Mini Filter Socks

[andrewey]

The standard 4" filter socks were too large for my 40 breeder AIO, so I decided to whip up some mini filter socks with my down time. In case anyone else was looking for a quick/easy quarantine project, I made 20 socks in about an hour and the cost of each sock comes out to around 18 cents. As you can see, the QC on the stitching took a backseat to speed at the end there, but they work well and perform pretty equivalent to my 200 micron filter socks. Going to finish sewing the last 20 today so I'll only have to clean my socks once every two months or so.
Hope this inspires someone else!

 

[BighohoReef]

Inspired! So awesome! I’m going to give this a try. With socks costing 6-7 bucks a pop for our waterbox this will help me save more money for CORALs! Lol thank you for sharing, did you order the materials or was it local sourced?

 

[andrewey]

Materials are super easy!

I bought a yard of white felt from Joanne's (72" wide) for around $3.50 (they're always running coupons, so a yard should run you $3-4). The neck was made with normal airline tubing and the thread can be any cheap polyester thread. For the neck, I tried different materials (bent rigid airline tubing, strips of cut plastic), but found normal airline tubing worked best due to the natural curve from coiling.

I'm also going to make a couple polishing mini filter socks from a 32" long 10 micron filter sock. After I cut it up and resew it, I should be able to produce about 8-10 mini filter socks for about a buck a piece. You could obviously select another size (5, 25, 50, 100 microns) for about the same price if you wanted something in addition to the ~200 micron filter socks from the normal felt.

 

[azreefkeeper]

Thanks for the recommendation here andrewey! I was able to find what I think you were using on Joanne's...it is item or SKU# 868448. Assuming that normal felt is approximately 200 microns, what are you using to reach lower pass rates such as 100 microns or even 50?

 

[andrewey]

Thanks for the recommendation here andrewey! I was able to find what I think you were using on Joanne's...it is item or SKU# 868448. Assuming that normal felt is approximately 200 microns, what are you using to reach lower pass rates such as 100 microns or even 50?

It's been hit or miss finding smaller quantities of 50/100 micron felt without having to buy from a wholesaler- in most cases, the most reliable method has been to buy the 7" filter socks as described above. Years ago I was able to reach out to some of the filter sock manufacturers and was able to buy a few yards of each from them.