Overflow socks ((Bacteria breeding ground?))

[gwilcom]

Due to some recent and still persistant problems with cyano bacteria I have been researching sumps with refug's and I have stumbled on yet another topic that no one seems to agree on.

There is a camp of people who say the socks breed bacteria and other nasty things and that they shouldn't be used. The other side says replace with a clean sock after the water spills over the top. This can take days.

So to see which camp was the majority, I started to look at different sump/refug vendor products and after awhile I lost count but they are split as well.

Based on science which side is correct? Do I go with the sock or sockless?

 

[mr_X]

i use a sock, and change it out every 3 or 4 days...i have 4 socks..when they are all dirty, i toss them in the washing machine inside out, and wash without soap. it'sd been working fine for me. they get awful brown. i don't want to keep that stuff in my system.
i say yes to filter socks. :wink:

 

[NextReef]

I'm a fan. I do the same as mr_x and change them pretty frequently, then toss in the washing machine. I actually bleach mine and then rewash with only water... kills any of the nasties in it.

If you don't want to pay LFS prices, check out Grainger... they sell them in packs of 5 for about $20.

 

[Nemo2007]

I agree with thte comments above. In fact, on my smaller tank, I could not get rid of the cyanobacteria until I started using socks. I also wash mine with bleach.

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

I want to chime in here with one for the opposite opinion so far. You can use them. They are nitrate breeding grouds. If you change them continuously, like every 2-5 days, it'll be ok BUT it's just more work. Personally I found the same effects were had, like clean rocks with no detrius settled... low nitrates, etc.... with once a month water change and cleaning of the tank and a sock for 24 hours during this. When you clean you stir it all up real good, clean the sump out since it will collect on the bottom over time, and run the sock for 24 hours during and after this. To clean the sump you just drain your skimmer or return area if it's dirty. You'll need to do this eventually anyway b/c stuff will still accumulate in your sump over time. AND.. I think it's a lot easier than taking socks in and out all the time. I don't like to do anything that requires daily maint. Except for feeding... this is a good time to watch behavior... plus you can't dose them stuff you need to give like Rod's frozen food.

SO.. it's personal choice too. Maybe somebody has been doing socks for a long time and they don't mind. I like to do stuff as less as possible. Monthly water changes are all that's necessary too. 20-30%. The main point is... there's a LOT of stuff we do in this hobby that makes little to no difference. So either way is fine.. there's little to no difference... but I think it's easier my way. I've seen beautiful SPS filled tanks with no FUGE. I've seen such tanks go on 1-3 month water change cycles.

 

[mr_X]

i like to take that stuff out of the tank early, instead of letting it build up on the rocks and sand for a month. i never blow off my rocks and sand and they appear quite clean.

are you sure your method, of leaving the detrius in the tank longer is better?

my sump has no build up in it either, because i have a filter sock to catch it.
i add food to the display, for the creatures in the display. when i add food, i shut off the pumps to keep the food in the display. i don't need much food to reach the refugium. :wink:

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

I don't have to clean my rocks off much anymore. But there's usually little to nothing there for most of us. I use to have a LOT of stuff on my rocks and I thought for years it was just my rock. It's all gone now. And my nitrates have always been the same. BUT... since tanks are so diverse it could have been a function of how much nitrates there were to remove, amount of rock, dsb, etc. SO many variable.

What I did with my problem is just once a month during a big water change blow the rocks a bit, and run a sock for 24 hours. That stirred up whatever you might have, if anything, and get it filtered out. My rock is totally clean now. Amazing. Running a sock more often won't hurt. But you gotta change them constantly. I think once a week is too long. Maybe 3-5 days.

There's gonna be something settle in your sump eventually. Some stuff comes from my fuge, leaks over for various reasons, into the return. Sometimes stuff, like a teaspoon a month, seems to find it's way in my skimmer area too. It doesn't affect my nitrates at all. I'm gonna start dosing VODKA soon just to take care of any risidual nitrates also.

Constantly running socks 24/7 will also block a lot of nutrients from circulating, NOT to mention trapping your PODS. For me, there's lots of diff. ways of doing things AND they all work too. But I want to know what is necessary only. And I've found personally running socks 24/7 is not necessary and does not make a difference... and can have some harmful unintended consequences like becoming a copepod trap.