PDA

View Full Version : Sock with Refugium?


paulhines
03/30/2007, 06:47 AM
I'm planning on adding a good size refugium/sump to my 65g mixed reef. In my current sump (without refugium) I use a filter sock.

Should I use one with the refugium? What effect does it have on the pods I'm trying to grow?

scuba namena
03/30/2007, 07:24 AM
i have to use a sock on my set-up (fuge return to sump) due to micro bubbles.
i dont want to but i have no choice now.
im sure it restricts some live "food" from passing through , however, a fuge with a sock is better than no fuge at all (in my opinion)

dendro982
03/30/2007, 08:40 AM
I tried both variants:
- refugium, fed by raw water from heavily fed main tank - ended with a lot of detritus and red slime, and
- fed from the sump, after micron sock and protein skimmer (which is not doing it's best) - a little detritus, no red slime at all, hitchhiker sponges are doing much better. The last, filtered, is fed additionally (a tablespoon/5g, may be) by fine food for pods or whoever is there.

I guess, that depends on the purpose of the refugium:
- if this is for lowering nitrates and phosphates, with minimal maintenance, then - filtered and skimmed water,
- if for growing pods - they have to be fed, but IMHE the raw water from the main tank pollutes the refugium too much.
- if as a refugium for a particular inhabitants - again, the cleaner is the better, plus phosphates will be lowered by algae.

mcurl98
03/30/2007, 09:07 AM
pods won't pass through a fine sock. If fuge is just for lowering nitrates, no problem-assuming you clean the sock frequently. If you want pods to breed and populate your display, problem. I've never used any type of sock and have no problems.

davidryder
03/30/2007, 09:23 AM
I would definitely not use it... you would defeat one of the 2 main purposes of having a fuge.

dendro982
03/31/2007, 06:26 AM
I meant the sock at the refugium entrance, not exit. :D

And, as I said, the problems with polluted refugium were for the tank with very high bioload. This and the low bioload tanks - are quite different.

davidryder
03/31/2007, 07:53 AM
Looks like you got it figured out :)

TitansFan
03/31/2007, 07:58 AM
I use a sock in my setup, Running barebottom I find it helps with mechanical filtration. Without using it I think my fuge would get quite nasty. I still have plenty of pods. I do though remove larger pods from the sock when I change them out. I have to change my sock every 3 days.

dendro982
04/01/2007, 08:02 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9613578#post9613578 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davidryder
Looks like you got it figured out :)
Sorry, but several times I was given advices and examples of reefkeeping, based on experiences with very low bioload tanks (evaluation by the owner in another thread), it didn't work for my hight bioload tanks (and this difference in running tanks was mentioned in many threads). Since then, I'm stating the type of the tank, that I'm talking about.
Somehow I considered this as a just and courteous gesture.

davidryder
04/01/2007, 11:22 AM
I don't think filtering the water coming into the refugium would cause any problems. When we are talking about hundreds of thousands of pods a couple hundred filtered out isn't going to impact much of anything. And filtration has to occur, so putting it at the entrance to the refugium sounds like a reasonable idea to me. I think a skimmer would probably filter out more pods than a filter sock...

ToddG
04/01/2007, 03:08 PM
I runa sock on the intake to my fuge because my fuge doesnt have a seperate intake chamber (sand storm if I dont use a sock or something)


When I change socks I pull it inside out and look for pods to drop back in the display. I usually find 5 or so good size pods that have managed to take the ride down a overflow.