DaveB;4934220;4934220 said:
I've never run a sump so I guess I have underestimated socks. How often do they require rinsing? Seems like anything that'd be effective would need to rinse almost daily in order to avoid getting gummed up and slowing the flow... or causing an overflowing in some sump designs.
Yeah, they really are the most effective form of mechanical filtration. Only thing better would be a diatom filter, which are a pain to deal with.
As for how fast they clog depends on lots of things; micron rating on the socks, physical size of the socks, number of socks being used, bioload of the tank, foods you feed, etc etc.
The lower the micron number, the thicker the felt, the smaller the particles it will trap, and the more often it will need cleaning. On my 57g, I run dual 4x8" 25 micron socks. This gives me crystal clear water. The socks will last about a week before they need cleaning. When they clog, the water simply spills over the edges of the sock, into the sump.
I have extras on hand. To clean them, I toss a bunch in the washer - heavy cycle, no soap, no bleach. They come out looking good as new. They have a really long life too. For a tank with monster fish, I'd go with 100 micron socks. Anything finer and you may be changing them out A LOT because of the messy fish. For this tank, I'll be using one 7x16" 25 micron sock.
If you add filter socks to an established tank, they will clog very fast. Maybe even within a few hours. Once you filter all that crap out of the system, the cleaning period should extend to a few days. When deciding what micron rating to get, it basically boils down to:
1. How clean do you want your water? [particles in water smaller then 40 microns supposedly can't be seen by the human eye]
2. How often can you deal with changing the socks out?
