Do you ever clean your sump?

[bllfish]

I clean the sump, not the refugium.

 

[bllfish]

I believe they are talking about cleaning the sump, not the refugium.

 

[clsanchez77]

between my 1 1/2 overflow pipe, skimmer, chiller and UV returns I have a lot of flow in my sump, same for my display... so basically I have a snowstorm in my system all the time. I really don't know what to do to stop this... any ideas?

You could throttle back on the return pump, reduce the flow through the overflow and sump. Then use closed loop and/or powerheads (or streams) to increase water flow. Closed loops, powerheads, streams, waveboxes...work at 0' static head pressure and are much more energy efficient than using a return pump for tank circulation.

The lower the flow through the sump, the more effective skimmer, chiller, checmical filtration...will perform. BTW, skimmers are very effective if the flow throught he sump has a higher concentration of organics and this is obtained by more efficient surface skimming, which is obtained partly by lower flow rates.

Chris

 

[Hop]

When I do my water changes (1-2 a month), I completely drain the sump and scrape, wipe or nuke it back to cleanliness

 

[Bebo77]

i clean mine every month....

 

[monaca]

I also syphon out the bottom of my over flow area once a month, major source of crud if you are not currently doing so. I use a three foot ... 1/2"piece of clear ridged tubing attached to flex tubing to syphon the top of my sand bed and the over flow area, I also clean out the bottom of my sump.

 

[MiddletonMark]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8479719#post8479719 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xtrstangx
I siphon my sump when it needs it to clean it up.. also clean the return pump every 6 months or when needed earlier.

I normally clean my sump every couple months [python ].

I would strongly suggest the sump-pump cleaning every 6 months ... after having impellers stick w/ Calcium deposits/gunk + cause the return pump to quit at 3 am - regular return pump maintenance is a must + easily enough taken care of on sump-cleaning-day.

 

[Galloyien]

My sump is covered in junk too. I do a water change once a week.

I'n going to take my 6 gallon wet vac and place it on the back porch. I'll tape a small aquarium hose to the end of the wet vac and then use a remote on/off switch. Then I'll just hit the switch and suck the junk out. I would just use the wet vac but I already flooded the floor twice. It fills up way to fast.

Aquariums are a lot of work, but worth every second and every penny.