Making your own sock pre filters.

Since the 90s I first made this type of thing and been using since.
You will need some Dacron or what's called wadding and also called filter wool, this is purchased either on line of from places like spotlight, they supply haberdashery stuff.
I buy a section off a roll to last me around 5 to 10 years.
Work out the size you want on paper and multiply this buy how many you want to make and buy enough Dacron to suit.
Wash the Dacron after you make your socks before use, it comes with all kinds of toxins added to it.
Dacron/wadding/filter wool


A section of stormwater water pipe to cut
You could use anything really to do this like the base of a small bucket, coke bottle, ice cream tub, near on anything cut to size by scissors, knife or with mine, and angle grinder.


Cut pipe for rings to use at the top of your socks.


Setting the size of wadding with that ring


Roll the ring one full circle, this is the width of the Dacron you want.


Mark the length-depth into the water you want of the sock.


Now devide that into two halves and make a curve/semi circle at the end of each half, mine is just drawn, you could use the base of something like a plastic container to trace around to make it neat if you want to.


Cut your sock shape out


Run a silicon bead of aquarium.glass silicon along the edge of one half of the sock


Fold over the non silicon side to the side with silicon on it.


Push down on the edge all the way around so the silicon will enter the wadding and make it as one.


Roughly 20 mill down from what is the top edge, cut a section out for an over flow.


The cut should look like this. This is important so that if you go away on holidays or forget to check things, there is no chance of flooding.


Sand off the edges with some fin sandpaper, then slide the pipe section as a ring into the end of the sock, I use a rube band to hold it there so I use only one ring, but you can glue with silicon or stitch with fishing line and make heaps of spares, its up to you


Settling pre filter
This is an external filter sock, it beast the internal hands down!
The settling pre filter works by you turning off return waters when cleaning or replacing it to end up below the level of the exit that your pre filter fits into, this stops anything getting past, they settle out!
This is an external sock, its to catch what the first sock lets past like plankton shells that they shed constantly, algae shedding's, calcium/bones from fish foods and so on.
To clean these your return water has to be turned off, then wait a minute then take off and clean then set back in place then turn return flow back on.
First up cut a section of pipe to suit your needs then perforate it with a thin angel grinder blade


Purchase or make a ninety degree to fit the pipe you have chosen


Cut a section out of it as an over flow


Put the two together and slide a sock for this that you have made then attach using a rubber band


Settling pre filter done


An example of another settling pre filter I made in its exit


Out of its exit