to sock or not to sock

[dtowsley]

ok finally got my new 92 gallon corner started so far i have 80 lbs of sand and 45 lbs of dry rock. i do plan on adding a lot more rock as funds become available. this tank is gonna be heavy fish and corals was wondering if i should use a sock or turn the whole sump into a breeding ground for pods/mangroves and different macro alges would fill the bottom with lots of smaller pieces of live rock.

[britreefer]

Do the refugium. way more efficient and the results you will see will wow you. natural nutrient intake by algae+ constant food/hiding for copepods/ mysid shrimp etc = lots of breeding=lots of suspended food for corals and zooplankton based organisms= sweeeet tank. too many benefits to count to not use a fuge. set it up right though, and have good lighting. the more algae you grow the more efficient your system will be at reducing phosphate and dissolved organics.

[jk1138]

You can use both. Get some mesh socks, they last far longer than the felt ones before getting clogged. I use the mesh Sunday night through Friday, the Friday - Sunday I use the felt. This way I only have to change my socks 2x a week, rather than 4-5.

[dtowsley]

thanks where should i look on how to setup a proper refuge

[mtlreeffreak]

Originally Posted by dtowsley

thanks where should i look on how to setup a proper refuge

id love to know this as well.

[college429]

I kept this tank for years without any sock, no mechanical filtration at all. I did have a small fuge. Great results and much easier than cleaning socks.

[OneReef]

Originally Posted by college429

I kept this tank for years without any sock, no mechanical filtration at all. I did have a small fuge. Great results and much easier than cleaning socks.

Please don't be offended at my reply, everyone has their own likes and dislikes in tanks. I am glad you don't have to do much maintenance on it it. But I feel the need to point out to others that if you do not run mechanical filtration, etc, you might not get optimal results. On this tank for example, all the corals are the same bleached out tan color. Also there is cyano bacteria going on. Like I said, please don't take this wrong, but I feel that some people will want more filtration and maintenance to get good varying coloration in their coral and a cleaner tank. I'll put my flame retardant suit on now..

[college429]

I am not offended. You can do it either way. However, you are making a few mistakes in the picture. I can tell you that my lights are on the yellow side of Kelvin. I was going for more growth than appearance. If I used more blue the coral's color would look more like a display tank. This can clearly be seen on the new white rocks a the top, there is no blue from the light. I can also guarantee you there is no cyano in this tank. What you are seeing is coraline. I am sure you can have an great tank either way.

[Dyraxe]

Use a sock and skimmer IMO. A refugium is nice but I would not use it as a filter.

[brynkal]

Originally Posted by dyraxe

use a sock and skimmer imo. A refugium is nice but i would not use it as a filter.

+1

[OneReef]

Originally Posted by college429

I am not offended. You can do it either way. However, you are making a few mistakes in the picture. I can tell you that my lights are on the yellow side of Kelvin. I was going for more growth than appearance. If I used more blue the coral's color would look more like a display tank. This can clearly be seen on the new white rocks a the top, there is no blue from the light. I can also guarantee you there is no cyano in this tank. What you are seeing is coraline. I am sure you can have an great tank either way.

Thats why I usually try to stay away from making comments on people's tanks. You can never tell what's going on in a tank from a picture, and cameras never capture the true color that our naked eye sees.

[rogergolf66]

Originally Posted by dyraxe

use a sock and skimmer imo. A refugium is nice but i would not use it as a filter.

+2

[installman]

I use a sock a skimmer and an algae scrubber on my 90 and it seems to work well ( for me at least)

[rogergolf66]

All I can tell u is the guy I bought the tank from was no skimmer basicly no filter sock it was nyllon and he was using algee in the sump as filtration and this tank needed a lot of work lots of hair algea. I have been changing the filter sock everyday. A clothe one and running over size skimmer and after 3 weeks no hair algea or a bad algea visable in my tank!!! I have always had a skimmer and sock on my tanks and I won't be changing. Good luck with yours

[dtowsley]

Yea I was thinking of just using a skimmer and a lot of lr and algea in the sump, unfortunate the sump I have isn't tall enough to hold a sock that's y I was thinking of going sockless. I change my sock on my 65 daily it gets old but its gotta be done. Just wondering everyones option on the matter.

[Todd_Sails]

My DIY sump consists of a faily large reverse durso, to my SC150 skimmer in the first compartment, then flows around and thru a 'chaeto basket', then to my Marineland 5500 return pump.

Works well, my Am, NI, Na remain zero with an occ. WC, and top offs.

I've got massive amount of LR in my display, and a shallow crushed coral bed in the DT,
and no Crushed coral or sand in my sump.

Works for me

[redhairsunshine]

I use a 55g as my sump/fuge. I have a sock that the water goes into 1st, then it baffles in to the fuge section which has live rock and tons of macro/pods etc then baffles into the return pump side where there is also a skimmer. Sometimes I question the sock also...I was told once that "the sock is like your polishing cloth and takes all the little crap out that you would otherwise see as specks in the tank"...idk... lol

My tests are all "0" for the bad stuff and within good range for all the good stuff...

[dtowsley]

Yea i agree with the sock polishing the water , not dening that a sock cleans the water and all the junk just wondering if theirs a good benifit for not running one besides all the pods which get collected in the socks

[installman]

I bought my 90 used and it was running with just a sock. Shortly after setting it up at home the algae outbreaks started. I was doing water changes of 20-30 gallons every week stirring the top of the sandbed daily and changing the sock daily as well. This went on for a few months, then I bought a skimmer (bermuda bps3 rated for 100 to 300 gallon tanks) the skimmer pulled a lot of nasty stuff out of the water, but the algae kept coming back. I then made a diy led fixture in an attempt to provide the correct color spectrum for my corals while not providing the spectrum for the algae. This helped very little, but the corals looked better under the new lights at least. Finally on the verge of just giving up on it altogether I saw a post on a diy algae scrubber and figured what have I got to lose. It cost me less than $15 to build it as I already had most of the stuff sitting around anyway. I read all kinds of negatives and positives about the scrubber and didn't have a lot of hope, but within a few weeks the algae in my tank was disappearing and the algae on the scrubber screen was growing. Almost a year later I now clean the skimmer, scrubber screen, and change the sock once a week. I have not done a water change on this tank in 6 months or more and nitrate and phosphate still test at 0. I spend 15 minutes a week maintaining this tank and hours enjoying it. Everyone has there own way of doing things. There are lots of options. Do what works for you

[spicytuna]

I love my sock, its always nice to have the option wether you want to run it full or part time. You choose.