Filter socks!! Do you use them??

lou dog420 · May 18, 2016

My first tank will be started up soon, I have purchased some filter socks but am debating on whether i want to use them. Any thoughts?

Saltine · May 18, 2016

I went from a tank without them to a tank with them. I can definitely see a difference in the clarity of the water and will continue running them. I swap them out every 4-5 days and just send them through the washer with a splash of bleach and double rinse.

Salt

AllSignsPointToFish · May 18, 2016

I run them all the time. They really help when you're cleaning the tank and you have nuisance algae to into the overflow, for instance. I swap them when they start to overflow, every 2-3 days.

ckozma · May 18, 2016

If you don't you will be vacuuming out your sump every once in a while because some of the food and detritus will work its way down there for sure.

feeduall · May 18, 2016

picture says it all

AllSignsPointToFish · May 18, 2016

ckozma said:
If you don't you will be vacuuming out your sump every once in a while because some of the food and detritus will work its way down there for sure.

I still have to vacuum out my sump

feeduall · May 18, 2016

did a dye drip tray and cut lines down the pvc. Hate the bags

feeduall · May 18, 2016

Wish they sold sumps ready to go like this. To much work changing and washing bags. All i do is pivot the hose to the left and remove the floss. It is about 15 inches long by 4 wide with alot of wholes drilled to the bottom. Mounted with strong magnets.

AllSignsPointToFish · May 18, 2016

feeduall said:
Wish they sold sumps ready to go like this. To much work changing and washing bags. All i do is pivot the hose to the left and remove the floss. It is about 15 inches long by 4 wide with alot of wholes drilled to the bottom. Mounted with strong magnets.

That's a cool setup!

lou dog420 · May 18, 2016

Thank you everyone for all your input. I was just thinking that the idea of an unobstructed path thru the entire system would be beneficial for a keeping a thriving fugue, full of life.

cloak · May 18, 2016

When I really stir things up during a water change I'll use a filter sock for a few hours to polish the water. Overall though I don't use one on a regular basis. I would much rather have any leftover food keep making revolutions throughout the system until something can utilize it, as opposed to rotting in a sock for days on end. Also, my Clownfish are breeding on a regular basis too and I don't want those babies to get caught up in a sock either. Some of my LPS corals have a field day when this happens and I don't want to deprive them of that..

lou dog420 · May 18, 2016

cloak said:
When I really stir things up during a water change, then I'll use a filter sock for a few hours to polish the water. Overall though, I don't use one on a regular basis. I would much rather have any leftover food keep making revolutions throughout the system until something can utilize it, as opposed to rotting in a sock for days on end. Also, my Clownfish are breeding on a regular basis and I don't want those babies to get caught up in a sock either. Some of my LPS corals have a field day when this happens and I don't want to deprive them of that..

That's kinda exactly what I was thinking

lou dog420 · May 18, 2016

I have it piped to where I can send half to the sock and skimmer, and half straight to the refugium if I want, good idea???

NanaReefer · May 18, 2016

Been running them for 2yrs. Just seeing what one looks like after 4-5 days lets me know the pita of changing them out is definitely worth it.

NanaReefer · May 20, 2016

lou dog420 said:
I have it piped to where I can send half to the sock and skimmer, and half straight to the refugium if I want, good idea???

You'll be getting detritus buildup in your fuge area eventually. Main purpose of the sock is to catch it before it enters your sump area.

Mr. Brooks · May 20, 2016

I've been reefing for a very long time. I don't use socks unless I'm stirring things up in my tank. Otherwise I'm sockless. If you have room, a low flow settling area that you can vacuum/siphon out is preferable to a sock, in my opinion.

JonPhillips · May 20, 2016

nope. dump right into the sump. doing fine so far. also no mechanical media either. no skim either...(continues eating granola and watching tank)

Kungpaoshizi · May 20, 2016

No mechanical filtration except a skimmer. The tunze 9001 runs in such a way though, it gets nowhere near water-in to water-out ratios to pull particulates out of the water. (planktonic mode)
So whatever is fed to the tank, will go through the various breakdown stages but be available for critters to feed on it. I have black sun corals spawning, numerous sponges, a bazillion pods, green banded gobies, twin spot gobies, a green clown goby, and sexy shrimp, all fat and healthy from the pods, and recently I had tunicates settle and they're doing well. All I do is feed planktonic foods, reef chili being the largest. Between the BSC's, gorgonians, sponges, and now tunicates, aside from all the coral, nitrates are 0-.5, phosphate .03ish, and between the dry food and reef energy, I feed 28 times a day. And have found my max length to go between water changes at about 2 months.

120reefkeeper · May 20, 2016

Yep I use em.

DereksReef77 · May 20, 2016

I use them on all my tanks. They collect so much debris that I wouldn't go without them. On my frag tank I have 1 drain and 1 fitler sock, I recently removed the sock and incorporated an ats in it's place. Ats is working awesome but now nothing to collect the debris and sump is covered in it. So when I get a chance I'm gonna T the ats off my return line and put the filter sock back on. I don't want to have to siphon the sump out every 2 weeks.