higher micron filter sock benifical?

SoFloReefer

New member
I'm thinking of using progressively finer mess filter socks. I would have a 200 micron sock drain into a 800 micron sock. Does anyone think this would be beneficial?
 
You would want it to go the other way. 800 to 200. To be honest though, you don't want the socks to stay in the system long enough for something like this to be beneficial. If you want to take out more particulate matter, I'd switch to 100 micron socks.
 
I have found fine micron felt filter socks plug way to rapidly. I use a rather coarse mess nylon filter bag now and fill them with poly-ester floss. It will collect far more waste before needing to be cleaned out.

Once every three or four days I simply toss the dirty filter floss into the garbage and put in new floss. I have found the cheapest way and place to buy poly filter floss is at Walmart. In the sewing section you can get 16 oz bags used to fill pillows. It will last me months.
 
check out "filter bags" on mcmaster.com for a pretty decent selection.

In years past I tried everything down to 1 micron. I found the 1 micron clogged easily within 1 day and that I had similar problems up until I got to the >25 micron range. In the end, I found that 50 micron was the smallest I could get away with using without having to clean it more than once a week.

The smallest known bacteria is in the .4 to .5 micron range. I believe the nannoscloropsis (however you spell it) is one of the smaller phytoplanktons (and is a major strain used in nearly every plankton supplement on the market) and it is about 4-5 microns in size range. Many zoolplanktons and rotifers are larger than 100 microns. It would be safe to say that all copepods that you can see with the naked eye are larger than 100 microns. People are concerned about their refugiums ability to add diversity to their aquariums microfauna, however if you use a filter sock, you are probably going to severly limit what remains in your system. With that in mind, I stopped using a filter sock at all.
 
100 micron socks work well, buy them once and wash them in the washing machine with bleach. Over time though the micron rating will decrease.
 
Was also concerned about loosing the small bugs the fish like to eat so I let the filter sock run over before changing them. I also buy mine in quantity from mcmaster. Think they have a deal if you buy quaantity. Find using the 25 micron works best for me because I do like them running over after about 3 days. currently running 7 filter socks so I end washing a load weekly.
 
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