the amount of crap that settled to the bottom of my sump. My sump is not easy to access and its a pain to maintain a siphon so close to the ground.
Hi,
I am disabled and can't get down to get gunk from my sumps bottom either...My solution was thinking on the line of a vacuum cleaner. The mini canister works great, I just fill it with the filter pads, the intake hose plastic (I don't use the curved attachment to hang the hoses) make the vacuum "wand" just use a longer hose so it can reach the entire sump.... and it can be hung on the stand door as you work...cleans the sump crap right up...no water is lost because it returns the clean water as you go..

 

[snakeblitz33]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///t/395737/filter-socks#post_3524118
Hi,
I am disabled and can't get down to get gunk from my sumps bottom either...My solution was thinking on the line of a vacuum cleaner. The mini canister works great, I just fill it with the filter pads, the intake hose plastic (I don't use the curved attachment to hang the hoses) make the vacuum "wand" just use a longer hose so it can reach the entire sump.... and it can be hung on the stand door as you work...cleans the sump crap right up...no water is lost because it returns the clean water as you go..

genius. I like! Easier then a wet vac.
Post a pic of the bubbles going up your screen. I am pretty good at spotting problems with those UAS systems.

 

[marvelfan]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/395737/filter-socks#post_3524121
genius. I like! Easier then a wet vac.
Post a pic of the bubbles going up your screen. I am pretty good at spotting problems with those UAS systems.
Snake.. hopefully this link is not breaking any rules.. please let me know.. but I took a video of my bubble distribution. I had it covering pretty well, but it keeps shifting. What you see is about a week of growth since I put the scrubber back in. I do have cheato and GFO working against it, but I should still even growth since my lighting is evenly distributed. The issue must be the bubble coverage. I just used a suction cup clamp to hold it against the glass. This seems to help, but isn't ideal.
http://youtu.be/JEe5IozgI5o

 

[snakeblitz33]

Quote:
Originally Posted by MarvelFan http:///t/395737/filter-socks#post_3524180
Snake.. hopefully this link is not breaking any rules.. please let me know.. but I took a video of my bubble distribution. I had it covering pretty well, but it keeps shifting. What you see is about a week of growth since I put the scrubber back in. I do have cheato and GFO working against it, but I should still even growth since my lighting is evenly distributed. The issue must be the bubble coverage. I just used a suction cup clamp to hold it against the glass. This seems to help, but isn't ideal.
http://youtu.be/JEe5IozgI5o
I don't think it's against the rules... then again, I'm not a mod and I don't see the problem with posting links, as long as it is informational.
That being said, I know exactly what the problem is... The screen doesn't have even bubble distribution AND not enough bubbles to begin with. You might have to increase the size of your air pump and get a sand stone bubbler to get even bubble distribution. Your light also needs to be pretty dang strong, and pretty close to the screen to be effective. Look into those $20 LED bulbs at HD.... I just put one on my fuge and I am LOVING it. Doesn't put heat in the water like halogens, CFL or other lights do.

 

[snakeblitz33]

By the way, MarvelFan, I'm still wondering what a Perioperative Technical Analyst does for a living...

 

[marvelfan]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/395737/filter-socks#post_3524182
I don't think it's against the rules... then again, I'm not a mod and I don't see the problem with posting links, as long as it is informational.
That being said, I know exactly what the problem is... The screen doesn't have even bubble distribution AND not enough bubbles to begin with. You might have to increase the size of your air pump and get a sand stone bubbler to get even bubble distribution. Your light also needs to be pretty dang strong, and pretty close to the screen to be effective. Look into those $20 LED bulbs at HD.... I just put one on my fuge and I am LOVING it. Doesn't put heat in the water like halogens, CFL or other lights do.
Thanks Snake. I should have taken a pic of my LED's. I think I have one up on my scrubber build thread. I have 7 3W Red and Blue LED's covering the 6x8 screen. I'll take a look online tonight to see if I can find a better pump and stone combo.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/395737/filter-socks#post_3524183
By the way, MarvelFan, I'm still wondering what a Perioperative Technical Analyst does for a living...
I need to change that.. my position changed a couple month back.. Perioperative covers the stages of a hospital visit from the point of the anesthesiologist. Pre-Operation, the medical procedure and Post-Operative recovery. I worked with supporting medical software and equipment used to digitally chart and track medical drug administration and patient vital information.
Now I'm in a new department working with Medical imaging software and long term image storage management.

 

[marvelfan]

I ordered a Fusion 700 air pump. It is one of the #1 pumps recommended for the power and price on the algae scrubber forums. I also picked up 2 power heads for my 2 sump chambers so that I can keep detritus from piling up in dead spots. I have a large power filter that I will add this weekend as well.
Is there any type of filter pads or bulk filter floss anyone recommends?
To give an update on my tank... It is now the 3rd consecutive day with no lights. All the cyano is completely gone from the sand. Hopefully none of it is dormant and waiting for the lights. I have not fed in 3 days either.
Tomorrow night will be a water change. the lights will be turned back on starting tomorrow at 4PM .. back to a normal cycle.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Quote:
Originally Posted by MarvelFan http:///t/395737/filter-socks#post_3524239
Is there any type of filter pads or bulk filter floss anyone recommends?
I've used quilters batting from walmart for a while now. It's like a 3ft by 40ft roll of it for $8 or so. I double wrap mine. Does a pretty good job.
If you want a specific job done by a filter pad like detect traces of copper and remove it,... or too much iron or a high organic load,... try a polyfilter.
Sounds like you are on the fast track to get everything under control. Glad you got a new air pump and decided to try to keep your sump cleaned out. All steps in the right direction.