detritus free sump??

[old salty]

I just recently vacuumed the sump bottom of my tank (I need to keep up on this area.) I used a MJ1200 and a piece of 1/2" vinyl hose to remove the junk. Took less than a minute and now the bottom is clean again. Just be careful with unplugging the MJ if your hands are wet with salt water.

 

[trmiv]

If you want to vacuum it without removing water get a canister filter and use it as a sump vac.

 

[fatdaddy]

I use a pump and vinyl hose to remove the nasties. I'll need to do it again soon.

 

[Serioussnaps]

http://www.drycleaningfilters.com/filter_bag_pricing.htm

 

[Kiel'thalin]

You guys are crazy, use a simple turkey baster and a fish net. Strain out the detrius in the net and poor the water back in. That way you don't even have to mix up any extra Salt water...

 

[abark]

I bought a wet/dry vac to vaccum my sump. I bought a 2.5 gallon model and it cost me about $30. I only use the vac for the tank and it works great. A couple minutes during a water change and the sump is clean.

 

[MrSpiffy]

Well, if you use a powerhead and some vinyl tubing, you can suck the gunk out of the sump, and do a water change at the same time. Makes it much easier to do both tasks!

 

[kaihonu82]

I wouldn't complain about having detritus in the sump...i'd rather have it there than building up in the display tank...yea?

i like the filter sock idea..as soon as my sump is up and running i'm going to use them as well

 

[Serioussnaps]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10552818#post10552818 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kaihonu82
I wouldn't complain about having detritus in the sump...i'd rather have it there than building up in the display tank...yea?

i like the filter sock idea..as soon as my sump is up and running i'm going to use them as well

Must be religious about changing them out...see Rich Conley's post.:smokin:

 

[kaihonu82]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10552932#post10552932 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Serioussnaps
Must be religious about changing them out...see Rich Conley's post.:smokin:

Yea, i saw that...still it seems easier to just replace the filter sock every day or 2 than to have to siphon it out when it starts building up

 

[JetCat USA]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10552955#post10552955 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kaihonu82
Yea, i saw that...still it seems easier to just replace the filter sock every day or 2 than to have to siphon it out when it starts building up

I find that quiet often Rich's posts don't match the hands on experience I've had over the few yrs I've been doing this 'hobby'.

i use filter socks on any reef setup i have, i swap them at least every other day, with a PinPoint NO3 monitor I've got 0-1 ppm NO3 and with a Hanna colorimeter I've got less then 0.01ppm PO4.

being lazy and letting detritus settle in your sump doesn't prevent the nitrogen cycle from taking place, if it did we'd all just leave it in the tank and sump and have pristine water quality.

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10552993#post10552993 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JetCat USA

being lazy and letting detritus settle in your sump doesn't prevent the nitrogen cycle from taking place, if it did we'd all just leave it in the tank and sump and have pristine water quality.

No, but things DO break down slower sitting on the bottom of your sump than in a filtersock. I've had fish die and end up in the overflow. When I ran filtersocks, you'd find a skeleton a couple hours later. High flow of well oxygenated water makes things rot MUCH quicker. The difference in rate of decay is in orders of magnitude.

But, if you design your system properly, and have all of your overflow water go directly into the skimmer, you get NO settling in your sump, and you dont have these issues.

Some people even design their tanks with a settling chamber in the sump, so that you can just open a valve and all the detritus comes out. Keeping your detritus/waste in a high flow area is about the best way to release all those nitrates and phosphates directly into the water.

 

[JetCat USA]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10553030#post10553030 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
........I've had fish die and end up in the overflow. When I ran filtersocks, you'd find a skeleton a couple hours later.............

so let me understand exactly what you're saying. according to that bit of information, if i placed a small sized frozen shrimp (thawed of course) into my filter sock, in a few hours it'd be completely gone other then the shell? or is it only for fish?? I'm willing to toss a shrimp in there and see just how accurate your info is, but i don't have a fish to try.

and just for clarification, a 'couple hours' is how many hours exactly?

 

[JetCat USA]

for the test, I'd use a 100g LR holding tank that has about 250-300lbs of rock in it. it's in my garage with a nice cool water temp of 91º. PO4 when tested this past weekend was at 0.90ppm and NO3 is currently at 22ppm I've got an Aqua-C EV 180 w/ Mag9 pump feeding it and i can hang the filter sock below the outlet of the skimmer, that way it would be in the most oxygenated area of the tank and the elevated temp should speed up the process considerably.

would this be acceptable conditions to prove/disprove the comment?

The Holding Tank

Tank Temp

NO3 Levels

Costs me about $2/test for the PO4 so I'd rather just go by the readings from a few days ago and then retest after the few hours with the shrimp in the sock, so is the shrimp going to work or do i need to go pick up a goldfish??

 

[kaihonu82]

i'm intriqued how this is gonna turn out


:lol:

 

[JetCat USA]

I'm waiting for Rich to verify this is an acceptable setup and I'll get it under way.

i know it doesn't work on my reef with Mysis shrimp, I've fed the tank at lights out and when i take the filter sock off to swap it the next morning the ones that made it down the overflow are still whole and undissolved.

anyone got predictions on the results with the deli shrimp??

 

[kaihonu82]

nasty, but not decomposed

 

[luv951]

I'll chime in....I can't see how a reasonably sized organism could decompose in a couple of hours of sitting in a filter sock -

 

[JetCat USA]

ahhh OK i was digging in the freezer for the shrimp and found silversides, they are small which should be to Rich's advantage in the testing. I've got them thawing out now in some RO/DI water and will take pics of them before adding to the sock.

 

[JetCat USA]

3 1/2 sliversides

placed into the sock and sock held in place on the skimmer outlet with some SS safety wire at 1845hrs.

Silversides swimming in the sock

i guess now I'll wait an hour and check them.................