Finally - Pics of my FREE 100 gal. Tank

[Buddy08]

+1 fishfood... the foxface's grow rather large . larger fish = more waste, more waste = more nitrates. when you add lots of big fish, youre also putting a strain on your waters bio load. its like the straw that broke the camels back... one straw of course wont break a camels back but if you continued to add straw, it would eventually overload the camel and break its back. same concept in the aquarium hobby, higher nitrates = poor water, poor water = sick fish, sick fish = dead fish, dead fish = frustrated jra95sho.

[andy4499]

dead fish = frustrated jra95sho.

That about sums it up. LMAO

[Buddy08]

[JRA95SHO]

Still battling with high nitrates too. I didn't know this, but after reading some today, you're supposed to change out those sock filters every few days if you use them or they become nitrate factories. I've changed mine once or twice in the month and a half I've had the tank. I'm thinking that may be a big part of my issue.

[jt3069]

I DON'T THINK A FILTER SOCK ON A NEW TANK IS YOUR ONLY PROBLEM NOT TO SAY DOING A GOOD CLEANING WON'T HELP

[Fishfood]

I think a filter sock could be a big problem if not kept clean. I hate the things because I never remember to clean them. I've gotton to the point that I only put them on when I'm cleaning something up in the tank. I still have a bubble algae problem and when i scrape the inside of the overflow, or try cleaning them off the rocks. I also don't keep up with cleaning the glass and when it gets bad I put a filter sock in. Otherwise i'll just let the skimmer get most of the gunk and then i'll syphon out the crap from the sump during water changes, or when I notice it gets bad.

[jt3069]

IF YOU REMOVE THE SOCK YOUR SUMP WILL GET NASTY AND REQUIRE VAC
I PREFER THE SOCKS

think a filter sock could be a big problem if not kept clean. I hate the things because I never remember to clean them

VERY TRUE BUT IT ALL COMES DOWN TO YOUR OWN TANK AND HOW IT RUNS

I CAN GO A WEEK OR TWO SOMETHIMES BEFORE MY SOCK NEEDS CLEANING OTHER TIMES A FEW DAYS AND ITS NASTY

WHAT IM GETTING AT IS THAT A FILTER SOCK IMO WOULD NOT CAUSE NITRATES TO RISE AND STAY THAT HIGH
I THINK THE REAL PROBLEM IS THE MATURITY OF THE TANK

[Fishfood]

Of course a sock will allow nitrates to build up. They don't get a chance to build up bacteria if you take them out regularly to clean and thus if you skip a cleaning you are going to have the crud break down into the tank. Yea I get a little bit of detritus in my sump but its not that bad. My socks essentially overflow within a weeks time as water will not flow through them. Now I have small socks on the overflow so that could be an issue as well. There are some folks who have their tank drain directly into their skimmer. My intake for the skimmer is right near where the water comes into the sump from the tank. I guess I've just never been one to use filte socks because I don't clean them often enough.

I will take a turkey baster to the tank and clean out all the detritus that settles in my rocks. I always put a filter sock on when I to that. Other than that it usually is off, unless i let it on after i have one of those cleaning sessions.

[Buddy08]

i dont use a filter sock, never have, never will. i have pristine water and healthy fish so i dont see the need in one.

[jt3069]

all a filter sock really is for:
to trap large particles including but not limited to... excess food..detritus..ect you get the point
thats pretty much it

A filter sock has nothing to do with discolored water,
nor the health of your fish

To use or not to use seems to be the pole here:
its all a matter of opinion and husbandry one would like to do to his or her own tank

They don't get a chance to build up bacteria if you take them out regularly to clean and thus if you skip a cleaning you are going to have the crud break down into the tank. Yea I get a little bit of detritus in my sump but its not that bad.

very true,but not in the concentration that you think, it is very minute, unless left uncleaned for extended periods of time, i mean months
a filter sock has no carbon so the bateria would not colonize on it.
so id say the skipping a cleaning would not be that much of a spike more like a gradule increase in N

back to the point is JRA95SHO has a fairly new tank so i don't think this is really any major nitrate factor issue for JRA95SHO
i believe it is the inmaturity of the tank at hand that has a good stocking of rather large fish

[Fishfood]

IMO the filter socks could be a huge problem in this case. A few posts back JRA95SHO said this, "Still battling with high nitrates too. I didn't know this, but after reading some today, you're supposed to change out those sock filters every few days if you use them or they become nitrate factories. I've changed mine once or twice in the month and a half I've had the tank. I'm thinking that may be a big part of my issue."

As of the first post in this thread he stated he set the tank up a month prior to posting, which was Aug 16, so the tank has roughly been up since the middle of july. In that time he changed the filter socks once, maybe twice. He had a few tangs which can make a lot of waste. The tank was just set up but it was basically moved from point A to point B from what I recall. The rock was cured. This tank should have been more stable than a freshly set up aquarium. Sure moving the sand is going to cause some problems.

I've seen some people argue for changing filter socks every other day on tanks that produce a lot of gunk(lots of fish and heavy feeding), and others up to a max of every week.

Here is something I found that goes along with my line of thinking.

"you want to change them as often as you can. the reason being is that the longer they are in the the greater the chance they will start to breed bacteria. in most cases this is a good thing, but in the case of the environment that the socks are located they will only breed the bacteria that break down ammonia into nitrite and nitrite into nitrate leaving nitrates to be released into your water column. the other reason is that the longer the socks can collect detritus the longer the first bit of detritus is allowed to rot. being in such a high oxygenated area things can rot quickly. rotting allows the bound phosphates to be released back into the water column to be used by something, usually algae, though it could also be absorbed by various calcium carbonate based substances and shortening their usefulness in the system."

Seeing that the filter socks were only changed once or twice I think they could be a real problem with a large number of fish and possible heavy feeding. I'm not discounting the fact that he hasn't allowed the tank to settle down much with constantly adding fish as others die. I'm just saying either get the filter socks out or change them at least once a week, if not more.

[JRA95SHO]

I changed the sock filter last night. I have quite a few of them that came with the tank...at least 5 or more. I'm going to try to change them weekly, continue vodka dosing, and let this algae in the sump stay there awhile and see how everything goes. I tested the nitrates yesterday, and I'm not so great at reading those API color charts on the nitrate kit. I'm estimating around 40ppm. With the things I just mentioned, I will keep a check on it to see if they start going down any. There aren't many more fish on my wish list to add anyway, and I have most of what I want already in the tank. Besides tangs, the one fish I've been looking out for is a Midas Blenny; otherwise, I'm content with what's in there for now.

[Buddy08]

I would remove the filter socks altogether, add more dry rock which will seed into live rock (aim for 150lbs to 200lbs)... i have 125 in my 75g and i have excellent water if that tells you anything. possibly cut back on feeding. i would recommend no more than 1 1/2 cubes of frozen food (mysis shrimp) daily and of course an algae sheet. i would assume your nitrates would drop drastically, and if you still are reading some... clean the skimmer in vinegar and RO water to ensure its working properly. if youre still having nitrate issues, upgrade the skimmer (bigger is better). The filter sock is great to do exactly what it states, filter but most wastes and debris get caught in their and that becomes a sitting timebomb. where as without a filter sock, the waste and debri is going to be floating around in the water but with enough water flow (i.e. powerheads) it will break down into microscopic pieces that your protien skimmer will remove. My skimmer is rated for a 150g tank, and it pulls so much junk out of the water that i have to drain the waste basket every other day otherwise my livingroom begins smelling like a septic tank and matches.

[Fishfood]

I wouldn't go that far. If the filter socks are maintained properly they are useful in eliminating waste. If you are lazy like me, than they aren't good for much. I've got 5 hard dirty filter socks sitting on my topoff tub.

[Buddy08]

niccce... lol