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Filter socks


Christyef

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Hi! So glad to meet everyone yesterday at Kim's house. Had a great time and learned a lot!! I had a conversation about filter socks and wld like to open it up for discussion.... Filter socks or NO filter socks.... And the reasons why.

Everyone have a great Sunday! [emoji5]

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I know you already heard my opinion, but might as well share it with everyone...

I'm a fan of no socks. To me, they are just detritus traps that require lots of maintenance. There are tons of good stuff they capture as well as the bad. Pods, eggs, other nutrients that are basically coral food. If you aren't cleaning them very frequently then they are just catching a bunch of organic material that is going to die and rot because there's nothing there to consume it. With no socks, all that organic material will be able to be processed naturally by other living organisms within the system.

So if you DO use them, you should clean them very very frequently. Or, just be lazy and let nature take over.

I do see that sometimes using them for a few hours to "polish" the water is a good idea.

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I like to use the nylon mesh ones, but I really hate the felt ones. I feel that it helps me mitigate amount of detritus buildup in the sump.

But I do change it out frequently.

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I'm a fan of no socks unless I'm kicking up detritus out of the rocks or sand, then for a couple hours. But normally none.

+1

I've been running without but the last few days my goby has finally started sifting sand and stirring things up. He's the first sand sifter in the tank since I set it up in Aug. Once that settles down I'll remove them again.

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Sounds like the vote leans towards no socks. I'm just worried all of y'all have bigger sumps (mine is 20 gal w/ a refugium). In a 3 comp sump, is the first comp is for socks and skimmer. W/o the socks the unfiltered water jst spilled into the refugium and that's enough to get all the bad stuff out before the return chamber? (Besides the skimmer). I'm jst scared to take them off. [emoji51]. I change them out weekly/10 days.

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I use them. Have 5 that I swap out once a week. I think I would be willing to consider the occasional use model, because the upkeep is a pita, there's no doubt about it.

Curious: how do u clean them?

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GFO = Granular Ferric Oxide - It's basically is a brown powder that you can put in a media reactor to help remove phosphate. It's typically used in combination with carbon in a dual reactor like this: http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-gfo-carbon-dual-reactor.html

If you're having nuisance algae, it could be from phosphate, in which case adding GFO can help.

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Curious: how do u clean them?

Hang them outside for a day or so to dry (or a week if I forget them...), and stack up the dirties until I'm out of clean ones. Run the washing machine once w/ nothing in it, turn the socks inside out and run them through the machine w/ no soap.
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Curious: how do u clean them?

Hang them outside for a day or so to dry (or a week if I forget them...), and stack up the dirties until I'm out of clean ones. Run the washing machine once w/ nothing in it, turn the socks inside out and run them through the machine w/ no soap.

after each swap, i spray it out w/ a hose, then toss it into a 5gal bucket. I then swap out the bucket tap water. I have about 20-ish socks. when im on the last sock, i toss the others in the washing machine w/ maybe 2-3tbsp detergent. when thats done, i pull them inside out (end of a broom handle makes this easy), toss in a cup of vinegar and run a cycle again. after that i flip them back normal on a 3rd cycle w/ only water... extended spin. air dry, done.

I keep them "wet" in the bucket so the "crap" doesnt set... if you dont swap out that water it gets BAD *lol*

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GFO is rust. noone says it, but its rust *lol*

Rust! Why wld u have rust? And thnx Dan!!! I need u to dumb it up for me... Not be an engineer![emoji7]

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Just a guess but the phosphate probably binds to iron ions. Since rust is basically oxidized iron, then putting purified rust (GFO) will give the phosphate something to bind to before being consumed by algae.

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I do feed seaweed and have some actual rust..... Ferric oxide.... On a hose clamp in my return. The band is stainless. 5/16" screw apparently not. I didn't want it coming off and spraying water everywhere so I put on a hose clamp

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