Drain socks SUCK!

So I've been using a drain sock on my drain since I started my tank "3 weeks ago".  Well... last night I get a call from my kids saying that my tank was "leaking".  So I drive home at 100mph and find that my sock is full of water and dumping the water on the outside of my sump, all over my floors and leaking through to my basement ...  Yes, I was SUPER happy.  So my question is WHY?  I've cleaned the sock many times in last three weeks and never had this problem.  I have noticed the sock overflowing earlier this week but I thought it was because the bottom of the sock was submerged and not allowing it to drain. So I hooked the sock up on a hook to get up up out of the water.  I'm still confused as to why it is overflowing like this.  It isn't dirty so I I don't know what happened???  All I know is, I won't be using the sock any more, my wife is pretty pissed off.

Edited by zippeay - April 28 2011 at 11:10am

Why run a sock if they overflow?  Doesn't that defeat the purpose?  The bad thing is my sump is kind of small but now that it's in my cabinet there is no way to get it out without taking down my whole tank and moving the stand.  I need to think of a way to re-organize everything so that I can fit everything in my sump.  The main problem with the sock is that my sump is so small "I'm guessing around 25g"  that there is no place for the water to overflow without going everywhere...  this is frustrating.

I run socks on all my tanks and love them.  I just take them off once or twice a week and throw it with the washer by itself with no soap and it cleans them really well.

I haven't use a sock for the last 5 years and don't have a problem in my tank. However I do use a sponge wedge in between my baffle and this acts as sock. I ususally clean it out once a week.

socks do indeed suck.....unless you enjoy cleaning them every other day....I wouldn't bother with them...

Edited by bur01014 - April 28 2011 at 6:57pm

They do clog up quickly. Most people that use them have a few of them and change them out every couple of days.

My 2 cents. I belive they help with water clairity but if you are not willing to change them often then yes worthless. That goes with any similar style of filter such as a hang on the back. Canisters are a little better because they force water thru the filter but still if you are not cleaning any of these on a regular basis the waste is still in the water colum.
Skimmer and natural filtration are the way to go. Socks are great to polish the water.

I use my filter socks to catch micro bubbles generated from the overflow plumbing in addition to catching free floating waste and polishing the water.  I swap mine out about once a week or so, turn it inside out, and wash it in the washing machine without soap.  

I use the mesh ones from BRS and really like them. They don't seem to clog as fast and are very easy to clean, I just rinse them under the sink with hot water and let them dry, good to go!

Mark, If you are close to me I can help you there