Who uses filter socks

[mattsilvester]

Do you use filter socks in your SPS dominated tanks, or do you use anything else i.e. a chamber with filter wool or otherwise?

 

[T-Boner]

I use 8 inch socks one on each of my drains from the DT to the ftag tanls. They work great!!

 

[drw94]

I use one 4 inch sock and change out when it over flows. Pretty easy.

 

[coopj]

I use one 8" sock and change 2 times per week.

 

[dlaws]

My impression is that most people use filter socks now. When you use filter wool often a lot of crap falls back in the tank when you change it. I use socks, change them every 4-5 days.

 

[GSMguy]

I stick a sock in when I'm doing cleanup like stirring the sand. Otherwise I like the Pods to be able to move thru the sump. I notice my pod population dwindles when I use socks 24/7.

 

[catfish]

Only when I'm cleaning. Just too much hassle for me otherwise.

 

[REEF SMAC]

Yes.
I use the 7"x 30" ones. I just rotate them out every 4 to 5 days. They seem to trap a lot of gunk.

 

[mattsilvester]

Thanks everyone.

My system is configured such that the skimmer is gravity fed from the overflows. THe flow is split, part to the skimmer and part directly to a small refugium section. At the moment, the effluent from the skimmer goes through a sock - it gets quite gunky after 4-5 days. The flow to the refugium on the other hand has no sock - and there's quite a lot of detritus and silt in that section as a result.

So I was going to run both through socks. Seems the camp would be split 50-50 on my proposal. But in a bare bottom tank, there is nowhere for particulates to settle - and so unless you remove them it seems like there is constantly "bits" in the water column. You expect this in something like a FOWLR but in the supposed pristine conditions of an SPS tank......

 

[ReefBum]

I have been using them for years. I change them out once a week and they work great.

 

[thor109]

One overflow goes into 3 4" socks the other straight into skimmer chamber.

 

[MammothReefer]

Single sock, I replace it typically 2 times a week. I'll let it go a week now and then, but I like to replace it before things start to "break down"

I've got about 20 socks so I just wash them when I get down to the second to last one

 

[sweet ride]

Use two filter sock and change them every 3 days.

 

[blakers82]

I use (2) 4" socks draining into my skimmer section. I change them when they start to stink or when they start to over flow. Roughly a week to two weeks.

 

[Aimforever]

I used to use them but it got to a point where it was just too much work. I found an alternative that seems to work pretty well if you have the space. I added a 40 gallon feeding trough as first contact for the drain lines. They enter it at one end and then it overflows to the rest of my sump system on the other. There is very little turbulence so all the detritus and gunk tends to settle out in there. It is kept totally dark so it is sort of like a cryptic fuge with tons of little critters living there. Every couple months I clean it out with a hose and suck all the gunk out. It doesn't work quite as well as the filter sock, but it is pretty close and is much less work. The main issue is where you have the space or not.