To Filter with your Socks or not?
 

Whats the consensus on filter socks these days? Good / Bad?

I have been on and off with filter sock for some time now, I know for a fact that it does help with polishing the water and keeping it pristine. The only downfall is cleaning it. I have to always pre-washed my filter sock before it goes in the washer machine which is some what of a pain in the a$$. At the end my vote is YES to filter sock.

No chance here.

I even removed my foam block.

I personally believe it's putting good water through collected poo. I prefer to let my filtration deal with it and occasionally siphon detritus from first chamber of the sump.

And when removing, crud spews back into your system if you are no super careful.

Myself I voted no as I do not use them or intend to use them. I let my skimmer do all the work which it seems to be doing just fine!

Absolutely use them every time I remember...

No. But occasionally I will put a sock on the return pipe and stir things up with a turkey baster and clean out the tank, including scraping algae from the overflow etc. I usually remove the sock after the cleaning session and rinse it out.

No. I don't use them on a regular basis. I'm too lazy to clean them, they periodically cause my skimmer to go berzerk and I don't like the idea of throwing them into the washing machine just to wash 4 or 5 filter socks.

I did used them for the first year that my tank was running, then ditched them. I will put a sock on maybe once every few months whenever I've done a thorough cleaning of the tank which involves blowing debris off of rocks, etc.

I think filter socks are good and filter socks are bad. Depends on your perspective :-)

I believe removing the detritus daily is beneficial and minimizes what breaks down in the tank. Lucky for me (or very unlucky lol) I run THREE 100 micron socks and all three require daily cleaning as they plug in less than 24 hours!

I use 200 micron. I would prefer 50 micron, but I can't find them for a decent price. I have 10 socks that I changed everyday. When I've used 8 I flip them inside out and wash in the machine. I don't add anything to the machine (no soap, bleach, baking soda). Since I change them everyday they don't get so dirty that I need to pre-rinse by hand. Pre-rinsing sucks.

Mine become so thoroughly clogged that when I pick them up they are no longer allowing ANY water through. I have to rub the sock against itself and let it slowly trickle out to the point where I can pinch the top and squeeze the sock empty. It's routine and I think it's worth the hassle so I do it.

I wash by hand and do suspect I'm not able to get them as clean as the washer could. I might start doing them in there once a month or something. I worry about all the soap residues in the machine though.

wow! now I see why you don't run anymore.

I'm addicted to filter socks, I can't seem to stop. Easier not to use them, but love the look of crystal clear water. 200 micron felt, tried the mesh, but I'm not sure they remove enough.

The mesh Vertex 100 micron I use are crazy fine. CAn't see those pores almost without a magnifier. I find hand-washing mesh way easier than felt.

Yes, the mesh are way easier, but the ones I have are 200 micron :sad:

lol...

Haha I totally missed this. Touche!

I usually don't run them, but have been recently to help with nutrient export. After my crash I've been doing everything possible to cut down nitrate/phosphate build up. It makes the water look nice too.... might keep them in there and just make a sock holder that allows easy changes, right now it's just a pain.

I've been running 200 and 100 micron socks, the 100's fill up in a day, the 200's last overnight, so possibly a 1.5 days.

I use them for micro bubble elimination. The fact that they also remove a lot of debris from the water is more of a disadvantage in my situation.

I have never used filter socks but I am considering it. Is there that much of a difference between felt and mesh in say ... 200 micron?

I run 75 Micron MESH.

swapped out every three days. I run two at a time

I hand wash them then soak with a capful of bleach in a 1L jug with two socks. Rinse them with lots hot water two days later and they are as clean as they were when they were new.

my sump is spotless...its the first thing reefers mention when they see my setup - how clean my sump is... must mean my display looks like $h!t :(

200 micron felt fills up in 1 1/2 - 2 days, 200 micron mesh seems to never fill, just a bit in the bottom. I'm going try to find 100 micron mesh.

Ok thanks Rob

Why are your guys' socks plugging up so quick? :eek: I left a sock on my tank for a week once (forgot to remove it when I was out of town) and even though the water level in the sock was higher than the sump it still wasn't overflowing. I use the 8" 200 micron socks from BRS.

I've been wondering about these...I'm happy to hear a good review. :mrgreen:

I'm also considering a switch to flat cut-to-size 50 or 100 micron media. Make a little compartment in the sump to hold a 6" pond plant basket then "cup" the media into the basket. Being flat it would be really easy to clean. There are several brands of flat media, gotta double check they are washable though as some are not...Coralife, AquaticLife, etc. It is much cheaper than socks considering I could get 4 pads cut out of one I think... [Here's a link to the Coralife]

Does soaking them in bleach actually break down the stuff that is persistant enough to beat my hand-washing? I can't get my oldest sock white anymore... and it clogs much faster than the newer two.

it certainely does.

but i use mesh...not that crappy felt.

after i hand wash a sock, if i dont bleach it i get 3 days out of it before it overflows. If i bleach the sock after washing it i get 5 or 6 days before it starts to really fill then i just change it at that point.

you dont need a lot of bleach... i use a capful per litre and clean two socks at once.

i use 4 by 12 socks, not the 7 inch ones.

300 Micron 4 x 12, but my tank's not running yet. I have my sock hanger after the skimmer. The hanger holds 2 and I bought 4 for swapping. They're the plastic/nylon style so should be very easy to rinse.

Awesome I'm going to do this to mine and see how it goes. I use mesh as well. After they soak you just rinse them with tapwater or do you need to soak them in that as well?

Bleach definitely helps de-clog the socks. I think if your socks are getting that dirty that you probably need to bleach them.

How are you removing the chlorine residue, are you soaking the socks in de-chlorinator as a last step? Perhaps the 200 micron mesh will be best once they "age" a bit.

I use them mainly to fillter out the small snails that run rampant in my tanks and this keeps them from going into my pumps and cloging up my impellers.
I use the mesh ones and just rince them out when I do a water change.

Um.. oh nevermind.

LMAO!!!

I put them through two rinse cycles and then let them dry out for close to a week before using them again.

Wow that involved? So do people think a thorough rinse/spray down in the laundry tub is enough after a bleach soak? I can't have my socks out of commission for that long. They're actually bubble traps first and water-polishers second lol. I hate seeing bubbles in my display.

Does it really seem that bad? Tell me you're not like those people that I work with who hate doing laundry so much that they wear the same pair of clothes for a week at a time...

When I take off a sock I turn it inside out to shake out some of the creatures caught inside. When I have 4 dirty ones I do a small load with a cup of bleach. Once its finished I turn the socks right side out again and give them a second rinse. When thats done I throw them into a stack to dry. Since I have 8 socks in total I don't get around to using them again for about a week. A single feeding of my moray and lion takes more effort than the whole sock cleaning process.

If I were you I'd just buy a few extras so that you can let them dry out completely before using them again.

Someone who washes 3 socks daily isn't afraid of a little work. I didn't want to buy another 3 socks is all :neutral:

Is that the same as not wearing underwear, and not because you're sexy? :razz:

Brett, how often are you rinsing you socks with that new raceway?

I only use one when I do a big tank clean and remove when done. I find my skimmer goes crazy when I put a filter sock in my tank.

Yeah same as me,i would just shut the skimmer down till the next day.Then i tried mesh,never ever using felt again.Too easy to clean even by hand,don't even look at it for a week.