Once you have finished designing your tank, buying all of your fish, crustaceans, and other creatures you may think that the hard work is over. That is certainly not the case. One of the most difficult tasks of having a home aquarium as a hobby is simply keeping it clean.
There are many things that can pollute your saltwater tank and so it is important that you install the proper equipment, use the right cleaning products and monitor the situation in your tank often. One of the ways that you can ensure that your home aquarium remains clean is through the use of a filter.
Filters can help to remove unwanted debris, pieces of food, and larger items out of your tank’s water. This can then help to stop water pollution and not only make your tank look better but make it a better home for your fish. Here, we will discuss two different filtering methods: filter floss and a filter sock.
What is filter floss?
Filter floss is a type of padding that is used by many hobbyists to help remove unwanted waste and debris from their tank’s water. It is thin enough to allow water to pass through the material but thick enough so as to catch anything else, stopping it from polluting your home aquarium’s water.
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Although there are brands of filter floss that you can buy, many enthusiasts say that you can simply buy pillow stuffing and that this actually works just as well. This means that using filter floss can be very cheap.
You can also cut the filter floss to any size that you need, making it a very easy product to adapt to your tank and filter system.
You will be able to see a difference in the cleanliness of your water very quickly by using filter floss. Whereas some other methods of cleaning and filtering can take a while for you to be able to see results, filter floss will show its benefits almost immediately.
Another benefit of using filter floss is that it will lessen the work that your filter has to do. This will allow your filter to focus on removing smaller particles and debris as the larger, more difficult pieces have already been removed thanks to the filter floss.
Disadvantages
The main disadvantage of using filter floss in your tank is that it can raise the levels of nitrate in your tank’s water.
Beyond this there are really no advantages and even this one can be taken care of by simply changing it regularly.
What is a filter sock?
Filter socks are equipment in the shape of a sock made out of a very fine mesh or polyester material. Just like with filter floss it removes larger particles and wastes debris from your water, making the load lighter and easier on your tank’s finer filtration system.
Advantages
One of the main advantages of filter socks is that they are reusable. They are also fairly cheap to begin with and so can save you a lot of money in the long run if they stop any larger debris from getting into your filtration system.
Although filter socks can be reused their typical life span is anywhere from six months up to a year. Beyond this, they may not be as good as filtering your tank’s water and removing debris. For this reason, you should replace them as soon as there are any signs of wear or once the sock has been used for this amount of time.
Disadvantages
Filter socks should be cleaned very regularly, as many excess build-ups of waste can reduce how effective they are. Under normal tank conditions, you should expect to clean your filter sock every 3 to 5 days.
Another disadvantage of using a filter sock to clean your water is that it can overflow very easily. This means that any water that passes outside of the filter sock will not be cleaned of waste, allowing it back into your tank.
Which is better? Filter floss or filter sock in saltwater aquarium
Whether filter floss or filter socks are the right options for your home tank depends entirely on you, your needs, and your tank. For example, if you are not willing to put a decent amount of time and effort into cleaning your filtration system regularly then you should not even entertain installing a filter sock.
The regularity that this method needs to be changed will actually end up doing more harm than good for your tank if you neglect to clean it.
However, many hobbyists swear that this is the best method for filtering out larger waste in your tank. The reason that many people prefer filter socks to filter floss is that they can catch much larger pieces of debris as well as the quantity of waste that they can stop.
So, if you want the expert and majority opinion then go for the filter sock as your method of choice.
Conclusion
When it comes to keeping your home tank clean there are many ways that you can do this. However, one of the best and easiest methods is to install a decent filtration system. There are two very popular methods for this: filter floss and filter socks. Both of these methods are effective but come with their advantages and disadvantages.
This will allow any larger waste and debris to be removed from your tank’s water so that there will be less pollution and the water conditions will be much healthier for all of your fish, corals, and other creatures.
So, exactly which method you choose should depend entirely on you and your tank. However, the vast majority of hobbyists agree that the best method to filter the tank in your saltwater aquarium is a filter sock. Yes, it will require quite a bit more effort than simply putting in filter floss, as well as extra cleaning, but they all agree that it is worth this extra effort.