You can get new sock filters ,they dont cost that much...
I wonder if you'll run out of fuel sooner with no sock,or suck air easier,if you ran real low on fuel,since the sock basically lies on the tank's bottom..?
Nothing wrong with your solution,as long as that wont pose an issue..
I thought sure the fuel tank I replaced a few years ago on my pickup would be full of nasty--I rarely put more than ten bucks worth in it,and the truck sat a lot during warmer weather,it got used to plow mostly,and go to the dump every month or so..
I only added maybe a quart or two of stuff like Howe's or Power-Kleen in small amounts at a time over a ten year period and to my surprise when I got the tank off and the sending unit removed,it was sparkling like new inside,except for two brown rust pits that had eaten though and made the leak..
A small amount of rusty red powder clung to the area over the pits because I stuck a speaker magnet on the underside at that spot..(it actually slowed it from a stream to a slight drip every minute or so,and allowed me a few more months time to drop the tank..
I saw no evidence of water,and whenever I drained my fuel filter I never caught any either,much to my surprise..
Maybe it was too cool up here to grow algae,I never heard much about that when I worked at a parts store that had a semi-truck parts section ,water in the fuel and rust pumped into tanks from dirty filling stations was the most often heard complaints by the truckers..they probably used up fuel too quickly to have algae grow--if anyone's tank should have had any,it should have been mine!..
