A tear came to my eye when eyeinthedrk mention the utilization of 8 filter socks being changed so often. This is how I explain it to my clients. If the filter socks are changed often, you are manually removing organics from your aquarium that would otherwise need to be broken down by bacteria and other inhabitants. The less organics the better (for the most part) primarily pointing out less algae as an example to them.
to filter sock or not.... that is the question
- Thread starter joshPensacola
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Reefer54
New member
With proper planning a tank can pretty much "run itself" with very minimal upkeep by the aquarist aside from routine maintenance. That being said, how often is routine maintenance? a properly planned and executed tank/sump/and inhabitant husbandry matched with appropriate feedings can really eliminate the need for 2+ socks that need so much attention. In my opinion, why spend so much time planning and planning on the unforeseen to administer to a solution requiring work every two days. I can refill my ATO and food with a water change once every two weeks, and leave everything alone (aside from a good glass cleaning here and there) with programmed system checks and results updates. no filter socks.....It isnt reinventing the wheel, but It's like inventing a tire with a leak.
Reefin' Dude
New member
if the tank has a substrate, then socks can be a good thing if cleaned every day. if the tank is BB, then no reason. the settled detritus would be removed during normal water changes.
experiment: put the filter sock in the system. see how much detritus it catches. do you want all of that detritus settling somewhere else in the system to decompose?
G~
experiment: put the filter sock in the system. see how much detritus it catches. do you want all of that detritus settling somewhere else in the system to decompose?
G~
saltwatershark
New member
I've read these posts and decided AGAINST using filter socks. For me it comes down to maintenance--why create more work for yourself when you design you system to properly run without them? If quick cleaning particulate matter following a water change or reconfiguration of rocks is an issue, why not buy a micron canister filter to hang on the back of a DT to run every now and then as needed (and not running when not needed)? Just seems like having filter socks adds unnecessary work.
chercm
New member
here is a good read from : mrsaltwatertank.com
http://www.mrsaltwatertank.com/filter-socks-worth-the-dirty-laundry/
Another question saltwater tank owners always ask is:
“Do I need to run filter socks on my tank”?
My answer is always, no, unless you are a reef junkie.
In its simpliest sense, a filter sock is a tube sock looking piece of mesh or felt that goes below your downpipe on your tank so that as the water falls from your tank to your sump, it has to pass through the sock. The sock catches small particulates (down to 200 microns) which means clearer water for your tank, but it comes with a cost.
These socks need to be cleaned and changed out every 3 days so keep from creating nitrates which can really wreak havoc on your tank. (The trapped particles break down in the sock and generate waste – the nitrates). Filter socks can also get clogged and overflow if you leave them unchanged for a long time.
As a tank dabblers, its not worth having to clean a piece of your tank every couple of days. The difference you notice with the filter sock isn’t worth the effort. The same is true for reef enthuiasts. It’d be nice to run socks, but you can get by without it.
Reef junkies..stock up. Remember you want the best tank and if someone saw small pieces of who-knows-what floating around your tank, it’d be detrimental to your reputation. Just remember to change them out every 3 days and wash them with cold water and no soap!
http://www.mrsaltwatertank.com/filter-socks-worth-the-dirty-laundry/
Another question saltwater tank owners always ask is:
“Do I need to run filter socks on my tank”?
My answer is always, no, unless you are a reef junkie.
In its simpliest sense, a filter sock is a tube sock looking piece of mesh or felt that goes below your downpipe on your tank so that as the water falls from your tank to your sump, it has to pass through the sock. The sock catches small particulates (down to 200 microns) which means clearer water for your tank, but it comes with a cost.
These socks need to be cleaned and changed out every 3 days so keep from creating nitrates which can really wreak havoc on your tank. (The trapped particles break down in the sock and generate waste – the nitrates). Filter socks can also get clogged and overflow if you leave them unchanged for a long time.
As a tank dabblers, its not worth having to clean a piece of your tank every couple of days. The difference you notice with the filter sock isn’t worth the effort. The same is true for reef enthuiasts. It’d be nice to run socks, but you can get by without it.
Reef junkies..stock up. Remember you want the best tank and if someone saw small pieces of who-knows-what floating around your tank, it’d be detrimental to your reputation. Just remember to change them out every 3 days and wash them with cold water and no soap!
carlso63
Reefkeeping since 1977
Sorry to disagree with "Mr. Saltwater Tank", but
- Yes, you should use them. They keep your DT water clearer which increases light penetration. They keep detritus from accumulating in your sump. They take 30 seconds to replace if you have them set up correctly. You don't have 30 seconds a day? You don't feed your fish every day?
- Clean them in HOT water, not cold. Hot water caused the fibers to expand and release all the trapped dirt from within the weave. HOT water, bleach only, extra rinse if your washer has that function. That is what I do. Some of mine are 5 years old and still look brand new.
Problem is people are lazy and cheap. They only buy 1 or 2 socks. Don't own just 1 or 2, so that you have to constantly clean them... check you local Club site "For Sale" ads, look for people getting out of the hobby... you can always find these for sale for almost nothing. I have 15 of them that I probably paid $40 total for; change it out every day, I toss the dirty ones on the back porch to dry out so they don't get smelly or moldy. Every 2 weeks I wash them all in a separate load in the washer. The spinning action of the washer pretty much dries them.
- Yes, you should use them. They keep your DT water clearer which increases light penetration. They keep detritus from accumulating in your sump. They take 30 seconds to replace if you have them set up correctly. You don't have 30 seconds a day? You don't feed your fish every day?
- Clean them in HOT water, not cold. Hot water caused the fibers to expand and release all the trapped dirt from within the weave. HOT water, bleach only, extra rinse if your washer has that function. That is what I do. Some of mine are 5 years old and still look brand new.
Problem is people are lazy and cheap. They only buy 1 or 2 socks. Don't own just 1 or 2, so that you have to constantly clean them... check you local Club site "For Sale" ads, look for people getting out of the hobby... you can always find these for sale for almost nothing. I have 15 of them that I probably paid $40 total for; change it out every day, I toss the dirty ones on the back porch to dry out so they don't get smelly or moldy. Every 2 weeks I wash them all in a separate load in the washer. The spinning action of the washer pretty much dries them.
Drae
RAIDER NATION!
Yep ^^^^^ +1
chercm
New member
my wife not allowing me to use the washer . can i just soak the filter bag in hot water with bleach ?
carlso63
Reefkeeping since 1977
Honestly, I am not sure how well it will work just soaking them... but you can try.
Other options: do you have a Laundromat nearby?
Also, maybe your wife will change her mind if you explain that you are only going to wash them separate from any clothing, and in hot water and bleach only. Ask her to let you try it one time - and if she is not happy with the way the washer looks when you are finished you will never do it again. That is what I did. I used enough bleach that the washer looked super clean and smelled very sanitary when I was done... my wife always let me use it after that.
Other options: do you have a Laundromat nearby?
Also, maybe your wife will change her mind if you explain that you are only going to wash them separate from any clothing, and in hot water and bleach only. Ask her to let you try it one time - and if she is not happy with the way the washer looks when you are finished you will never do it again. That is what I did. I used enough bleach that the washer looked super clean and smelled very sanitary when I was done... my wife always let me use it after that.
Useful_Idiot
Artificially Intelligent
I wash them when my wife isn't home. I never asked her, she might say no.
On topic though I've run them for months and stopped for months. Definitely less detritus in the system with them. Less mysid shrimp too. I'm running them currently simply for water clarity in a deep tank.
On topic though I've run them for months and stopped for months. Definitely less detritus in the system with them. Less mysid shrimp too. I'm running them currently simply for water clarity in a deep tank.
dkeller_nc
New member
And here is the alternative view:
No, you shouldn't run them unless you've a special situation that warrants it (such as a precipitated calcium carbonate "snowstorm"), and then only briefly.
There are a few reasons for this alternative view:
You don't need any additional light penetration, nor crystal clear water. Reef tank lighting has evolved to the point where too much light is the more common problem. If you're a diver, you know that water isn't crystal clear on very many real-life reefs, and it certainly isn't all the time even on ones that occasionally are crystal clear with 300 visibility in the a.m. That same reef after dark will be so cloudy with phytoplankton and zooplankton that you'll be lucky to have 10 foot visibility.
Which brings up the main reason not to run filter socks. They do remove some things that you might not want in your system, or at least a lot of in your system, but they also indiscriminately remove things you do want in your system, such as copepods and amphipods. Even when you're talking detritus, it makes a heck of a lot more sense to occasionally vacuum out the bottom of your sump where it's accumulated and pull out far fewer living parts of your mini-ecosystem. And removing the detritus but not using filter socks allows many other creatures an opportunity to find leftover fish food rather than it being immediately removed by a sock.
carlso63
Reefkeeping since 1977
Good points - but I'll counter:
A comparison between a real reef and a reef tank is not a fair one, for the following reasons (and probably a whole bunch more) -
1) A real reef is lit by the sun, which has PAR and PUR values far exceeding anything we can possibly duplicate with artificial lighting over an aquarium;
2) A real reef has a flow / water exchange rate / dilution volume which far surpasses the capacities of even the largest commercial public aquariums - never mind a home reef tank;
3) A real reef has a diversity of organisms (especially non - photosynthetic and microbial / planktonic) which - again - we can not hope to even come close to under artificial conditions.
Due to the above 3 items, a real reef has the capacity to absorb and negate fluctuations in things like detritus output to a magnitude that is impossible under home conditions. In a closed artificial environment, the aquarist needs to take addtional measures not needed in nature (i.e. no one had to vaccum out the sandbed, or do a water change on the ocean)
IMO the amount of 'good' things (pods and the like) removed via a filter sock is negligible compared to the amount of potentially 'bad' things (such as detritus, uneaten foods, waste products, etc) that are removed. And, again IMO, the overwhelming majority of hobbyists do not undertake proper huisbandry measures - such as vacuuming out detritus accumulations in the sump - with sufficient frequency as to make them effective.
Look at it this way -
We have people griping that changing out a sock every day or 2 is 'too much hassle'... but getting a bucket and some vinyl tubing and getting down on your hands and knees to siphon out detritus from your sump, maybe moving around any live rock / live sand / macroalgae you have down there... and then replacing the water you removed... is certainly more 'hassle' than switching out a sock, isn't it? So how often is the vacuuming gonna get done, really?
And if we are saying one of the main 'drawbacks' to running socks is that they need to be switched out every day or 2 to avoid breakdown of all the stuff that gets trapped in the sock... and you DON'T run a sock... so all that crap ends up in your sump...
Well, are you vacuuming that sump every day or 2? Because that same detritus 'breakdown' you were just worried about inside a dirty sock is still gonna happen inside that dirty sump.
If you can tell me that you vacuum out the accumulated detritus from syour sump every few days - religiously - then by all means, ditch the socks...
But I have only met 1 person in my 35+ years of doing saltwater that was anal / crazy enough to actually keep to that kind of cleaning schedule
I use one and like others suggest its not worth it unless you are very diligent its a pian to clean so it gets neglected. so it ends up being a nitrate trap I like how mike palleta has his overflow drain right into bioballs. if you are diligent and clean it very often.... like as you would a skimmer then I think it can be a valuable nutrient export... imo
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NTP66
New member
I was running a sock on my 90g FOWLR up until a week ago, when my last one was removed (still waiting on a replacement to be delivered). So far, I see no real difference in the water quality. I'll probably run it like this for a while just to make sure WQ isn't really affected.
Somebody mentioned this earlier, but this is probably one of those things we can consider to be personal preference.
Somebody mentioned this earlier, but this is probably one of those things we can consider to be personal preference.
carlso63
Reefkeeping since 1977
FOWLRs are different than reef tanks... fish can easily tolerate nO3 / pO4 / nutrient levels that will brown out / rtn a tankful of SPS in no time...
leveldrummer
New member
I use them sparingly, I will mount one when ever i do a water change, or stir up lots of crud, ill take a turkey baster and puff all the live rock, ill take a small powerhead and hook a peice of tubing up to it and vacuum the sump, the outlet of the tube goes into the sock and it collects anything from the sump.
all other times when it isnt needed, its not in my sump.
all other times when it isnt needed, its not in my sump.
slief
RC Sponsor
+2!
Heck, I keep a dozen or more socks on hand. I now only change mine out every couple weeks. I still don't buy this whole nitrate factory stuff. The detritus would be in the sump and not the socks anyways. Like I said, I change my four 7" socks out every 2 or so weeks when they start backing up. All that stuff that would otherwise be in my sump or the rest of my tank is removed when the socks are swapped. Guess what, I feed every day, have 30 or so fish and NO detectable nitrates. Of course a heavier bioload may dictate more sock changes but it takes minutes and all the crap that the socks collect would be left in the tank without them requiring much more labor in vacuuming.
I'm of the mindset that my filter socks decrease my workload and have noticeably improved my water quality and tank health. After 25+ years, I know what works for me and the socks have been nothing but a good thing! Are they needed?? No, but can they help, absolutely yes! It's much easier to change a sock or two or more than vacuum a sump and tank. Now granted, I have my Tunzes programmed via my Apex to stir anything up off the bottom of the tank intermittantly so it can be collected by the socks. As such, I tend to take advantage of them more than many but between regular use of filter and an occasional blasting of the rocks with a power head, really can make having filter socks and appreciable benifit. Me, I can compare before and after over the course of years and like I said, I know their value for my application and my system and certainly don't mind the 6 minutes a month it takes me to swap all 4 socks out a couple times.
