Carbon/GFO in Filter Sock??

[Mario0240]

Has anyone done this? I’m not planning on doing it myself but if someone were to take a big spike in phosphates or nitrates, could putting some carbon and GFO in the aock filter be effective? It’d be a “poor mans” form of active filtration wouldn’t it?

 

[Rubblereefer]

It would work but would grind up the media

 

[Hitman]

Plenty of people put it in a media bag then in the sock, not putting in a media bag would clog the sock pretty fast I would think.

 

[Mario0240]

It would work but would grind up the media

What if you went straight GFO? It holds together better?

I’m planning on getting reactors for both but like I said, I just got curious while shopping.

 

[Mario0240]

Plenty of people put it in a media bag then in the sock, not putting in a media bag would clog the sock pretty fast I would think.

Ok. That makes sense. I could see how it would just pack up at the bottom of the sock.

What about a filter cup? You’d almost be forcing water through the bottom, but still have packing issues at the bottom of the cup...

 

[Jon Fishman]

I did carbon directly in the filter sock on my last tank, and was considering doing carbon in one of my 3 filter socks this time.

Honestly I need to dump the filter socks and get those “cups”

 

[Mario0240]

I did carbon directly in the filter sock on my last tank, and was considering doing carbon in one of my 3 filter socks this time.

Honestly I need to dump the filter socks and get those “cups”

You never had any issues with the carbon packing off the sock? Water was clear and tested well?

 

[Jon Fishman]

You never had any issues with the carbon packing off the sock? Water was clear and tested well?

Just packed up the bottom..... water just filtered out of the top 3/4 of the sock.

Water was VERY clear with the carbon running (why I ran it)

as far as testing, I don’t really do that....

 

[Zerobytes]

I put mine in bag in the sock (didn't restrict flow much if all the way at the bottom) and also placed the bag just directly in the sump. To be honest, I felt like it only worked "ok" as there just didn't seem to be enough consistent flow through it. Bought a little reactor and can tell it's much better. GFO didn't really work at all for me in the filter bag. Also made a but of a mess of the sump over time but suspect I could have tried a different bag, but not too dense.