billygoat Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 My 18g C-Vue AIO has been up and running for about seven months now, and I've got the maintenance routine almost completely dialed in. The one thing that still bothers me is washing my filter socks. I change them about once a week, and while they do still get some gunky buildup on them, I've noticed that they don't really seem to be catching as much crud as they used to. I can't help but wonder if my system really needs them at all. How necessary is mechanical filtration? If I'm swapping out my socks only once a week, are they even really doing anything for my water quality? Would it be more beneficial if I were to take the space currently occupied by those socks and fill it up with live rock rubble to serve as a habitat for pods and other microfauna? Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 1 hour ago, billygoat said: My 18g C-Vue AIO has been up and running for about seven months now, and I've got the maintenance routine almost completely dialed in. The one thing that still bothers me is washing my filter socks. I change them about once a week, and while they do still get some gunky buildup on them, I've noticed that they don't really seem to be catching as much crud as they used to. I can't help but wonder if my system really needs them at all. How necessary is mechanical filtration? If I'm swapping out my socks only once a week, are they even really doing anything for my water quality? Would it be more beneficial if I were to take the space currently occupied by those socks and fill it up with live rock rubble to serve as a habitat for pods and other microfauna? Filling it up with rubble will prevent being able to clean that area properly, leading to issues. The socks or floss are good for collecting particles that otherwise return to the display or get caught in pumps. You could build a pod condo with rubble for pods to populate. That allows you to build pods in an area where they can flourish(I did this) but with the ability to remove it for cleaning. 2 Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 once a week sounds about right. 1 Quote Link to comment
FISHnChix Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 I'm not familiar with this tank but that's why a lot of people like the intank media basket , or in my case I was able to bye a filter cup to take the place of the sock in my sump.. with either the basket or cup you can easily put some filter floss in there .. super cheap and easy to change.. no cleaning needed😊 Oh and if you remove the sock then you will just have to clean the chamber more which really sucks!! 1 Quote Link to comment
MrObscura Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 Yea, socks are pointless imo. You're better off finding a way to run floss or pads that you can easily change. And if that's not possible, I'd probably just go without mechanical filtration. Plenty of tanks do just fine without it. Imo mechanical is more for aesthetics and keeping the water column free of large detritus than anything else. Besides maybe helping keep sump equipment a little less gunked up. I don't clean my sump(back chambers of aio) at all. There's little point, again, outside of looks. Most of whats in a sump is inert. And leaving a sump dirty increases the biodiversity because a whole bunch of pods and sponges will thrive in there. 1 Quote Link to comment
billygoat Posted July 11, 2019 Author Share Posted July 11, 2019 Thanks for your replies folks! A lot of good points made here. I know that filter floss is kind of the go-to method of mechanical filtration these days, so it seems like maybe I will end up hopping on that bandwagon. InTank sells both media baskets and floss holders that fit my Cobalt C-Vue aquarium, so I may end up grabbing one or more of those... the media baskets are quite expensive but the floss holders are within my price range. The C-Vue is a dual-overflow aquarium so I would have to get two of them, but that's alright. Maybe I can go for one media basket + one floss holder for the other side, just to give myself a place to keep my carbon in. This leads me to another question: where's the best place to get filter floss? Is there a brand or source for floss that is considered better than the rest? Where do you folks get yours? 1 Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 24 minutes ago, billygoat said: Thanks for your replies folks! A lot of good points made here. I know that filter floss is kind of the go-to method of mechanical filtration these days, so it seems like maybe I will end up hopping on that bandwagon. InTank sells both media baskets and floss holders that fit my Cobalt C-Vue aquarium, so I may end up grabbing one or more of those... the media baskets are quite expensive but the floss holders are within my price range. The C-Vue is a dual-overflow aquarium so I would have to get two of them, but that's alright. Maybe I can go for one media basket + one floss holder for the other side, just to give myself a place to keep my carbon in. This leads me to another question: where's the best place to get filter floss? Is there a brand or source for floss that is considered better than the rest? Where do you folks get yours? I get mine at big al's, a big roll that I cut to size. Costs me $12 for months worth Some just buy the pillow stuffing at walmart, it's safe as long as it has no flame retardants 2 Quote Link to comment
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