Filter Socks

Hi...do you use them and if so what kind and do you put anything in them or just tie them on the returns?

Which type is best?

 

I use them and like them. I don't run any media with filter socks, I just use them to filter the water. I run each for no more than 3 days, and wash with about 1/2 cu. of bleach on small cycle, allowing to completely air dry before reusing. My socks are 4" diameter (the internal plastic ring on the open end), and 100 micron.

Here's a pic:









The setup hangs on the incoming part of my sump.



It's important to swap these out at no more than 2 or 3 days IMO, as they will begin to produce nitrates from all the decaying matter in them.

Other than that, I'm happy with them and glad I made the switch.

 

I use filter socks very sparingly and occasionally. On my tank I don't feel the need to do a lot of mechanical filtration. I throw a sock on to the drain every once and a while and turkey baster my rocks and sump and stir up a little sand to try and get a bunch of extra junk out but overall I don't feel like mechanical filtration is necessary on most reefs if it's maintained well (a good skimmer does a lot of mechanical filtration) and actually could be filtering out some beneficial small/microscopic plankton-type life that is beneficial to corals mainly.

There was another reasonably long debate on 3reef recently about filter socks which you might be able to dig up by going back a bit or using the search function. I believe the user that started it was "adicus", maybe?

 

Can't argue with this. Infact, using a filter sock only occasionally might be the best of both worlds. It allows your to clean your tank when the need arises, and not take micro-sized foods out of the water that corals would otherwise consume.