Mechanical Filter Media Yay or Nay

[RobZilla04]

What expectations/results could one expect with and without mechanical filter media such as socks, filter floss, polyester mesh, etc.?

Aside from catching larger particles of detritus and gunk are they providing any major benefits to justify the constant cleaning, changing, and associated cost...

[ReefkeeperZ]

depends on your tank keeping style, in my tanks I only run some chemical media because I want the particulates to feed my micro fauna and keep my biodiversity high. unles I am doing things that disturb the tank a lot then I throw 2 polyester pads in my drop trays to catch excess and remove them the next day after everything has settled.

expectations without: more detritus settling in sump, increased skimmer out put, possibly faster macro growth

with and proper cleaning: less accumulation in sump/tank, possibly reduced skimmer out put, possibly slightly slower macro algae growth, lower over all pod population, decreased trochus snail breeding rate.

[Subsea]

I have had a 30G mud macro refugium set up for 25 yrs. No filter sock ever. Bio balls in first chamber provided gas exchange and broke up detritus which settled in the mud filter with the worms crawling about. It got slightly deeper, from 3/4” to 1” in 25 years and felt spongy to the touch.

[Scott07]

I feel that mechanical filtration keeps my water clearer than without so I use it. No, I don't think it's a requirement of a successful tank at all. And if you don't keep up with it, I think it can end up doing more harm than good.

[jacksonpt]

n=1 here, so take it for what it's worth...

I've had better luck without socks and the like. I will run them for short periods of time (a few hours) when doing bigger, more invasive cleaning and such... but on a regular and on going basis, I don't run any socks, floss, foam, etc. For the most part, I'd rather the tank handle the filtering/cleaning on it's own.

[RobZilla04]

Interesting to see so many initial responses of no mechanical filtration...

[oldhead]

I didn't run them on my small tank due to no sump, and after lots of reading, decided to not run them on my 110.

[lapin]

Originally Posted by RobZilla04

What expectations/results could one expect with and without mechanical filter media such as socks, filter floss, polyester mesh, etc.?

Aside from catching larger particles of detritus and gunk are they providing any major benefits to justify the constant cleaning, changing, and associated cost...

They really just remove detritus. I use them because it is easier for me to clean the socks than to vacuum my sump.

[Danny_15]

Yup how lapin said it helps to just remove the filter socks or sponge then cleaning the whole sump or overflow.

[sirreal63]

Replay of an older post, sadly the pics are no longer available, (thanks photobucket).

Originally Posted by sirreal63

Just my point of view here, this is the Advanced section which is a great place to think outside of the box. I will not tell anyone to not use a sock but I don't use them, I do not see a real need. Some things to consider...

A 200 micron sock will trap anything 200 microns or larger, until it does collect things at which point the pores begin to close down and get smaller, enabling it to filter smaller and smaller particles until it clogs and overflows, this is how all filters work. So what is it filtering? It is indiscriminately filtering waste products and living creatures (planktonic life and larger) which perform a function and are also a food source.



A sock or any other mechanical filtration will not capture 100% of planktonic life, some will remain but in most tanks there is a very low quantity of planktonic life and it makes no sense to remove it and deplete it's numbers further.

Detritus happens, but because it is there should not automatically mean it is a problem. I took my tests this morning, PO4 was .01, lower than I normally run but within testing margin. NO3 was undetectable with Salifert, as it usually is and I prefer it to be around 5 and feed heavy to try and keep it at least measurable. The end process of the consumption of food is mostly devoid of any nutritional items, it is benign bulk that has no benefit or harm. I could filter that out before anything has a chance to eat it, but why, it has been feeding things that I want in my little ecosystem.

This is a pic of my sump, in the place detritus normally settles, It has been a couple of months since I last cleaned the sump, I will clean it next water change or perhaps longer.


According to some of what has been suggested my nitrates and phosphates should be high from all of that rotting poo in my sump, but it isn't. Why? It is certainly plausible that I have enough life in the tank to consume the input of food and enough export to prevent it from becoming an issue. I also intentionally feed extremely small particles of food to the tank, pureed seafood items that are so small the fish can't eat them but they help feed the rest of the creatures in the tank, about a fourth of my food is this fine mix. These creatures would not stand much of a chance if I used a sock. I do have a lot of sponges, and I mean a lot, my rocks are covered in sponges that have grown a lot in the past year and a half when only a few small pieces were there after setting up the tank. About 90-95% of my rock was freshly acid washed prior to starting this tank in our new place. Sponges are your friends, if you don't have much sponge growth, consider why.



I do not wish to tell people not to use a sock, but as in all things sometimes you need to look at what you are doing and consider if it really has value or not. I see no need in trying to create a sterile, nutrient void container of water that I am encouraging life to grow in. If you choose to do so that is fine, but at least consider why and what the effects are.

People often notice their tanks do better after the one year mark, some sooner and some later but there is always a point where the life in the tank has reached a point where nutrients are easier to control, growth is consistent and the tank is fairly stable. Why is that? It takes time for all of the biological entities in the tank to reach stasis. You can certainly reach this point with mechanical filtration but it isn't beneficial to do, it just seems like it is and you may be slowing down the maturity of the tank and limiting the biological life that helps to control excess nutrients. Maybe you are not, but judging by the number of people on this forum daily with problems it stands to reason that some of the things we do may be contributing to problems instead of solving them.

Just my long take on the subject, please do what you think is best, but don't be afraid to examine what you are doing and why.

[RobZilla04]

Good info. Certainly don't want to re-hash a topic (common anyhow), more trying to gauge how many folks don't use mechanical filtration along with reasons and results.

[sirreal63]

I think it is an important topic. I have seen a lot of things change in this hobby over the years, some for the better, some for the worse.

[smatter]

I was anti-mech for 25 years. After reading over and over on the internet that detritus was the boogieman I started to believe it. Over the past few years I have employed various forms of mechanical filtration to facilitate its removal. Siphoning sand, siphoning sumps, rinsing felts and socks, I will never get back all that time I wasted. My tanks were MUCH better without it.

[jacksonpt]

If detrius buildup in the sump is the primary "problem" people are trying to solve with filter socks and the like... why not simply put a small powerhead in the sump to stir up the water and keep things in the water column?

[outy]

Originally Posted by RobZilla04

Interesting to see so many initial responses of no mechanical filtration...

If you let socks stay to long they become nitrate factories.

I'm using none after 5 years of socks, no real noticeable difference

pods are more abundant now

[HBtank]

Unless changed more frequently than almost everyone does, they simply become a source of nitrates... but they DO clear the water some. Therefore I only use them for every short periods when the goal is simply to "blow off the rocks", or some major disruption that will suspend a bunch of detritus in the water.

But in general I think a system that is designed around not needing socks, and instead recycle/use detritus as much as possible (i.e. refugium or cryptic zones) are stronger overall. I like to think my system is an open loop that anything that can travel through pumps undamaged can and will, where a filter sock breaks that loop from the display... kind of the point of having refugiums etc..

[Misled]

Originally Posted by sirreal63

Replay of an older post, sadly the pics are no longer available, (thanks photobucket).

Hi Jack

[ca1ore]

I don't entirely see the point of mechanical filtration .... at least not for that narrow purpose. Any canister or reactor will end up functioning in part as a mechanical filter, so cleaning schedules should reflect that (and why I run very slow flow through mine). I just have a hard time coming up with a good reason to do it - and my own admittedly anecdotal sense is that many (most?) long tenured, experienced reefers don't bother.

While some kind of filter sock will obviously remove particulates, if you have a cloudy or messy tank I'd argue a mechanical filter is the band aid - correct the source problem! Removal of detritus may seem like a good thing, but I suspect it only seems that way. As others have noted, unless you are actually exporting stuff from the tank quickly and regularly, once something becomes detritus it's likely already expended most of its organic component and is likely inert/mineralized. I haven't worried about detritus removal from my tanks in years. OK, have enough flow that buildup does not affect the display aesthetic, but in the sump, or elsewhere, no biggie. I actually encourage detritus buildup in parts of my system because it is an excellent refuge for the tiny reef folk.

[HBtank]

I recently had to clean out my overflow to replace the bulkhead, had over 1" of detritus that was 10 years old. Giant bristle worms and pods made that little area look like that scene from King Kong at the bottom of the ravine.

I jokingly noted to my family how many reefers would be appalled by that... all I saw was my systems own MUD. Why would I go buy mud when my system creates it?

You know what I did? I collected it all and put it right back in my cryptic zone (in my return area), it could use a little more substrate at the bottom and it was quite obvious my tank inhabitants LOVED it. Totally agree that I see detritus as purely cosmetic and essentially inert, as long it is not stirred up regularly I could care less and even see those permanent areas as beneficial (I have two in series, overflow and return). I do keep the display, refugium, and pump area with flow and visibly free of it.

The sad part is I now look into my "clean" overflow and what do I see? Uneaten food from days ago.... would have been gone overnight before.

[ReeferNoob4ever]

i used to use mechanical filters until I installed a chaeto reactor and realized that was the best mechanical filter I've ever had.

[ca1ore]

Originally Posted by ReeferNoob4ever

i used to use mechanical filters until I installed a chaeto reactor and realized that was the best mechanical filter I've ever had.

Yes indeed. Not sure how many people still use Ehfifix. It was/(is?) a mechanical filter material made by eheim that is essentially plastic chaeto.

[RCS82]

No filter socks or mechanical filtration here. Unless it's water change day and there is some heavy duty cleaning going on.
Posts 10 and 18 really hit the nail on the head.

[sirreal63]

Originally Posted by Misled

Hi Jack

Hi Jesse!

[RobZilla04]

So I've got a media tray where I have a blue/white filter pad and a poly pad (both of which I change monthly). They definitely get gunked up and the poly pad is a dark tan to brown color. Mainly indication it's removing organic wastes.

Comes aider green just running a poly pad (maybe two side by side if they will fit) and ditching the blue/white filter media.

[ca1ore]

I also run polyfilters. I think if you remove the brown pad and rinse it out you will find that it is capturing a lot of detritus as well.