Quote:
Originally Posted by
Monsinour http:///forum/thread/380517/flower-s-sump-fuge-build/1640#post_3339922
the little floaty bits are fine and normal when you run a sump without a filter sock. I had a sock on my setup for a while and had the clear water. I liked it lots. Then 2Q advised me that I was "starving" portions of the tank and sump as those little floaty bits is what they feed on. I took the filter sock off and I now have little floaty bits in the tank. I don't mind knowing that I have something eating those floaty bits.
The smell is normal and the foam as suggested would work to reduce the smell. About the only other thing I can think of is adding carbon in a high flow area in the sump to help reduce the smell. I only smell my tank when I open the door to the sump and that is only when I do tests, or feed the flakes.
lol I don't think I said you were necessarily starving your tank. I will admit to possibly making it sound that way though.
If you liked having your filter socks on there then toss em back on. I was just pointing out earlier on in the thread that they weren't as necessary of a thing to have as a lot of people seemed to be making them out to be. Kind of as though it were an unfathomable thing to not have some type of mechanical filtration in their system. If you're a person who is going to clean them regularly, like maybe a few times a week, then they're not a big problem or anything to be too terribly concerned about. But yes I still say that not having them on there is beneficial since most of the critter that live in our sand-beds and rock or what have you will pick the bulk of it up. But the super fine particles, yes you will see those for a while in alot of cases. How much and for how long you see it all depends a lot on how much one is feeding their tank, what type of food they are feeding and how efficient is the flow and filtration of the system is as a whole.
If it's an issue that no one wants to see in there tank then there are always steps you can take to remove it. You could throw filter socks on after feedings for a little while until the tank clears up and remove them. You could stick a water polishing pad in your sump. You can hook up a handy dandy spare canister filter, maybe on the sump or the tank and run it with just mechanical filtration and or even throw some carbon in there. Perhaps run it part time or maybe even all the time. Just gotta get a little creative, figure out what works best for you with what you've got to work with.
