Really interesting topic: Felt vs. Nylon which one's better?

[BighohoReef]

I know another thought-provoking controversial topic . Looking back through some old threads I've been trying to decide whether I should swap out my nylon socks for felt socks. In my indecisiveness, I'm gonna leave it up to the community to decide for me. It would also be nice to know why you chose that option or if you use something of your own making. As always I appreciate the feedback!

Stay health and keep on reefing!

 

[Billldg]

I think they both have their good and bad points. Felt socks filter smaller particles, but they clog up quicker. Nylon socks don't filter out as small of particles, but they last longer. I use felt socks and change them out every 3 days.

 

[ahiggins]

I use felt ish material. I buy the 50 and 100 micron and cut to size for what I need. I also have 1 micron for treatment times lol

 

[BighohoReef]

Its kinda a catch 22. Felt socks filter smaller particles, but they clog up quicker. Nylon socks don't filter out as small of particles, but they last longer. I use felt socks and change them out every 3 days.

Thanks @Billldg! That's good to know! What do you mean by change them out?

More work for me now

 

[Billldg]

Thanks @Billldg! That's good to know! What do you mean by change them out?

More work for me now

I put clean socks in my sump every 3 days. BRS actually did a study and it was found that 3 to 4 days was as long as you could go with a felt sock to remove N03 and P04. After that the debris starts to break down in the sock and release N03 and P04 back into the tank. I have 2 4in socks now, and on my new build I will have 3 4in socks.

 

[Jvalle]

Hi I use both and clean my socks daily . If I feed reef roids I try to have felt on to catch all the left over stuff. Thx

 

[vetteguy53081]

To think how much time and water I wasted with felt once I tried mesh !
Felt does a great job of entrapment but the mesh are so easy to see when dirty and cleaning by hand, 2-3 minutes. Makes life so easy !

 

[BighohoReef]

Hi I use both and clean my socks daily . If I feed reef roids I try to have felt on to catch all the left over stuff. Thx

We feed reefroids and benepets but haven’t been cleaning the socks everyday I’m feeling a little concerned now. Haven’t seen major spikes but doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

 

[BighohoReef]

To think how much time and water I wasted with felt once I tried mesh !
Felt does a great job of entrapment but the mesh are so easy to see when dirty and cleaning by hand, 2-3 minutes. Makes life so easy !

I’m curious do you have pods in your tank? Every cleaning we have an abundance that gets caught in there. What are doing for your cleaning technique?

 

[hotdrop]

Nylon I can just rinse them the felt needs to be cleaned for minutes with really high water pressure.