Dirty sump!

[Victorg1001]

Just cleaned out my sump and it was nasty! Had a ton of sand from my initial setup down there and some random crap piled up in the corners.

Very minimalistic sump. Filter floss, live rock rubble, protein skimmer and return pump.

How often should I clean this? Will having a small CUC down there help?

Thanks in advance for any advice given.

 

[Crooked Reef]

Siphon it out when you do your water changes. I personally don't have snails in mine because if the reproduce or crawl into the return pump their shells will jam it. You could put a hermit crab or two in there I guess.

 

[cloak]

I usually clean mine out every two weeks or so. Other than the return pump, the heater, and the skimmer, there's really nothing down there either. As far as a CUC goes, you will always be more efficient at keeping this area clean than they will. Not to mention that some of these critters could get caught up in the pumps. (not good)

 

[jerseygurl]

You could just take everything out of it, clean it out, and start fresh. I run three layers of mechanical filtration, blue/white on top, then a 200 micron cloth, then a 100 micron cloth and my sump stays perfectly clean.

 

[hkgar]

Filter socks will help keep it clean. But, like any mechanical filtration, they need to be cleaned often to keep Nitrates at bay. I change mine twice a week.

 

[Donkeykong]

I just vacuum it out for the water change. Usually vacuum 5 gallons of water and junk out of the sump then add five gallons new saltwater back to the sump and water change complete.

 

[Victorg1001]

Thanks again for the advice.

Think I'll just make this a part of regular maintenance. Since I don't have much down there I will just empty out, scrub and put it back. I did this yesterday and took me 15 mins max.

I guess it gives me something to do while I siphon water out of the DT for my water changes.

 

[james1990]

maybe I'm just very lazy but I change my socks once every 2 weeks

 

[cloak]

Thanks again for the advice.

Think I'll just make this a part of regular maintenance. Since I don't have much down there I will just empty out, scrub and put it back. I did this yesterday and took me 15 mins max.

I guess it gives me something to do while I siphon water out of the DT for my water changes.

I wouldn't scrub the sump.. You want to siphon out as much detritus as you can, but leave all the sponges, spirorbid worms, etc alone. Whether your sump is illuminated or not, eventually it will take on a life of it's own.

 

[Donkeykong]

+1^^^

Dont scrub it just siphon it out.

 

[Victorg1001]

Got it. Thanks!

 

[Dustyboots]

Filter socks. Buy a half dozen, change every 3-4 days, stick the dirty ones in a bucket. Wash the dirty ones inside-out on high and hot with a little bleach and an extra rinse. Air dry and you're good to go.

 

[jerseygurl]

I wouldn't scrub the sump.. You want to siphon out as much detritus as you can, but leave all the sponges, spirorbid worms, etc alone. Whether your sump is illuminated or not, eventually it will take on a life of it's own.

I disagree, it doesn't have to take on a life of it's own. He can turn off his pump and just get rid of everything in the sump and clean it out completely. No sand, worms, whatever, completely clean. If he keeps up with his mechanical filtration it'll stay nice and clean.

Clean sump clean tank.

 

[cloak]

Why wouldn't you want this though? I'm not understanding the logic behind this. Almost everything that might show up in your sump, is probably growing on the back side of your rocks in the DT anyways.

 

[jerseygurl]

My personal preference is to run a completely clean sump, I just think it makes for a cleaner tank overall. The fewer places that could go septic the better. And there are spots in some tanks that I can't properly clean because of the way they're set-up, so I really don't want any unknown potential problems lurking down in my sump. I'm a tad OCD about it.

 

[cloak]

I agree with you on keeping it clean, no doubt, but scrubbing it down from week to week just seems a little excessive IMO. You could probably achieve the same results by just siphoning out the detritus each week. Don't work too hard... All the life that tends to show up on the glass, the return pump, the heater, etc means you no harm.

 

[intyme]

How do you guys siphon out your sumps? I tried but getting it into a 5 gallon bucket is uphill. I guess I'm doing it wrong

 

[Cymonous]

Use a small pump. I use a mj1200 for mixing my saltwater, pulling water/stuff from sump and pumping new water to my tank.