Shoo-Wee Dirty Socks! Are you cleaning your filter socks good enough?

How often do you clean your filter socks?

  • Every few days

    Votes: 256 26.2%
  • Every weekend

    Votes: 158 16.2%
  • Every other week

    Votes: 79 8.1%
  • Every month

    Votes: 38 3.9%
  • When they look dirty

    Votes: 77 7.9%
  • I don't ever clean them

    Votes: 11 1.1%
  • I don't use filter socks

    Votes: 326 33.3%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 33 3.4%

  • Total voters
    978

revhtree

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Ok this is a question is more for me than anyone at this point because I'm always wondering if I am getting my filter socks clean enough! I'm always wondering did I rinse good enough, should I take a water hose to them, should I throw in the washer, should I add bleach, or maybe I should do all of that? But I'm always wondering are there nasties still in there and what effect, if any, will it have on my water chemistry. So let's talk about it!


1. What is your routine for keeping your filter socks clean?

2. Do you have any tips for cleaning your socks that you could share?



@JCOLE knows how to make his wife mad! :p
20191113_213041.jpg
 

Crabs McJones

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I have a utility sink in the basement in my laundry room. I would turn the socks inside out, clean them up by hand in the sink as best I could, and then run them through the washing machine.
 

X-37B

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Spray off with high pressure hose nozzle.
Turn inside out and repeat.
Drop in 3 gallon bucket and add small amount of h202 34% and soak over night.
Drain and wring out let air dry in summer. Winter toss in dryer for 20 minutes, done.
 

Greybeard

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I keep a pair of plastic trash cans in my sump closet. One for clean sox, one for dirty sox. Every other day, I pull the dirty sock, hang it on the skimmer to drain, and put in a clean sock. Takes all of about 20 seconds.

When I'm down to a couple, I take the bucket of dirty sox to my wife, she washes them (bleach, no detergent, double rinse, no dryer), and gives 'em back to me. I'll set up a row of drying sox on my stand for a day, scoop 'em back in the bucket, and back into the sump closet. Got enough sox to last me a 6 weeks or so.

Zeovit system... they encourage you to spend some time with your tank. Honestly, if you can't spend a few minutes each day with your reef... why do you have one?
 

andrewkw

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To anyone's significant other who is upset by using a washing machine to clean filter socks, what would they do if a bird pooped on their clothes? A baby or cat threw up on them ect ect. Washing machines are self cleaning. IF there is any mess left behind simply run a rinse cycle and wipe the machine once.

I wash mine about once every 10 days but I have to change them every week at the most, usually twice a week. Since I carbon dose they clog fast.
 

RM24

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I turn them inside out and hose them down. Then in the washing machine with a cap full of bleach. 2 rinse cycles. Let them dry out. Then another rinse in rodi water with some prime. Dry out again and they are ready to go.
 

WVNed

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I use 3 felt 7 inch socks every 2 days and wash them once a week in the washer with Oxyclean using the directions on the package for my washer.
Sometimes I presoak them in Oxyclean and sometimes I dont.
 

NS Mike D

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I switched to mesh socks and will never go back to felt. For anyone who thinks felt is better at trapping detritus etc, I disagree as you can get mesh in a wide range of sizes, like from 50 micron to 300 micron. I find it hard to believe that felt can trap better than 50 micron mesh given that most felts are 100. micron.

I use 200 micron since I am not seeking to polish my water.

Here is the huge difference. I can clean my mesh socks in 2 minutes in the sink. Felt is good at trapping detritus from getting past, but it's also good at trapping that junk in the fibers of the felt which makes it difficult to clean.

Cleaning mesh socks is no longer a task I give much thought to anymore. I remove the old (which drains much faster too) , put in the new, walk to the sink, give it a decent rinse with sink sprayer and set aside to dry. And they dry much faster as well so I can store it away.

Mesh doesn't fall apart the way felt does.

I am at a loss how felt has become the standard in the hobby.
 

Big C

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Change out socks at least once a week. Throw them in the old sock bucket (old salt bucket, we have plenty of those right.....). Grab a new set out of the new bucket (yes you guessed it a old salt bucket). After a few weeks through them in the wash with a small amount of standard bleach normal cycle with an extra rinse. Let dry in bucket.

I’ll never forget when I was out on a work trip and had the wife clean them. No idea why but she was wearing a nice dress and unfortunately ended up with a white spotted dress after cleaning the socks. So that’s one chore she won’t help out again on! She was thoughtful and purchased some splashless bleach that I had to return (not sure if there are other additives because I don’t think it’s more concentrated).
 
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mike550

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I change my filter socks about every 3-4 days as part of my maintenance routine. When I take out a dirty sock it goes into a bucket with a weak solution of bleach / water. After I collect 5 or 6 socks I use a power washer to clean them up. Quick soak in bleach / water again ("just in case") followed by Prime. Hang to dry.

Not a chance I'll be using the laundry machine.
 

Finding Nemo

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I simply replace the filter sock with a clean one, take the dirty one - add a cap full of bleach, and wash it on the "Sanitary" setting in my washer - on high heat, high water level, all by itself. Comes out great. Let it dry for a couple days before using it. Had no issues so far.
 

ReefGrammie

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@JCOLE knows how to make his wife mad! :p
20191113_213041.jpg

I am the wife and this looks like my washing machine every few weeks!! ;Shamefullyembarrased

1. What is your routine for keeping your filter socks clean?
I pile them up in my fishroom sink until I run out, then I turn them inside out like in the picture. I run them through the wash cycle with only a little bleach (no detergent) and then through 2 rinse cycles and let them air dry.

2. Do you have any tips for cleaning your socks that you could share?

If you re-wet them before turning inside out, it's much easier. I could turn them when I first take them off, but I'd rather pile them up and turn them all at once because they're icky!
 

Shawn_epicurious

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1. What is your routine for keeping your filter socks clean?
I use my washing machine to clean my filters and then replace them after 3 times thru the washer

2. Do you have any tips for cleaning your socks that you could share?
My only tip is this.... watch your overflow in the sock section of your sump.... if water is spilling thru the overflow, you need to clean your socks.
 

ReefGeezer

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Since one of the poll options is "I don't use filter socks" I'll add my $.002. I don't run filter socks anymore. Simply put, in a mature tank, I think socks and other mechanical filters remove "food" that corals and invertebrates might use. When I need to filter detritus or gross organic matter I've stirred up during maintenance, I use a little filter floss or felt and throw it away. Otherwise, I don't use anything. There are a couple of spots that detritus settles in the DT. I just suck it out during water changes. I really don't worry about detritus in the sump. It gets cleaned out when I have to do any maintenance on the sump. The build-up is never very bad.
 

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  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 64 36.8%
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    Votes: 59 33.9%
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    Votes: 25 14.4%
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