Nitrate gamble, is it worth the payout ?

[Ogi]

Ok so here's my questions which I'm sure had been well debated over the years, do I keep my filters socks and change them every three days removing debree before it gets a chance to decay, or do I ditch them and go all natural ?

Pros for sock :
Remove larger particles before they get a chance to break down
Remove food before it decays

Cons:
Have to wash them
Catch a bunch of amphipods and Copepods every Change

My nitrates stay constant at 1ppm, please help me decide :)

[DrPheel]

You can remove one of the cons by using mesh bags that make cleaning much easier ! I prefer to use it to polish my water and keep my sump from having detritus build up since I don't like cleaning it due to access under my cube stand. If you are getting pods in the sock after 3 days they are well populated and should not have any issues reproducing. I would not change them or take them out but that's my personal preference :) with my bioload, I can manage to keep nitrates at 0 ppm by changing them each week with my regular WC. But every tank has its own personality and I would get aggravated if I had to do it every other day so I would probably change for mesh at that point to compensate for my wasted time.

thats just my 2 cents :beachbum: Let us know what you decide , you now got me thinking about what im going to do when my bioload gets up :D

[WLachnit]

Mesh bags instead of filter socks? Do you have a link or a pic of a large mesh bag?

[Ogi]

I've decided to just continue using them, i find it easier just to change them out rather than having to vacuum my sump, also I don't have any fish that eats pods. I'd love a mandarin but I'm sure it would decimate my population in my 30g and starve, thanks for your input :)

[Potatohead]

If you have constant 1 ppm why in the world would you consider removing them? Keep testing and see how long they will last before nitrates rise, could be a week or longer.

[Jscwerve]

I like the water clarity the socks provide. I use the 200 micron amazon jobbers.

I hated it when I only had 3 socks I was rotating. I bought a dozen more and change them about every three days now. Whenever I can see that it needs it. I just throw the dirty ones in a bucket until wash day.

Unfortunately I haven't really seen masses of pods in my tank since I started using them.

[Ogi]

I change them every three days because I start hearing a gurgle if I don't, I have the tank in my bedroom so I like it to be silent