How Do You Guys Clean Your Filter Socks?

cham

New member
I bought one of those large cloth bags and after a few days the cloth is clogged and brown. I turned it inside out and sprayed it with the nozel at the kitchen sink with hot water but it didnt put a dent into it.

Im soaking it now in bleach water and maybe try washing it again when I get home from work.

Any other suggestions? I dont like using bleach if I can help it.
 
Turn it inside out and throw it in the washing machine with no soap, just plain hot water. Mine always comes very clean this way. Since you used bleach, run it through at least twice. I wouldn't advise using bleach again.

Be sure to tie off the strings, or else the ends will slide through the opening and make it very difficult to get back out.
 
Cham,
Wish you would have posted this earlier.. LOL, I had the same question but couldnt find a answer... So I threw the sucker in the wash machine with soap and bleach (hot water & extra Rinse).... Looks brand new now but I plan on sending it through again without any soap or bleach to get the toxins out.
 
Bleach isn't too bad, and running it through twice wont help. What will help to remove the bleach is to thuroughly dry it.

You should have a number of filter socks for the same purpose so that when one is drying you can be using another. It's very important to clean them regularly... so if you have three you can clean one on Monday, one on Wednesday, and the third on Friday.

Don't wait until it's all brown and gunky.
 
I have (6) altogether. I change the one in my sump every two days. I wash mine in the washing machine with bleach only. I don't use the one I washed again til I have used the other five, giving it plenty of time to dry from the wash.
 
I wash in the washing machine with bleach only and second rinse cycle. Works like a charm, also have 2 others and just swap out.
 
Over time, bleach will break down fabric. It takes a long time, but I prefer not to use it. There is no reason to expect filter socks to be sparking white like your favorite t-shirt, they just need to be clean. Plain hot water will accomplish that by itself.
 
washine machine with 1/2 cup of bleach on large load cycle they come out perfect bleach does NOT hurt the system at all as long as you dry it for at least a day
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8127824#post8127824 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shagsbeard
Bleach isn't too bad, and running it through twice wont help. What will help to remove the bleach is to thuroughly dry it.

Ditto, when dry, bleach is gone
 
I had been using the washing machine with bleach but I tried without bleach and they turned out the same. I just set it for hot with an extra rinse cycle.
 
Huh, ok. I will use the washing machine. Ive been really anal about not letting anything that goes into my tank have contact with anything that could have trace amounts of soap. Guess its not a big deal to have some trace amounts of soap contact the sock?

My filter sock isnt the mesh one, its HUGE and is made out of a felt like material, very thick.
 
Just tossed it in the washer with hot water only, I also added declorinator to the washer water to help pull the bleach out. I will also let it sit out for 24 hours before I use it.

I will buy more later, I bought just one for now to try it out.
 
I just use a tennis sock, change it every couple of days, I rinse it by hand and put it in the wash.

Befoe I use it again I rinse it in tap water.
 
If your concerned after the wash, i always rinse mine after wards in a bucket with RO water and let dry.
 
If you put some dechlor in the RO water it would kill the bleach as well.

I really like my method garden hose under pressure and air dry. I figure there is just enough chlorine in the tap to kill a reasonable amount of bacteria and I don't **** my wife off by having fish crap in her washer ;)
 
Use very little bleach. A capful per wash will kill just every micro-organism in the wash. Overdoing it doesn't hurt, it's just a waste of bleach and will eat at the fabric. We're not trying to make it white... we're trying to kill off the bad bacteria on it.

I wouldn't rinse it in tap... install it dry in your aquarium. Tap water has all sorts of metals, clorine, and nitrates that you don't want in your tank... trace ammounts that are ok to drink build up in your tank over time.

I have the wife problem too... so I hand wash in the work sink.
 
I have a 100 micron filter and I don't see how I could hand was it (no pressure) enough to unglog it. I tried a few times and it just didn't work.

The cap full of bleach will be orders of magnitude more chlorine than tap water would have so that isn't an issue but yea the other stuff would be a problem.

Perhaps I will try power washer with a hand rinse in RO water. *shrug*.
 
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