- A big howdy, howdy to all of our fellow
and future hobbyists out there.
My name is Matthew, I am your BRS beginner guru,
and all we're gonna do right here, right now
is answer your top five questions, all about filter socks.
Question number one, what does a filter sock do?
Simply put a filter sock removes any kind of fish food
or fish waste or any other kind of floating debris
from the water column.
If it floats in your tank and makes its way
into the overflow, as long as it is larger in size
than the pores of the filter sock it'll get caught.
And then how do you get rid of all that fish food
and waste that is now clogging up your filter sock?
Well, you just remove it and put it in a new one.
Question number two, do filter socks remove nitrates?
No, they don't, but they can help prevent
additional nitrates from entering your tank.
Check out this table from BRStv Investigates.
They performed an eight week filter sock test,
which showed that if you change your filter socks,
two times a week, you could reduce the nitrates
added to your system by 28%.
And that's not half bad, but if your nitrates
are already high,
the only thing a filter sock is going to do is gonna help
slow down the rate that new nitrates are added to your tank,
but it's not gonna remove any nitrates.
Question number three, can I wash filter socks?
Absolutely, and in fact, you need to.
That's why it's a really good idea to have a whole bunch
of extra filter socks lying around
or else you're literally gonna have to remove a filter sock,
wash it and put it back,
but if you have a whole bunch of extras,
then you can just throw them in a bucket
and maybe wash them once every other week or so.
I used to wash my filter socks
by turning each one inside out,
and then going to the sink and rinsing them out
as much as I could,
then I would take them, put them in the washing machine,
add some bleach, and that was it.
But honestly, over the years,
what I found is just taking them out
and putting them in the washing machine with bleach,
no soap mind you, never use soap, only bleach,
but that by just doing that and not rinsing it,
they really did get almost as clean as before,
so I saved myself that middle step of going to the sink
and rinsing it out.
And now I just put them directly into the washing machine
with some bleach, and that seems to work just fine.
Question number four, are mesh filter socks better
than fleece filter socks.
One is not necessarily better than the other.
Mesh is much thinner, which means it doesn't get clogged
as quickly, but that also means it doesn't catch
as many particles as fleece.
When felt on the other hand is much thicker,
it has a lot more layers,
which means it will catch a lot more
of that particulate matter,
but that also means it will get clogged up a lot quicker.
So even if you buy a 200 micron mesh filter sock
and a 200 micron felt filter sock,
because there are so many more layers
in that felt filter sock,
it will get clogged up a lot more quickly,
which does mean it probably filters out more.
I personally prefer felt filter socks,
not only because they filter out more particulate matter,
but they also keep the water column looking crystal clear
and free of floating debris.
And question number five,
how often do I need to change out my filter socks?
This one is super easy to answer.
You need to change your filter socks
every three to four days.
BRS Investigates discovered that you will get
the highest reduction in NO3 and PO4 nitrate and phosphate
if you change your filter socks out
every three to four days.
But of course you can change that schedule
depending on what your own goals are.
For example, if your system is running way too low
under nitrate and phosphates,
maybe your goal should be to change those out once a week,
or maybe even push that to once every 10 days
to try to increase your nitrate and phosphate levels.
But if you're noticing that your filter socks get clogged
really quickly, then you may have to change
them out more often.
Listen to everybody, I get it,
buying filter socks is not a sexy sort of purchase,
but if you don't have a stockpile of them,
now's a really good time to stockpile
so that you can change them out every three days
and only have to wash them every two to three weeks.
If you're interested and ready to build
your filter socks stockpile,
well, we will put a link directly below
and as always everybody, thanks for watching.
Happy reefing, be well.
We'll see you next time.
(acoustic music)