socks are here to stay
 

I tried going sockless for 2 weeks. Immediately my water became murky and less pristine,but my lps loved it. I thought I would get used to it and rid myself of the hassle. Put 'em back on today and what a difference. Way worth the effort. Looks like I am back to socks and spot feeding lps occasionally.

I've never used socks in any of my tanks in my 19 yrs of reefing.

I prefer filter floss/media which can just be pulled out and changed. Very efficient plus less work = happy fish keeper.

I use rolls of filter sock material (made by coralife) and it serves a few purposes. My sump doesnt have a proper bubble trap, so it solves that issue. I do find they clog up pretty much daily though, especially after any form of maintenance or feeding. Ill look to correct this in the future, but it is what it is for now.

Old thread but good topic.
I took my filter socks off last winter so my wife did'nt have to change them while I was working in the praries. They've been off ever since and my SPS have been growing way faster and thriving. Water looks just as clear. Little more detritus in my sump is only thing i've noticed.

I usually go through 3 filter socks a week. I change the day after I feed cyclopeeze (that stuff has a habit of making it to the sump) but I'll be leaving the tank in the care of my girlfriend when I go out of town to work. So right now I'm trying sockless just to see how the tank reacts. It would be nice if my sps quality increased as some people said :)

I use a filter sock for 12-ish hours after waterchanges, that's it.