Gone for a week

[Juice780]

I’m leaving for a vacation for a week and was wondering if it’s ok to leave a filter sock in a week? I’m trying to raise my po and nitrates because I’m battling some algae and I’m not going to run my protein skimmer while I’m gone. Just want to know what I should do with the filter sock.

 

[tehmadreefer]

Definitely not, it will be overflowing by day 3 or 4.

 

[Billldg]

I have 2 filter socks in my sump, and when I go on vacation I leave one in and take one out, that way when the first one fills it will be able to still drain thru the second section where the second sock would normally go.

 

[Juice780]

I would say this is said aquirium. I am going to put a us sterilizer there eventually but I don’t have anything else to put in that slot except the filter sock.

 

[Tastee]

I think this varies a lot depending on your system - size, what dosing you run, what type of filter. In my case I run a RSR 250 (65g) with two 250 micron filter mesh socks. They get cleaned weekly but could easily last longer. We are about to go on a cruise for 13 days and I will clean them the day before we go and the day we get back - don’t expect any issues. I currently dose AF 3 part 24x7 but nothing else - no reactors, no GFO, no carbon, no UV.

When I ran NoPoX earlier I found the socks didn’t last as long, as I have seen others comment you tend to get a bit of a slime buildup, no doubt due to the extra bacteria consuming the carbon. Even then however my socks lasted a week - by the end of the week however the first sock was overflowing pretty much 100% to the second sock.

Even when I run 100 micron socks occasionally I have no issues getting a week out of them, would probably also last at least 2 if I needed. This is just how my tank behaves, yours may be different.