Cleaning Felt Socks - pfffbt

[The Rook]

Hose off with garden hose real quick and then toss in a five gallon pail with a 1/2gal bleach to about 3gal of water. They stay in there till i run low, hose off, let air dry overnight and I've got another dozen socks. Good for a couple months.

 

[madweazl]

I've always just tossed them in the washing machine with bleach as well. They have always "looked clean" but I've certainly never taken a peak with a microscope either. I usually only run them when I do a water change to help collect the gunk I've stirred up during the process.

 

[Pola0502ds]

What he found out was there is no benefit to using the Bleach, in fact it can become a larger work load as you then have to Rinse them many times and then let them sit in Prime or some other Dechlorinating/Chloramine remover to get rid of the Bleach. I believe he found the Pressure washer to be the best and next was just plain Washing Machine but as for the Bleach, No Benefit to using Bleach as it Bleached the color out of the Algae cells and just looked cleaner.

I've been using bleach and doing it the way I described since I've had filter socks, never had to sit in prime, dechlorinator, etc.. Everything seems to be fine.

 

[skim]

I just posted as it was something I remembered reading and thought it just may save some time for some. I do not use Sock's on a consistent bases, just if I see some extra floaties. I also have a Aquaclear 110/500 that I will throw on if something has really disturbed the bed and made water murky, but as for everyday I just rely on the Skimmer. In the end it is whatever works for you and your system. As for not soaking in Prime, Dechlorinator, I think it would be a good idea as you will have residue from the Bleach left on the socks.

 

[The Rook]

Bleach evaporates completely. No worries if you rinse and air dry.

 

[jd371]

Hose off with garden hose real quick and then toss in a five gallon pail with a 1/2gal bleach to about 3gal of water. They stay in there till i run low, hose off, let air dry overnight and I've got another dozen socks. Good for a couple months.

Basically do the same. I just use a little less bleach and when I take them out of the bucket I run them twice through the washing machine, the first time I turn them inside out. I have 6 socks and I change them out every 3-4 days.

 

[shred5]

Wow way off track..

Anyway I to use mesh because they are so much easier to clean. easier to clean means it gets done much more.
I rinse them and then after a while I throw them all in bleach.
I also have found it takes less to clog them as they age.