Filter sock or no sock at all?

[Brady4000]

Hey all,

I am over changing my filter sock on my FOWLR. Anyone running no filter sock, no skimmer? I just have cheato.

Thoughts of removing the sock?

 

[Squidward]

I do socks

 

[amazongb]

Thank! That’s super interesting. Questions what is that compared to. Changing socks out every three days?

The difference between changing out out every other day and changing to let's say twice a week is astounding. Changing twice a week was just like watching nitrates grow week to week, and changing every other day changes to witnessing a reduction. Like I said in my post, it's not overnight, but nothing good happens fast. It's a great way to reduce nitrates slowly over time in my opinion.

 

[rusgum]

I hang my socks for a few hours when I blow the stones. This happens a couple of times a month.

 

[bigdrew]

Hey all,

I am over changing my filter sock on my FOWLR. Anyone running no filter sock, no skimmer? I just have cheato.

Thoughts of removing the sock?

In the last 48 hours I shut off skimmer and removed filter sock. My Nitrate is consistently 0 and my Phosphates are very low as well. I do have Chaeto and a large refugium. I have been doing weekly 5 gallon water changes (67 net gallons of water volume, so roughly 7%-ish water changes weekly). I am planning to switch to 10 gallon water changes weekly. We'll see what happens. I am having soft corals randomly dying, Zoas randomly wasting away. I started dosing Reef Trace lately and it seems to have tapered off that issue, but I don't know if it's from the low nutrients, low trace elements or something else. All of my other params are fairly consistent and in line.

 

[Just John]

In the last 48 hours I shut off skimmer and removed filter sock. My Nitrate is consistently 0 and my Phosphates are very low as well. I do have Chaeto and a large refugium. I have been doing weekly 5 gallon water changes (67 net gallons of water volume, so roughly 7%-ish water changes weekly). I am planning to switch to 10 gallon water changes weekly. We'll see what happens. I am having soft corals randomly dying, Zoas randomly wasting away. I started dosing Reef Trace lately and it seems to have tapered off that issue, but I don't know if it's from the low nutrients, low trace elements or something else. All of my other params are fairly consistent and in line.

I have not had that problem myself, but a lot of posts on here say low nutrients will cause that. Zoas definitely like "dirty" water with slightly elevated nutrients, like Nitrates at 10 or higher. Spot feeding zoas and mushrooms make a big difference in health and growth for me. Look at opinions on adding Iodine.
By the way, in case you don't know, bottomed out nitrates and phosphates is what causes Dinos to take over and they can be a nightmare. Try to make sure they don't sit at 0.

What I mean by spot feeding zoas with reef roids:

 

[bigdrew]

Thank you for the feedback. Will check into iodine and spot feeding for sure. Good tips.