# Overflowing and clogged filter sock with white



## SarahSuth (Apr 21, 2014)

Hi there. Did my water change yesterday. Woke up this am to a clogged felt filter
sock overflowing over dump and onto floor. Was about 3 days old and due for a change. Put a Clean one on today and caught it several hours later about
To overflow again. Now there is copious amounts of white Floating material in the display tank. About to check my parameters stand by. No coral loss. No dead snails shrimp etc. what is happening? I had fed rotifeast yesterday.
















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## SarahSuth (Apr 21, 2014)

1.027
Alk 160 ppm 8.96dkh
Nitrite 22
Phosphate 0.19
Calcium 539
Mg 1290
Ph 8
Switched the felt out
To a mesh sock. I wash them in washing machine after I run an empty cycle to get rid of any soap residue and then 2 cycles water only and leave to dry. I
Know ca a bit high I did al aquavitro ca yesterday as well as their fuel product. My tank is 60 days fallow after a bout
Of Ich and fighting off some red cyano algae


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## CamH (Jan 5, 2014)

I'm wondering if your return pump is clogged as well? If the filter socks get clogged then shouldn't the water just overflow into the next chamber and carry on?


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## SarahSuth (Apr 21, 2014)

I will check return pump to see. My sumo is pretty crammed so in that chamber I have the filter sock w ring and BRS mount so once the sock was totally plugged(old one and fresh one) it started flowing over the entire holder and sump. I haven't seen the water level change dramatically. 

Correction for parameters above nitrite is ppb (usually 19) all other units are ppm. All done with Hanna checkers except for Mg


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## noy (Nov 19, 2012)

Your calcium may be precipitating out and that is what is clogging your sock (and the white residue in tank).

Are you dosing calcium/alk - what is your routine for that? Just make you dose alk/calcium at opposite times of day. Increase your Mg to reduce precipitation.

What is the micron size of your sock btw?


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## jd81 (Dec 16, 2011)

I don't know what would cause the excessive clogging. But if your felt sock gets clogged as well, you can run without filter sock for a couple days. This will give the skimmer some time to remove whatever is causing the excessive clogging from water column. I would recommend temporarily connecting the drain tube from the skimmer cup to a big bucket while doing this, in case skimmer goes crazy as well.

Long term, I would also suggest looking you look for a way to re-arrange your filter sock setup so that the water overflows into the sump if it gets clogged. This would prevent future spills.


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## SarahSuth (Apr 21, 2014)

These are all good thoughts thank you. 

So I manually add aquavitro ca product as well as ph. Never added them together except the other day. The filter sock is 200 microns from BRS. No issue today since using the mesh. 

The sump is pretty maxed out as I have vertex omega in the first largest chamber where the sock lives. Under my cabinet only has maybe 3 inches max width not used already to consider a larger sump. Unless I redirected the dt water into chamber 2 bubble trap to prevent this issue long term but not sure if that would affect my ATO levels. 

I'll add my Mg and yes the skimmer has been going nuts so that's only been on supervised. So
Hopefully this should help


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## noy (Nov 19, 2012)

I would suggest stop adding the CA product for now. 

Can you take a photo of your sump setup (with the filter sock on). Usually on these mount setups the sock should be well above the water level in the first chamber. If the sock overflows then the water simple flows down the sides into the sump. 

is the overflow due to capillary flow over the sides of the sump from the mount or is the first chamber overflowing altogether?


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