Will my skimmer work better if I take out the filter sock?

[glb]

I have an SCA 301 skimmer on a new 40g tank. It works, but so much of the uneaten food/waste ends up in the filter sock that I wonder if it would do a better job without the sock. Does anyone have experience with this?

 

[Scott.h]

A skimmer will only (roughly) pull 30% of the organics out of the water. If you have lots of uneaten food in the socks maybe try feeding less or shutting off your return pump when feeding which may help feed less. Having excess food in the sump hoping the skimmer will pull it out is a bad idea, especially if you struggle with no3 and po4.

 

[glb]

I

A skimmer will only (roughly) pull 30% of the organics out of the water. If you have lots of uneaten food in the socks maybe try feeding less or shutting off your return pump when feeding which may help feed less. Having excess food in the sump hoping the skimmer will pull it out is a bad idea, especially if you struggle with no3 and po4.

I'm going to try mesh socks that I rinse out daily. That seems like a good compromise.

 

[Scott.h]

I throw mine in the washer. I've considered losing the socks in one tank since I'm dosing N and P anyway, but then I see the nonsense inside the sock and really don't want that accumulating in my sump either. Utilizing feed mode sure helps. On my other tank I don't have an apex, and also have pre filters on my overflow tubes. The amount of mysis I see in the foam is quite a bit. It just seems like I'd be asking for punishment later on. So much easier to add nutrients then try to get them back out.