FILTER SOCKS - do you need them, alternatives and the great debate

[Tamberav]

I use them but going to stop. Just don’t have time to pay attention to them with a new baby. Forget to change them and what not. I will probably just run a cup with floss for a day after a water change and call it good.

 

[mchans]

How many of you run filter socks, if YES - what is your opinion? Does it help? Is it a pain? For those saying NO - why do you not run them and what type of alternatives (if any) are you running?



FULL DISCLOSURE: I hate filter socks.

I have two 7” and change every three days.

 

[2Sweet68]

I utilize 3 @ 7” filter Sox. They do add to the ongoing maintenance but well worth it. As others have stated the keep the display as well as the sump much cleaner.

 

[Jedi1199]

My DIY "sump" uses one sock. I have a supply of 18 of them so I only have to wash them once a month. I change them out at about 4 day intervals. Since I only have to do 1 every 4 or 5 days or so, I honestly don't find this to be an issue. Usually I do this while topping off the tank so I already have a container in my hands to simply pull and replace and off to the bucket for laundry. Once I get down to the last 1 or 2, I dump them in the washer on hot with no detergent and air dry them...

I truly feel bad for the guy who has 6 in his setup... what moron designed that? Heck, I wanna throat punch him myself.. and I don't even have to deal with it.. lol

 

[Bruce Burnett]

I have never used a filter sock or similar on my tank. I don’t use them because I don’t have room in my undersized diy sump for them. All of my nutrient export is from a skimmer, fuge, and my rock and sand bed.
I usually have a lot of mulm in my sump, but my phosphates and nitrates stay low so I don’t worry about it and rarely clean it out.

I have room but don't use them either about every 4 months or so I might clean my sump if I am not in a hurry.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I've done sockless, mesh socks, the standard sock and currently using a roller filter on two different tanks and sockless on the new build since its extremely low bioload.

Frankly with using the roller filters, my sock days are done. I keep the mesh ones around just in case and thats it.

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

No one has mentioned filter cups. Maybe I missed it. Anyone? We are going all in on them for almost all of our aio tanks. With poly matrix balls. Reusable. Excellent results. Comments?

 

[Jedi1199]

No one has mentioned filter cups. Maybe I missed it. Anyone? We are going all in on them for almost all of our aio tanks. With poly matrix balls. Reusable. Excellent results. Comments?

I have looked into these. Honestly, I don't see where they are any better than socks. You need to dump the old floss and refill with new, which to me, seems more of a hassle than just R&R a sock. Perhaps I have a very simple sock holder that makes this process nearly effortless? Seriously, it takes me less than a minute to swap socks out. It takes longer to program the washing machine on wash day than it does to replace the socks....

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

I have looked into these. Honestly, I don't see where they are any better than socks. You need to dump the old floss and refill with new, which to me, seems more of a hassle than just R&R a sock. Perhaps I have a very simple sock holder that makes this process nearly effortless? Seriously, it takes me less than a minute to swap socks out. It takes longer to program the washing machine on wash day than it does to replace the socks....

Interesting. Thank you for your feedback. The response we normally get is the profound simplicity of maintaining the Floss. Take it out. Squeeze it a few times in non chlorine water and put it back in place. You don't want or need to completely clean them. Better to leave some colonies in place.

 

[Jedi1199]

Interesting. Thank you for your feedback. The response we normally get is the profound simplicity of maintaining the Floss. Take it out. Squeeze it a few times in non chlorine water and put it back in place. You don't want or need to completely clean them. Better to leave some colonies in place.

Hmmmm... So in my system, I have a single sock. It hangs in a U shaped holder. I simply pull it out, wring out the water and drop it in a half gallon pitcher, then replace with a clean one.

The setup you have requires a bucket of clean water, then rinse the floss and squeeze clean and replace.. For MY setup, this would require several additional steps. I honestly do not see an advantage here. Am I missing something?

 

[Roscovitch]

AIO Waterbox. Four socks (two each side) removed. Replaced with cups each filled with Seachem Matrix. On top of each cup a small mat of floss changed every two to three days. NO3 is steady at 2.5 and my PO4 is steady at 0.03 to 0.08. Tried the socks but got so clogged up so fast the water level changed every other day and the ATO would start/stop when they were pulled for cleaning or changed for new ones. Total pain.

 

[damsels are not mean]

I think anything a filter sock does is better done by a roller and I also think both are unnecessary.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I think anything a filter sock does is better done by a roller and I also think both are unnecessary.

Depends.

I routinely go away for 4-6 weeks at a time, and a roller mat and automation is the only way to keep things stable for a reasonable period.

 

[Shon]

Plan is a settling tank with AWC and 1" manual drain.

Peninsula Aqueon 40b- Darthog 10g cone bottom tank - Aqueon 20l sump.



Pardon the mess, building 2 stands inside makes alot of dust. Eventually will get it done.. The settling tank is sitting on a make shift stool/10g brute trash can riser in photo, it will be higher, mounted suspended just below external overflow.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

How many of you run filter socks, if YES - what is your opinion? Does it help? Is it a pain? For those saying NO - why do you not run them and what type of alternatives (if any) are you running?



FULL DISCLOSURE: I hate filter socks.

Some people will learn from what I'm about to say, it is something that makes life easier that I have spent more than a decade figuring out.

I use polyester sheets that I throw away because I am not cleaning filter socks and polyester does the same thing.

The only benefit they give me is clear water, nothing else. I have a fuge that is more efficient than I need at lowering nitrate and phosphate. With a huge fish load that gets fed 12 times a day via autofeeder.

Polyester sheets give me clear water, fuge takes care of nitrates and phosphate, live rock and bioballs take care of the biological filtration. I have no need for a skimmer, it's job is already taken care of in my previous filtration. No messing with skimmer and cleaning out the bowl. No cleaning filter socks. Keep it simple and make it easier on yourself and you will have better results, also you spend less time on maintenance and are more likely to do it consistently.

And I don't change my polyester every 3 days like brs swears by. Their only job should be to keep the water clear. It is 2022, you should use something besides filter socks/ polyester to control nutrients. Change about once a week to keep the water clear.

I have no need to worry about nitrate and phosphate for my corals. I feed so much that their is always nutrients in the water to eat. They never get above 2 ppm or .03, but even at 0 there is always a small constant supply of nutrients. Just like the ocean. I don't need to test for nitrate very often, it is always between 0 and 2 ppm.

 

[hbash]

How many of you run filter socks, if YES - what is your opinion? Does it help? Is it a pain? For those saying NO - why do you not run them and what type of alternatives (if any) are you running?



FULL DISCLOSURE: I hate filter socks.

I use tubes in sock holders with floss. It’s better than washing funky socks and I can replace the floss daily with little effort .

 

[hbash]

No one has mentioned filter cups. Maybe I missed it. Anyone? We are going all in on them for almost all of our aio tanks. With poly matrix balls. Reusable. Excellent results. Comments?

What are poly matrix balls?

 

[Djhype97]

I have a Fijicube sump that has the option of using socks or not. I opted to use the tray and cut filter floss to fit the tray. Remove and replace every 3-4 day. Never using socks again.

 

[ScubaScott]

I use filter socks because they are simple, cheap, and can not really brake unless you are really trying. They are simple to clean; mine just go straight from the sump into a bucket with bleach water in it, when the bucket is full they go in the wash. They might take me 15 minutes a month of actual work to clean them. I do only run one sock on the main drain of the system and let the secondary and emergency go right into the sump.

If you run a filter roller and you do maintenance in you tank, you have to take your filter roller offline unless you want to waste $30 of reef tank toilet paper. There are so many stories about those things blowing through multiple rolls in a single month or even a week and having motors and sensors failing on them. That doesn't sound like easy maintenance to me.

Refugiums and ATS are both A+ in my book too. Easy filtering that can not really brake.

My tank has only been up and running since last fall, so my experience is relatively limited so far, but I have a Clarisea roller filter and absolutely love it. When I do tank maintenance that stirs up stuff a lot, I will sometime redirect to a filter sock, but I can't say that I really have any issues with blowing through rolls quickly and the last couple of tank cleaning sessions I haven't bothered with switching to a sock. I am getting close to two months out of one roll (larger Clarisea model and a 170 gallon fowlr). When I look at how filthy the spent filter roll is (see photo), I am really glad that crap (literally) is not sitting in the sump and having water continually running over it so that it can further contaminate the tank. It is continuously removed and I only have to do maintenance on it once every two months (to swap out the roll).

 

[Duncan62]

How many of you run filter socks, if YES - what is your opinion? Does it help? Is it a pain? For those saying NO - why do you not run them and what type of alternatives (if any) are you running?



FULL DISCLOSURE: I hate filter socks.

There's one on the 2 inch outlet into the sump on my largest tank. It's never been cleaned. Course woven sock. It's purpose is to try to generate nitrate to avoid 0s.