To sock or not to sock? That is the question.

JSB · May 6, 2012

Tis it nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of increased nitrates in order to maintain clearer water?

I currently am running a 100 micron sock, changed weekly. In that amount of time it picks up a bunch of particulate matter in the form of food and poop. I am assuming that as this is in advance of the skimmer, that this material is not being skimmed out, and will continue to breakdown and add to nitrate and phosphates. If I remove the sock, I am afraid that the skimmer and the carbon will not keep up, and my water will begin to yellow, of which I am not a big fan. I know I could change the sock more often, but in my small stand, it is a major hassle.

So, for those of you who have reasons not to run a filter sock, what are they and what are your results? For those of you who are running a filter sock, how do you combat the buildup of nitrate and phosphate from the trapped detritus?

Loki · May 6, 2012

I do not run one. The reason is because I don't want to change it every other day/week. I have no problem with my skimmer keeping up and my water has no tiny of yellow.

I would like to run a sock just to see if there is a big difference or not, but haven't because I am (as of yet) happy with the way things are going.

GrouperStupor · May 8, 2012

I think you will be fine without them. I started using them about 4 months ago. I haven't noticed any real difference in water clarity. Except it clears up quicker when I move things around in the tank. Just the sump and carbon seemed to do the job for me. I only ran my skimmer a few days a week. I have about 200 gallons in my system.

I was really only using them to catch algae. I put in in the overflow after I scrape it from the glass. My algae is under control now, so I may get rid of them. They do raise my nitrates, but I don't change them as often as I should.

JSB · May 8, 2012

I have pulled them for now. Since my sump is not baffled, I do have micro-bubbles in the display, but I am not overly concerned with that. We will see if my bio-pellets can catch up now. Thanks.

Dowtish · May 8, 2012

I have seen lots of threads with this same question. And it all comes down to how lazy you are. I personally dont consider myself a lazy reefer, but I know there are times that the last thing I want to do is mess with my tank and equipment. I run a filter sock about 70% of the time, and they are amazing at catching all kinds of funk. When I take it off, nothing changes in my tank as far as color, and my skimmer skims the same. My parameters dont change either. The only thing I see is more detritus build up in the sump itself. The reason I take it off is when I go out of town for work, and I dont want it to suddenly clog while I'm gone. So it really comes down to setting a schedule, and changing the sock on that day no matter what.

This is the same principle of using a canister filter or other equipment that is considered to be nitrate factories, there is nothing wrong with them at all. Unless you are lazy, and don't clean them and change the media on a regular basis.

Loki · May 8, 2012

I'm a medium lazy reefer

Loki · May 8, 2012

JSB · May 8, 2012

For me, maybe I am lazy, as due to the small size of my stand (24x24) I have to remove the ATO reservoir, the BP reactor, and move some dosing bottles to change the sock, so it is not going to be a daily thing, or even twice a week. I do it when I do weekly maintenance, and that does not seem to be enough. I have about decided that I will run it while doing water changes, but not at any other times.

dictionaaron · May 9, 2012

i run actual tube socks as filter sock....they are a cruder filter but they keep large particles out of the water and keep bubbles and salt creep from being an issue in my tank.

kuyatwo · May 9, 2012

dictionaaron said:
i run actual tube socks as filter sock....they are a cruder filter but they keep large particles out of the water and keep bubbles and salt creep from being an issue in my tank.

That is a first time I heard of using tube socks

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Chameleon · May 9, 2012

hopefully they are new socks...lol

dictionaaron · May 9, 2012

haha, yeah i wash them with bleach then wash them again after that and air dry. i only use them once and throw them out. i change weekly and it seems to be working fine. my water level in my return section is almost to the top due to my skimmer (hydor slim skim) so bubbles popping on the surface make for a salt creep disaster so that seems to fix it and filter the big stuff..