How Often Do You Change Your Filter Socks?

Hello everyone, this is the first setup where my sump includes a single 4 Inch Filter Sock as a part of its filtration. However, I'm noticing the my 100 Micron and 200 Micron Filter Socks start to overflow every 4 days. Also I read in the instructions that you can actually wash the filter sock in the washer machine. My questions are this.

1. How often do you have to change your filter socks?
2. How do you clean your filter socks? Do you wash out your filter socks in the wachine machine?
3. Do you just replace your filter socks every time they start to overflow?

 

I change mine once a week when I do my water change and wash them with some bleach. I dont have overflow issues so I couldn't answer that for you.

 

1. How often do you have to change your filter socks?

I have never actually changed them. I have two that I rotate when dirty.

2. How do you clean your filter socks? Do you wash out your filter socks in the washing machine?

I wash them in the washing machine with a little bleach then let them thoroughly dry before using them.

3. Do you just replace your filter socks every time they start to overflow?

Yes once they start to over flow they are clogged. Yours are new as well as your tank so they will get clogged faster in the beginning. Mine don't begin to over flow for over a week.

 

I'm curious as to why you want to use filter socks?
In my mind, natural feeding via zooplankton is eliminated by capturing this food in the sock.

 

Never. I don't use them.

 

I swap mine out twice weekly. I wash them on gentle with a little bleach and use the two rinse cycle. Then I hang dry. If you are having overflow issues with your socks, they are too dirty or need to be thrown away and new ones purchased.

 

Agreed. I don't use them.

 

I also agree with the people who ask why use them ? I have and I would again if I was fighting a algae outbreak to catch what I picked off the rocks , Like when the Bryopsis we have been fighting for over 2 yrs started to die off I put a large filter media bag on the 2" drain in sump it caught a ton of algae that would have just floated around the system..

Like RayJay stated why would you want to filter out what the filter feeders eat ?

 

Hehe and here I was worriing about not having them on the drains. I did use them for a few hours when my water got cloudy after adding to the sand bed.

 

We change ours weekly and run them through the washing machine with a bit of bleach (seems to do a much better job than the garden hose), and let them air dry. With a 75g tank and 30g sump, it varies as to how soon they begin to overflow, I've seen it in as little as 4 days and other times it has not started overflowing at the end of the week.

There is one on the overflow from the tank and we have 4 in total that we cycle through...