You're all nuts....well maybe.

[atoll]

Do you ever pull detritus out of your sump and feed your tank with it?

Nope, but I do give the DT sand a little stir now and again which helps feed corals and take much of what's left to the sump. Yes I do have detritus in my sand maybe not as much as some do.

 

[atoll]

I think I am leaning more and more towards agreeing with you @atoll my LFS is Amazing Aquariums & Reefs in Orange, CA. He has multiple displays that have been set up for 5+ to 10 years. He only runs a skimmer in his sumps. Maybe some carbon every now and then. His displays are amazing and beautiful. He also has plenty of detritus build up in his sumps. He is keeps all of his systems super super simple, but his success can't be argued.

Like I say the truth of the pudding. That's one nice tank detritus and all. People say we need to remove it, manage it, whatever that means etc etc. Allowing it to settle in the sump even in the sand is fine by me and my tanks.

 

[Mical]

I'm with the "No Socks group". I run a skimmer but only during daylight cycle, let nutrients rise during the night when most of my corals polyps are out. A footnote to that - no noticeable drop in PH from lack of aeration.

 

[smartwater101]

I think after 72 hrs or so socks can do more harm than good

From what i remember form the BRS video, after 3-4 days they decline quite a lot in effectiveness. But it would be around a week before its actually harmful.

Now i need to rewatch that video lol

 

[smartwater101]

I only run socks around water-change time, when I'm intentionally kicking up sand and blow off rocks.

The people who let the ticking time-bomb build up in their sumps/tanks and never siphon the sand... they're nuts! Lol.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I run BB with no socks. I also stopped using them after a couple annoying years of buying/cleaning/swapping socks. And yes, my tank has never looked better. I run a little carbon as I always have which keeps my water clear.

I wouldn’t say I ignore the detritus though. Mine mostly settles in the sump or bottom of my overflow. I suck those out twice a year. The little that remains in my tank gets sucked out in my weekly water changes.

 

[atoll]

I only run socks around water-change time, when I'm intentionally kicking up sand and blow off rocks.

The people who let the ticking time-bomb build up in their sumps/tanks and never siphon the sand... they're nuts! Lol.

Yep we are nuts as well even if our methods work well for us but don't you try it as you will be doomed to failure as you aren't nuts enough obviously.

 

[smartwater101]

Yep we are nuts as well even if our methods work well for us but don't you try it as you will be doomed to failure as you aren't nuts enough obviously.

Haha

So you haven't had the bomb blow up.... yet....

Edit: i may have misread that. But I like this gif too much to get rid of it.

Im going to go lick a window...

 

[WVNed]

I guess being lucky applies to not needing filtration too.

Being lucky sure seems to make doing this a lot easier.

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

I have markedly reduced water clarity if not running socks and my sump will accumulate a lot of detritus which I don't want in there going to the DT and obscuring the bottom of the sump.

Just because no mechanical filtration works for one person and doesn't change visibility in their DT does not mean it's the same for everyone and every tank.

Considering my filter socks have lasted years and still going the only cost is running the washing machine every few weeks I am not giving them up unless I see some strong reasons to do so.

My goal is maintenance free. Of course, I will never achieve that, but socks are an unnecessary maintenance item, IMO. Plus, why would you want to deprive filter feeders and detrivores of their food?

 

[Mortie31]

For me if you have detritus settling in your tank whether you use mechanical filtration or not, it will become an issue at sometime. Saying that a massive Nass snails, cucumber, various crabs and sea stars population could process this further and mitigate some of its impact. I’ve tried socks, a roller filter and I’m now on a large algae bed with no mechanical filtration. I have a large algae section 24” x 36” which has a centre baffle and so detritus settles out very well and becomes trapped under my algae, i can then either leave it as I am in my caulerpa section and I will periodically remove it from my chaeto section, mainly as to harvest it will always cause a cloud storm which will then go back through the system... one observation I have made is for some reason sump sizes seem to be shrinking, these very sleek acrylic sumps seem to have small chambers so detritus settlement would be very difficult and so for me some form of mechanical filtration is needed in these kind of sumps, otherwise a lot of it will simply cycle through the sump.. my parameters have actually improved since removing my roller filter...

 

[atoll]

Haha

So you haven't had the bomb blow up.... yet....

Edit: i may have misread that. But I like this gif too much to get rid of it.

Im going to go lick a window...

Am sorry am in the UK and can only speak English. I will try and find a translator for many of the posts on here.

 

[hart24601]

My goal is maintenance free. Of course, I will never achieve that, but socks are an unnecessary maintenance item, IMO. Plus, why would you want to deprive filter feeders and detrivores of their food?

Because I have not seen any convincing evidence my reef would be improved by not running socks either health wise or maintenance honestly.

1st pic is my acro growth in couple months. 2nd is my clam growth in two weeks. Considering I know without any doubt I get hazier water and sump buildup without socks, since I have tired before, I’m not exactly sure what I would be gaining.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

Last few tanks I haven’t used any type of mechanic. But I think moderation in all things so I do still turkey baster my rocks and vacuum the substrate regularly. My thought was that filter socks will filter out a lot of good pods and beneficial stuff and were a pain to constantly change out and clean so I don’t bother with them. I have never had a tank crash.

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

Because I have not seen any convincing evidence my reef would be improved by not running socks either health wise or maintenance honestly.

1st pic is my acro growth in couple months. 2nd is my clam growth in two weeks. Considering I know without any doubt I get hazier water and sump buildup without socks, since I have tired before, I’m not exactly sure what I would be gaining.

Hey, we are both happy with our methods and our results, so obviously there is more than one path to success.

 

[Sashaka]

Yeah I know I cannot commit to changing it every other day so I generally went without it, I think some reefers forget to realize that just because it's in the sock does not mean it's out of the system, after 48-72hrs they become nitrate factories, I feel it's much better to let the skimmer to remove these from the system entirely before they break down into DOC.

I'm no expert, but I've always believed that what the skimmer misses goes back into the tank, settles, and breaks down anyway...just as if it were in a sock. I think if one wants to use socks, one must be diligent about changing them...or...add a pellet reactor, lol. That solved my nitrate problems, and yes, I also use socks. So many ways to do things in this hobby. I love it!

 

[homer1475]

Best thing I ever did for the health of my reef, was to remove the socks!

I will run them for about 24 hours after weekly maintenance, but just top catch the carp that I blow off the rocks and/or sandbed.

We all reef differently, so if you want to run socks, then so be it, if you don't, then so be it also. Every tank is different, what works for one, may not work for everyone.

 

[Thales]

I only use filter socks or mechanicalnfiltration actively - if they don’t have a specific purpose I don’t use them. If I do use them, they get rinsed at least once a day and would argue if they aren’t being rinsed at least that often they aren’t really doing anything.
Detritus doesn’t bother me. In my home system it ends up settling in the 180 gallon sump. 18 years ago I used to try to remove it then stopped because the system design didn’t make that process easy. The detritus built up to an inch or two. When the high phosphate thing was exciting, 5 or 7 years ago, I pumped all the detritus out of the sump, but this didn’t make a difference to the animals or the water quality, so I went back to not caring about it.
The question we really want answered is how long does it take for detritus to become essentially inert. I would bet it is pretty quick.

 

[atoll]

The question we really want answered is how long does it take for detritus to become essentially inert. I would bet it is pretty quick.

This is probably the most important question I am asking here. However, none of the aquarium science companies or the major players in the trade seem to want to know or are willing to find out. A few simple but meaningful experiments would help establish at least some idea. There is no money in finding out however.

 

[hart24601]

This is probably the most important question I am asking here. However, none of the aquarium science companies or the major players in the trade seem to want to know or are willing to find out. A few simple but meaningful experiments would help establish at least some idea. There is no money in finding out however.

BRStv Investigates: What do your filter socks actually do?

Today on BRStv, we have a brand new episode of our series, BRStv Investigates. In this series, we explore popular reefing theories, products, methods, and what the manuals are missing, with a focus on putting them to the test! On this episode we are taking a look at filter socks, and can they...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

While there is of course room for improvement there does seems to be some meaningful export. Of course like everything in the hobby it’s not ‘needed’ but there is evidence they do something. Having to dose phosphate? Perhaps don’t run filter socks if buildup isn’t a concern in your system, but it appears they have value outside only water clarity. It also gives some sort of indication of the break down rate with 2x per week changes as effective as daily but nutrients increasing with weekly sock changes and longer. Implies for these system, for the food they were feeding it takes a bit under a week for that phosphate to be released. Of course other food and livestock would change those results but it’s nice to have some sort of reference.