Cleaning of your sump

[BrklynArch]

maxijet 1200 with some vinyl tubing at the inlet and outlet side and just use it as a vacuum.

 

[KafudaFish]

mj1200 + clear hose + rubber maid container with a hole in the top and bottom + pillow fill from walmart = easy and lazy if you think it is an issue.

 

[Purple Rocks]

LOL, good i thought i was being lazy!
I dont clean the refuge.

 

[Chicago]

Ok. So here is the question. I have a large sump. I use the sump as a refugioum. Is it ok to leave in the detritus. If inget rid of it. Lotsmof critters will go with it

 

[pscott99]

As OP I have not cleaned my sump for two months now. My PO4 just tested zero 0.0 for the first time ever this weekend. I use brightwell PO4 remover, bio pellets and bacteria dose. It is finally paying off.

 

[Funran]

How often do you guys clean your sumps? If you're using a wet dry vac, do you just try to add more water after the cleaning? Seems that a wet/dry vac would take a lot of water out very quickly.

 

[Jeromi]

I let my inverts clean my sump

 

[Chicago]

changed my mind.. just took a bunch of ten year old sand an gravel out.. literally like mud an nasty.. will strive to take all detritus out everywhere..

 

[CoralolisEffect]

Mine is one 2x4 and plywood off the ground. With 8 in head of water gives about 11.5 head height of water. Pumps off raises it to 14 in or more. Gravity does the work into a wide bottom bucket. Although I like the mj1200 idea will try that next time.

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

I drain most of my water from the sump using a python, and then I use a Buckethead wet/dry vac on a 5 gallon bucket for the rest. The Buckethead is $20 at Home Depot. It is a wet/dry vac that fits on a 5 gallon bucket.

 

[reeftanknewbie]

I use a small powerhead attached to a timer that moves the water in the return part of my sump. I also run filter socks to minimize what goes into my sump. once a year when I am feeling ambitious I will siphon out some detritus out if there is any from the sump as part of a water change and that's it. I also have tons of mysis shrimp in my sump so I don't really go crazy cleaning it.

 

[LouH]

It probably does contribute to nutrients, but my tank apparently has adequate export methods that I do not need to worry about it.

Anecdotally two weeks ago I pulled two under tank Rubbermade tub sumps and replaced them with two glass tanks that I drilled myself. This was very easy to do BTW. Anyway, due to the configuration of my stand and its current location, I have to use two sumps connected by a 2" line. The first sump holds my skimmer, carbon and GFO. The second sump has live rock and rubble. When I pulled out the Rubbbermade sumps there was a lot of crud in the refugium sump. I dumped that and shook off the rocks when I put them into the new glass sumps. The result was an obvious improvement in color in all of my corals. I can't explain why, but I know that I observed this.

 

[LouH]

changed my mind.. just took a bunch of ten year old sand an gravel out.. literally like mud an nasty.. will strive to take all detritus out everywhere..

I'm doing the same in my main display. I have pockets of accumulated sugar fine aragonite that is 1"-2" deep. Recently I've been siphoning this out, and the water that comes out with the sand is almost black and there is clearly a sulfur smell. I'm going to keep doing this until there is very little sand in the display. I'm starting to believe that the less sand in the display the better. I might change the substrate out to a larger particle size so that there is a thin layer covering the glass bottom and it won't get blown around. I have to believe that this is good for pod production as well.

Lou

 

[Backline13]

I too am one who just believes its all natural and Never cleans sumps also have a small nano tank that I have Never cleaned and done nothing but add good old fasion tap water full of contaminats and all, and I am amazed to say that tank has less problems at times then main display lol, the growth of mushrooms and such are out of controll a bulb went out months ago and its only running off a daylight now still strong, Just saying it works for me.

 

[Rinkrat]

My sump stays pretty clean. Micron filters help with a lot of maintence

 

[StaghornE]

Anecdotally two weeks ago I pulled two under tank Rubbermade tub sumps and replaced them with two glass tanks that I drilled myself. This was very easy to do BTW. Anyway, due to the configuration of my stand and its current location, I have to use two sumps connected by a 2” line. The first sump holds my skimmer, carbon and GFO. The second sump has live rock and rubble. When I pulled out the Rubbbermade sumps there was a lot of crud in the refugium sump. I dumped that and shook off the rocks when I put them into the new glass sumps. The result was an obvious improvement in color in all of my corals. I can’t explain why, but I know that I observed this.

Dou you think the corals benefitted from the detritus getting stirred up?

 

[BeanAnimal]

Dou you think the corals benefitted from the detritus getting stirred up?

Likely the removal of the detritus has lowered the overall phosphate and nitrate of the system.

My 7 year old tank is a disaster. High phosphates that I can't keep down, no matter what. I have been dumping the overlfow into a 10 micron filter sock and using a powerhead and stick to blow everything off and stir the substrate. Things are getting clearly better.

I am doing the same for the sump that is full of LR. Again, there is a clear impact on the livestock. 7 years worth of sediment in the sump can not be good... no matter how healthy things look for 6 years!

 

[CNoonan]

I maintain reef tanks and I will either empty the sump with a python or a submersible utility pump. I try to do this every 2 months or so.

 

[Adam G]

Just took out my skimmer, return pumps, and all other equiptment out of my 40b sump and removed all water. Use a MJ1200 and some tubing to pull all of the water out into 5g pails. I then took a bucket of RO water and a new sponge and cleaned out every inch of the sump till it looked like new. Put everything back in and fired up the system again.

I am very happy with the results. Well worth the time. I have noticed that I have to clean the glass a lot less in the 2 weeks since I completed this task.

I am also a believer in vacuuming the gravel. I do weekly water changes and I am always amazed at the deep brown water that I have in my buckets after siphoning the substrate.

 

[wildman926]

I am also a believer in vacuuming the gravel. I do weekly water changes and I am always amazed at the deep brown water that I have in my buckets after siphoning the substrate.

The larger the substrate on the bottom, the more it will accumulate debris in it.