Did discontinuing the use of a filter sock cause cheato growth?

The skimmer is basically a mechanical filter and will sort of pick up the excess of no sock. Doubt it removes as much as the sock since they are pretty good.

What ever whole waste is not removed by mechanical filtration will be broke down in the tank. The end result being nitrates which fuel algae.

Even still...the increase in growth seems a bit much but more than possible.

Some need to run socks for what ever reason. However, I am against mechanical filters for maintenance reasons alone. Plus all that fish waste you are removing is food for everything else. Keep the food chain going and let everything eat. If you have excessive waste, then stop feeding so much. Let the skimmer pick it up and the algae take care of the nitrates. You do less maintenance and everyone is happy.

 

agree completely with whisky tango. i removed my sock for 2 weeks and my nitrates doubled. so back on went the sock....and 2 water change's in a week to get it back in line. i am now looking into bio pellets as a nitrate removal. if i can get that going well i will try removing the sock again

 

You need to give your system time to get adjusted to the new load. Sock don't remove nitrates. Bacteria and algae do. So if you have a refugium with macro then it will grow more (if it isn't limited by something else) or your sand beds and live rock need to ramp up to deal with the new load. If you are using a wet/dry or canister than that interferes with the sand and rock denitrifying.

 

Powerman thank you for your reply. I have read many of your posts and highly respect your opinion especially on skimmers and pumps. Yes the removal of the sock was two fold. One is less maintenance and two is to get away from to sterile of water to see if this benefits the corals I have now and the future ones.

 

Good info pink4miss thank you for sharing it. I will keep an eye on the nitrates.

 

Oh ok. I do not have a wet/dry or canister just live rock and sand. I wasn't planing on added any more fish any time soon just corals. Mostly frags form a local expo next week, would that still be alright as long as nitrate remain low? Zero at last nights test.

 

Sure. I was mainly just talking about the nitrate load. The bacteria and algae need to grow more to handle it. If nitrates were being handled by bacteria deep in the rock or sand, that would take a little longer to ramp up.

Thanks for the kind words and FYI some folks even stir their sumps up. I started to just because I had a controller and a spare power head. A common practice is to stir up the sump to keep the ditritus that settles out there suspended. I did mine for an hour every night two hours after lights out. That way the corals were out and could take advantage of all the food in the water column.

 

i have a three compartment sump... skimmer, refugium,(mangroves & cheato) center return pump. i also am running a reactor with matrix in it. but thats a bit new yet. and i know it takes time for that to get the bacteria going to help rid the nitrates. i do know its all a balancing act really, once its set, its all good my tank i had a few years ago i had running so well it got to the point that i wasnt doing water changes.
i am over stocked and do over feed. i have pigs.... i mean anthias ;D i want to get on a less water changes routine. and maybe one day get rid of the sock.
i do have a uv light. and no way will i remove that. i know they remove both good and bad bacteria. but thats only in the water.
i dont have room for more rock. so the bio pellets might be the answer. im reading good things about them for nitrate removal. if that gets me at 0 nitrates i will try to remove the sock again. and wait a bit as you suggest to see if the bacteria will take over for the missing sock

oh i do also run chemi pure elite

 

Oh ok. And thanks for the tip. Now that you mention it I remember reading that somewhere, but had forgotin. Lately I've wondering how to REMOVE the built up debris. lol

 

Yes I run a 200 micron sock.