Reef Filter Question

[freddiec]

Was wondering if anyone could give me some input on this...
Basically my sump has a fliter floss "sock" to catch particles when they drain from the tank. This sock over the peroid of 2-3 weeks tends to clog from general debris and the water starts to overflow and bypass it in the sump... for maintenance I have pulled it out, gave it a good wash /rinse then put it back in the sump. Except for the water being a bit cloudy for a short time after this everything is fine.
I'm worried that by washing it I could bio-shock my tank if its housing a lot of bacteria and washing them out. I only have 3 fish and 3 small soft corals in right now but does anyone see this as being a problem later? I don't want to have a nice reef going then crash the system from doing what is a bi-weekly mainenance. Any thoughts?

 

[snakeblitz33]

Originally Posted by FreddieC
http:///forum/post/3136893
Was wondering if anyone could give me some input on this...
Basically my sump has a fliter floss "sock" to catch particles when they drain from the tank. This sock over the peroid of 2-3 weeks tends to clog from general debris and the water starts to overflow and bypass it in the sump... for maintenance I have pulled it out, gave it a good wash /rinse then put it back in the sump. Except for the water being a bit cloudy for a short time after this everything is fine.
I'm worried that by washing it I could bio-shock my tank if its housing a lot of bacteria and washing them out. I only have 3 fish and 3 small soft corals in right now but does anyone see this as being a problem later? I don't want to have a nice reef going then crash the system from doing what is a bi-weekly mainenance. Any thoughts?
I don't think that it should shock your system if you have some other sort of biological filtration. You should actually wash that sock at least once a week if not more so that it doesn't backflow to begin with. You might also want to buy a few socks to put in rotation. A suggestion for an alternative to the sock is a .38$ piece of panty hose. Just use a rubberband to hold it on! lol. Pantyhose is also great to hold denitrate crystals, charcoal and phosphate removing media. If you want to increase your filtering capacity, buy some blue and white bonded filter media and stick it somewhere out of the way in a high flow area.

 

[mikecurrin]

Honestly I am kinda new into the sump myself and dont use a sock. Is it necessary? I thought filtering small particals would not be as good.

 

[jas1]

Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33
http:///forum/post/3136914
I don't think that it should shock your system if you have some other sort of biological filtration. You should actually wash that sock at least once a week if not more so that it doesn't backflow to begin with. You might also want to buy a few socks to put in rotation. A suggestion for an alternative to the sock is a .38$ piece of panty hose. Just use a rubberband to hold it on! lol. Pantyhose is also great to hold denitrate crystals, charcoal and phosphate removing media. If you want to increase your filtering capacity, buy some blue and white bonded filter media and stick it somewhere out of the way in a high flow area.
LOL!!! I love it snake

I think I would rather spend the extra .62 cents and geta filter sock

Great idea though!

 

[snakeblitz33]

Originally Posted by Jas1
http:///forum/post/3136931
LOL!!! I love it snake

I think I would rather spend the extra .62 cents and geta filter sock

Great idea though!
Heh, I've been using nylon panty hose for years and never saw any difference that it was better or worse then a more expensive filter sock. Plus, you can not only cut both feet off, but tie that off and get about four socks out of it for dirt cheap...

 

[jas1]

Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33
http:///forum/post/3136943
Heh, I've been using nylon panty hose for years and never saw any difference that it was better or worse then a more expensive filter sock. Plus, you can not only cut both feet off, but tie that off and get about four socks out of it for dirt cheap...
No seriously it's a great idea. I just don't think I could handle the look on the clerks face at the local drug store when I bring a pair of pantyhose up to the counter

[clerk] What's that for? [me] Uuuhhhmmm... my... uhhhhhh, fish tank

 

[king_neptune]

im running a scrubber on mine. I took my filter sock off and saw a great improvement over a few days in water clarity.
and my scrubber is picking up algae faster now.

 

[bla403]

I was using a filter sock for awhile but everytime I went to clean it I would find tons of live rotifers inside it so I decided to stop using it so that I would kill 50 rotifers each time I did a sock change.
The water looks to be just as clear but I am getting more buildup in my sump.
I really liked the sock but I didnt want my rotifers/copepods to die in it.
Any thoughts?

 

[novahobbies]

rotifers and copepods are gonna die regardless. When you swipe your glass, you're killin' pods. When you do a water change, you're suckin' pods and rotifers out of the system. Your protein skimmer traps them to get thrown out with the skimmate.
This so-called "natural" attrition of your pod population shouldn't be a problem....the few that you snuff during your routine maintenance won't affect the overall population if you have a good amount of live rock and/or a sump with a fuge area in it. The population of our microfauna is pretty self-regulating. Think about it this way....if you kill, say, 50 copepods in your filter sock, and that tiny number is enough to overbalance the population and cause it to crash, well then...you didn't have a decent breeding population to start with.

 

[jesse!]

Originally Posted by FreddieC
http:///forum/post/3136893
Was wondering if anyone could give me some input on this...
Basically my sump has a fliter floss "sock" to catch particles when they drain from the tank. This sock over the peroid of 2-3 weeks tends to clog from general debris and the water starts to overflow and bypass it in the sump... for maintenance I have pulled it out, gave it a good wash /rinse then put it back in the sump. Except for the water being a bit cloudy for a short time after this everything is fine.
I'm worried that by washing it I could bio-shock my tank if its housing a lot of bacteria and washing them out. I only have 3 fish and 3 small soft corals in right now but does anyone see this as being a problem later? I don't want to have a nice reef going then crash the system from doing what is a bi-weekly mainenance. Any thoughts?
My LFS cleans there's everyday, try that.

 

[bla403]

I understand your point regarding the pods & rotifers. It all started when I took a handful of chaeto our of my refugium since it was needed trimming. I put it in the bucket of waste water from my water change and saw some in the water. I whipped the chaeto against the side of the bucket and they were everywhere.
I know I have a good population of them but I would rather the fish eat them then just throw them out.
I am going to try the pantyhose though!!

 

[freddiec]

Sounds good overal, thanks for some of the advice. I think I'll pickup a second sock when I go to the store and just rotate them when I do my weely water changes, it wouldn't really be that much of an inconveniance. I've got about 50lbs of live rock and 50lbs of live sand in a 58g tank... and acutally today after cleaning the sock it's the clearest I've ever seen my water.
The panty hose thing is a good idea too, I may do this with my phosphate remover inside the sock... I'd be to afraid to do it by itself becuase if it did tear my protein skimmer pump would be shot.