Yah. Alot of times I throw a sock in and syphon my sand bed into a sock. When I'm done I do the wc by vacuuming out my sump. pull the skimmer and rinse. Kinda works nice.
I used them all the time for the first 6 months. I just got tired of dealing with them so I don't anymore. My tank has gotten nothing but better. Idk if that affected anything but it didn't hurt.