Sock filter yes or no?

[dndbenson]

1. Yes - I use a sock filter in my sump
2. No - I do not use sock filters

I have tried to ask this question earlier in the form of a post and nobody responded so I will try a poll.

 

[tokitay]

Yep!

 

[Wiskey]

No! Detritus breaks down to Phosphate/nitrate much faster in a high flow environment like that.

Whiskey

 

[TCU Reefer]

I'm running a BB SPS system and I wouldn't run my system without filter socks.

I try to keep my tank low nutrient so I siphon the BB weekly. By doing so, I feel that I don't give the detritus to break down to harmful elements such as nitrates and phosphates.

Why would I go through the trouble to keep my starboard free of detritus but have my sump covered in this crap? I don't. I change my filter socks every few days because they get so nasty. I could not imagine what the bottom of my sump would look like if I weren't running socks. I'm a clean freak so I guess that helps push me towards socks.

I siphon the sump much less frequently than the display so if I were not using filter socks, all that detritus would just sit in the bottom of my sump and break down to NO3 and PO4. This is exactly what I don't want.

So.....Yes, filter socks here!

 

[gcarroll]

Yes, I change them ever other day.

 

[Wiskey]

TCU:

I have enough flow to kick the deatris out of the main tank, so it settles in the sump, then I syphon the sump weekly. Same thing you are doing, just backwards and sockless.

Whiskey

 

[TCU Reefer]

Wiskey,

You're exactly right! I'm just too lazy to siphon the sump so I'd rather change out the socks every few days.

 

[AlgaeMan]

I used to run them on both bb systems for all water entering the sump. Now I only run them on the output of the skimmers. The skimmers suck up most of the detritus and spit it out into the socks.

 

[h20cooled]

Nope, mine settles in the sump and gets removed weekly.

 

[Bebo77]

i use them all over my sump.. why would i want to send dirty water back into the tank... filter socks help to fix that problem....

 

[Sk8r]

WHen I get a detritus problem, I take a square of blue-white filter medium and a rubber band, and wrap same around my filter intake protection cone. I remove it in a day or so, before there's a nitrate problem, and since my fuge is down there and needs to get pods up to the tank.

 

[64Ivy]

Filter SOCK!? My sump uses FOUR of them!

Photo by Brent Barr