How often are you guys changing your Filter Socks?

[Tonyscoots84]

Nandez i would have to say most people are just sitting around waiting for 12am to hit with friends and family and they have a few minutes to answer a question :biggrin:... ( No WORK tomorrow :party: )

I use a 5 gallon home depot bucket with lid to hold my used socks until I'm ready to wash ...

 

[oh207]

When I used to use felt socks I would switch them 1-2 times per week.
But then I switch to mesh socks. I haven't taken it out or washed it or changed it in a few months. Its primary function is no longer a detritus trap, but rather a last means of stopping any snails that went through the overflow from reaching the skimmer/sump area. In fact, I can take it out altogether and won't notice any difference.

And yes, I'm waiting up for midnight and the ball to drop.

 

[fredro]

I use a 5 gallon home depot bucket with lid to hold my used socks until I'm ready to wash ...

I happen to have one of those outside... with the top too. I guess I'll store em in that. Thanks for the idea!

 

[fredro]

When I used to use felt socks I would switch them 1-2 times per week.
But then I switch to mesh socks. I haven't taken it out or washed it or changed it in a few months. Its primary function is no longer a detritus trap, but rather a last means of stopping any snails that went through the overflow from reaching the skimmer/sump area. In fact, I can take it out altogether and won't notice any difference.

And yes, I'm waiting up for midnight and the ball to drop.

The first sock I had was a mesh one. It was supposedly 100 micron. It seemed to hardly catch anything. When I swapped it out for a 200 micron felt filter, the higher micron filter pulled put 100x more than the supposedly finer filter. Not really sure how to feel about mesh filters.

 

[duke62]

I will never use filters socks again. It's the reason I had a tank crash last year. If I were ever to use anything again I would use filter floss. Cheap easy and no worries of a chemical entering my system

 

[Nandez13]

Duke, do you say that because the filter socks were left in the tank long enough to build up your nitrates or because you washed the filter socks with some chemical that leached into your tank? I worry about the detritus that builds up enough that I wont allow it to settle in my sump. Or do you not have this problem because of a ULNS?

 

[duke62]

I bought a new front loader and residue from the HE detergent built up around the rubber ring I'm guessing and leached into the socks even after 3 rinses and wiped out 80 percent of my corals. Once I removed the socks and did a 40 percent water change corals came back and are growing faster then ever

 

[Skaters216]

I change my filter socks at least once a week and wash all the dirty ones in wash machine with a little bleach and then do a second rinse cycle.then soak them in RO water for a couple of hours and hang outside to dry. Look almost like new

 

[jackson6745]

I use 200 micron filter sock (from Cody) and change them out every 4 days. I wash them with bleach on one cycle, and plain rinse on second cycle. Never had a bad experience doing this and it helps be remove a lot of uneaten food that makes its way to the overflow.

 

[fredro]

Thanks for the advise guys!