I am thinking about a 12" deep tote that would hold a 20x12 filter floss pad, above my wet/dry bioballs, for mechanical filtration on 150 gallons.
The other option is filter socks.
The other option is filter socks.
filter sock or a tote full of filter floss.
- Thread starter markstrimaran
- Start date
Why not go with both?....the filter sock is an excellent catcher of particles and as such will quickly clog and need to be clleaned or rinsed.
Filter socks in my tank can go over a month without clogging. I do have 4, and they're big, but socks can go a while without clogging.
Though they both do the same thing, I like socks for the convenience and ease of cleaning (I do sometimes put some floss in filter socks to extend run time). I have 3 for each outflow, one that is hanging in the flow, one that is in a bucket being bleached, and one de-bleached, dry, and ready to put back into service. Because my socks take a flow rate of about 2000gph, they plug up often, (I also have had lots of plant material that gets shredded by the cichlids) and need to be cleaned about every 2-3 days. I believe if I was using floss, it would need to be cleaned just as often, and the mess and hassle from trying to remove and clean a large blob of floss would not be pretty.
In my opinion it completely depends on how your sump is built, how you will imploment it, and what's easiest for you to clean/replace because in all honestly, they do the same thing.
Exactly. I have a Marineland 4 sump that has 6 media trays that I place cut filter pads. The trays are super easy to take out and put back in. I buy the filter media in bulk (local filter supply store sells 90 ft x 24" rolls). I just cut the media to the size I need and then just throw them in the trays. Once they have been used up, I toss them in the trash and throw new pads in the trays. I'm even able to get more life out of the pads by flipping the trays around within the sump, since the water only flows over one side of the tray at a time. Honestly, sump maintenance for this system takes me about 5-10 minutes per week.
Now my new sump, the Trigger Systems Emerald 39, uses (3) - 4" x 14" long filter socks as it's main source of mechanical filtration. I'm going to use the prefilter sponge and drip tray in conjunction with the socks to extend the cycle of each filter sock. I'm even contemplating using a 200 micron filter sock, instead of the included 100 socks. Then, I'll add some Poret foam after the socks to add more fine mechanical filtration while increasing the biological filtration at the same time.
It'll be interesting to see, after both systems have been up and running for awhile, which sump design I like best for maintenance purposes.
Yeah, I do something similar in my 55g sump I built for my 180g, cut filter pad from a 24x144 roll or however large it is and just replace when necessary. This sits above a trickle tower with the rest of the sump filled with around 100lbs of lava rock and 4 gallons of matrix.
The particular pad I found is pretty cool, the top layer is coarse and the microns of the filter increasingly gets smaller throughout. Its a little expensive at $30 a roll, but its definitely worth it.