clean filter socks?

[shaneh]

quick question?

-last night i washed 4 of my filter socks in the waching maching with about a 1/4 cup of bleach. I took them out and rinced them with RO/DI water 3 times. But they still have a faint bleach smell, is this ok to put back in my tank? Last night i put them in hot water to soak over night and will rince agian with RO/DI when i get home. If anyone knows a better way to wash them let me know.

thanks

 

[jtarmitage]

I use bleach and use the extra rinse cycle in the washing machine. you will still smell the bleach for a couple of hours, but the chlorine will evaporate off. you don't want to throw them right back in the tank however. I prefer to leave them airing out at least overnight.

 

[shaneh]

thanks, i will let them air out tonight and put them in tomrrow.

 

[sulcata1619]

Craig you are correct my friend. This guy has learned alot. Shane, that is why most of us own atleast a dozen filter socks.we will hav to do a group buy soon. You can get them hella cheap.

 

[NeonFish]

washing machine? wow. I just turn mine inside out and the spray it down with the garden hose and let it air dry in the sun.

 

[coralfarmer]

Just use soak them with de-chlor and rinse them in hot water and your ready to go.

 

[coralfarmer]

do not use novaqua or stress coat. just straight dechlor the stuff in those products will make your skimmer over flow

 

[shaneh]

thanks guys for the tips I'll start a new thread on a group buy

 

[northbay-reefer]

Turn them inside out, spray them with the hose, let dry and use again. Once in a while I use bleach, but most of the time all you need is a good jet of water to rinse them. I keep about 10 of them on hand and rotate 4 of them at a time until they are too worn out and I throw them away

 

[Reef Bass]

I hear you guys using bleach without trouble, but geez that freaks me out. I hose my sock off inside and out, rinse with ro/di water and dry.

When I was breeding FW cichlids many years ago I once used a bucket, which had been used with bleach but rinsed what I thought was incredibly thoroughly, to hold some fry and very shortly all were dead dead dead from what I assume was poisoning from bleach residue. If mere residue can kill fish, then my impression is that it would be incredibly toxic on more sensitive organisms like coral.

Are all of you using your filter socks 24/7/365? I do not. My concern is that a filter sock with a couple days of detritus in it will become a source of nitrites / nitrates.

When I know I'm going to be stirring stuff up in the tank, I insert the sock on my incoming line to my sump and capture that debris. The sock comes back off a few hours later when the water has cleared, and gets blasted inside and out with the hose, then rinsed with ro/di water (to help remove any minerals / chlorine from the hose water) then dried.

 

[coralfarmer]

24/7/365

 

[Reef Bass]

Alrighty then. Maybe I'll try it 24/7/365 and see if my nitrates go up at all as a result.

On a separate note, be careful assuming your water is chlorinated v. chloraminated. While chlorine will evaporate, chloramine will not. I know Petaluma city water switched over to chloramine from chlorine a few years ago.

 

[treesmoker]

graig- i know it sounds scary.....but the chlorine will evaporate within hours. I have 20 filter socks that i rotate. Each sock gets used for 1-2 weeks and then into the "dirty" bucket they go. once i'm through about 15 of them, then i wash them again. I usually only have to wash a load every 30 -50 days. The important thing is to give them an extra rinse and AIR DRY ONLY.

 

[kokaneejr]

Hey Ken,

I know we both post photos(admittedly yours are better) but I think they are calling you,me as I haven't posted here yet. That being said I am with you I thought that the filter socks would collect detritus and raise nitrates so I only used them when I stirred up the tank directly before or after a good cleaning and water change. Just seemed like a trap for copepods otherwise.

Now that I hear different I may be adding my name to the group buy list......CRAIG.

 

[Reef Bass]

Thanks Craig.

Ken

 

[gdm42001]

24/7/365 changed every 3 days (OK, the tank has only been running since Nov.)
I turn them inside out, put them in the front loader on Hot, and put bleach in, run the extra rinse cycle and put them out to dry.
If you do not get them rinsed good enough and don't let them dry first I have had the skimmer go nuts at first.