Filter socks and sps

[kv69]

Okay here you go.

Okay so I took a pice of 4 inch pvc and cut it to height. Then I used the circle of the pvc to make a template on paper, traced it on the pipe and cut the hole with a dremel.

I attached a piece of eggcrate to the hole with zipties... Bioballs are packed inside this chamber also, hence the zipties.

I traced a circle innner on the eggcrate, trimmed it to size and superglued it in two thirds of the way down. The baseball sized portion of poly fill, flattened out goes on top of the eggcrate.

Voila... 1 minute filter changes no washing required.. Well... 3 minute now... because Im running a second tank and have yet to finish return modifications.

 

[Chameleon]

Okay here you go.


Okay so I took a pice of 4 inch pvc and cut it to height. Then I used the circle of the pvc to make a template on paper, traced it on the pipe and cut the hole with a dremel.

I attached a piece of eggcrate to the hole with zipties... Bioballs are packed inside this chamber also, hence the zipties.

I traced a circle innner on the eggcrate, trimmed it to size and superglued it in two thirds of the way down. The baseball sized portion of poly fill, flattened out goes on top of the eggcrate.

Voila... 1 minute filter changes no washing required.. Well... 3 minute now... because Im running a second tank and have yet to finish return modifications.

nice setup!

 

[duke62]

Why use the bio balls?

 

[Pete polyp]

You know, if we all kept hamsters as opposed to reef tanks, the conversations would be boring as heck. Just saying...

I love this thread!

+1 lol

 

[kv69]

Thanks... I used to have nitrate spikes because I wasn't the best at catching my sock before it would begin to back up. this really made things much easier for me. I can't take credit tho. I found the idea on here. And put my own spin on it. Redneck ingenuity applied to reefing. If only I could find a way to use duct tape....

 

[kv69]

Why use the bio balls?

It seems to minimize the amount of micro bubbles in my sump.

 

[duke62]

Oh ok. I have 2 bubble traps , one in my sump and one in my fuge so wouldn't have to worry about that. I'm not sure if I want to add anything to catch the particles right now but this will def be what I will use if I decided to. No more filter socks for me :)

 

[kv69]

Yessir, you wouldn't have to use them or the eggcrate on your bottom hole if you went this route (one thing I would do differently is make my hole on the bottom 3 inches instead of 4. It was overkill for flow out of the pipe). I just reach in and replace and throw away. I also have a hang sock CPR setup if anybody wants it... ha.

 

[mcarroll]

[...]I have to find the article that talked about bleach not killing all the captured sock matter, but just changing it's color vs peroxide that will deteriorate the waste collected.[...]

Not really true...dealing in some urban mythology.

Better yet, jump over to Wikipedia and look at the pages for bleach, sodium hypochlorite and peroxide and disinfectant. (4 pages worth)

Either will function as a disinfectant and both will modify color...processes that aren't entirely unrelated.

I believe I would prefer bleach just cuz I used it forever as a 10% soak and had excellent results. People have been doing it this way without issue since forever.

A more logical reason to select one vs the other may be the material you are cleaning. Either can be very tough on fibers and plastics, so if you feel your sponges/socks/whatever are degrading more quickly than they should, try switching.

(And keep that tank crud out of your washing machine! All you need is a bucket!)

-Matt

 

[wowkingjames]

I do use a sock, usually I put a clean one about once a week I throw them in the washing machine once in a while I put bleach about a 1/4 cup let them air dry. Works for me!

 

[mcarroll]

It seems to minimize the amount of micro bubbles in my sump.

The key is slowing down the water. If you could run your filter/bubble trap sideways it should work even better, in theory. (Same essential idea.)

I use a PVC Wye so water has all the vertical space for the churn that's unavoidable, plus double the exit space, cutting relative flow out of the unit in half. I take some further steps too, but in general this makes excellent bubble-settling conditions!

-Matt

 

[zesty]

Not really true...dealing in some urban mythology.

Better yet, jump over to Wikipedia and look at the pages for bleach, sodium hypochlorite and peroxide and disinfectant. (4 pages worth)

Either will function as a disinfectant and both will modify color...processes that aren't entirely unrelated.

I believe I would prefer bleach just cuz I used it forever as a 10% soak and had excellent results. People have been doing it this way without issue since forever.

A more logical reason to select one vs the other may be the material you are cleaning. Either can be very tough on fibers and plastics, so if you feel your sponges/socks/whatever are degrading more quickly than they should, try switching.

(And keep that tank crud out of your washing machine! All you need is a bucket!)

-Matt

Fair enough! I know a lot get's thrown out there and we soak it all up at different times of our reef life. Some seems to stick with us and some seem to go to the wayside. I think it all has to do with the person and their personal setup and husbandry. Everyone is always going to do something different and may or may not claim it's better or worse. I have taken a lot of good advice and bad advice. However, without local clubs or forums like this, I would still be staring at a boring ole FOWLR. I say boring because my tank wouldn't be big enough for an awesome FOWLR (don't want to offend the FOWL'ers out there)

 

[Pete polyp]

Not really true...dealing in some urban mythology.

Better yet, jump over to Wikipedia and look at the pages for bleach, sodium hypochlorite and peroxide and disinfectant. (4 pages worth)

Either will function as a disinfectant and both will modify color...processes that aren't entirely unrelated.

I believe I would prefer bleach just cuz I used it forever as a 10% soak and had excellent results. People have been doing it this way without issue since forever.

A more logical reason to select one vs the other may be the material you are cleaning. Either can be very tough on fibers and plastics, so if you feel your sponges/socks/whatever are degrading more quickly than they should, try switching.

(And keep that tank crud out of your washing machine! All you need is a bucket!)

-Matt

+1
Chlorine is going to kill stuff down to microscopic level. Keep in mind bleach is usually 10% chlorine.

I hope everyone is careful by using all these different chemicals. If you mix chlorine with acid it creates mustard gas. Its not something you will wasn't your house full of.

 

[racin2438]

We wash ours, but I use barely a small cap full of soap, and a 1/4 cup of bleach.
Rinse again in water, then keep them in a tote full of RODI..with Prime.

They sit in there until needed, we change out 1x a week whether needed or not.

 

[Chris155hp]

following

 

[juanrmattos]

I'm public enemy of any sort of filtration media (Foam, Fiber, Nylon, or Mesh), I do however like to filter carbon on a sock or pillow mesh, but unless I'm able to fully cleanse it with RO water only, it goes straight into the trash at the time of refilling.

On a SPS dominated tank one has to be really careful about what particles are floating in the water column; I even stay away from soft syphoning to avoid disturbing corals, BUT with that said, a single sock could not trap that much coral food when feeding the appropriate nutrients on regular basis (Maybe some but not all).

 

[Dixie_reefer]

That's it, I'm taking my socks off!!!

 

[Reef head]

I dip my corals in Bayer and put them in my tank, oh the chemicals!

 

[3Twinklets]

Me too!

I have used them since I started reefing a life time ago. I change mine about twice a week and they are NASTY. I would hate to have all of what comes out of my socks in my tanks. I have always used the washing machine to clean them. I use about 1/4 cup of bleach on a regular cycle then wash them again with no bleach and then do a rinse and spin. I then dry them in the dryer until completely dry. I have used this same process for 15+ years and have no issues growing SPS.

 

[duke62]

You really use soap racin?