Do you ever clean your sump?

[Fountainhead]

My tank is 2 1/2 years old, and my sump has never been cleaned in any way. It's got stuff sort of growing on the walls, and a layer of crud on the bottom. Should I be cleaning this stuff out? I'm tempted to hook some tubing up to a powerhead and try my best to vacuum it out, but I'm concerned that this will just stir it up unnecessarily and make a huge mess in the display.

Short of taking the whole thing out for a thorough cleaning (it's under a stand and loaded with stuff...removing it would be theoretically possible, but no small task) any suggestions on sump houskeeping for 2 1/2 years of build-up?

 

[Porkibear]

Funny, I'm kind of having the same dilemma, but my sump is probably nowhere near as gunked up as yours. I've got a sprinkling of detritus on the sump bottom. My thought was to place some inverts in the sump, but not sure if they'd survive down there.

I've heard most people on this forum siphon out a lot of gunk from their sumps with a tube-sock attached to the exit of the tube to catch most of the debris.

I'll be flagging this post for sure. I'm in need of a solution, too.

 

[WMac]

do it on the next major water change, thats what I do, My 165 has a 45 gal sump, at the current water level with the tank pumps off. ( its a 65 gal ) I currently do a 10 to 15% water change weekly only because my tanks fairly automated and its easy to do....yadda, yadda,yadda.......BUT when the sump gets cruddy, I turn all of the pumps off, allow the tank to drain to the overflow untill it stops. I then drain the sump entirley and clean and then just add the 45 Gals of new water into the sump, hit the switch and ENJOY

 

[SDguy]

Once every six months. With a major water change. Make sure pumps are OFF while doing it so you don't pump crud into the tank.

hth

 

[crabsy]

I use a python syphon hose attached to the sink. No muss no fuss. Do it monthly.

 

[Fountainhead]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8187666#post8187666 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SDguy
Once every six months. With a major water change. Make sure pumps are OFF while doing it so you don't pump crud into the tank.

My fear is that I'll still end up pumping crud back into the tank. Without removing all the equipment there's no way I'll get every nook and cranny, but you can be certain that the gunk will get kicked up from everywhere. Maybe leave the pump off for a couple of hours after I do that to let any remaining gunk re-settle? With powerheads running in the display obviously.

 

[SDguy]

I little crud won't hurt anyone. Maybe put a filter sock on your tank return outlet to catch any extra?

 

[Ritten]

I recently took mine totally apart and cleaned everything, boy was my pump dirty. Everything did just fine.

 

[carman9941]

you dont have to get every nook and cranny, you also dont have to do it all at once, every time I do a water change I clean some of the junk out of the sump

 

[sjm817]

Remove the equipment (good chance to give it a good cleaning too), and clean and empty the sump. Put the equip back in and fill-er-up.

 

[Buster4900]

I do like Wmac above. Turn all pumps and let the water drain into the sump. In the sump I use a power head with ahose attached and pump all the water and junk out. Fill with clean water. Do this first weekend of every months water change.

 

[Fountainhead]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8188144#post8188144 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sjm817
Remove the equipment (good chance to give it a good cleaning too), and clean and empty the sump. Put the equip back in and fill-er-up.

Well, of course I know I should do this. But given the tight confines of the sump and equipment, I don't relish the task. I guess I was just hoping you all would say that having a cesspool of a sump was actually beneficial somehow.

 

[fmuakkassa]

I have not cleaned my sump in 4 years! It has some debris at the bottom. It has three chambers: the first has the skimmer, the second the calcium reactor and the third the return pump (with a filter sponge at the inlet). Also there is a Tunze Osmolator water level checker. So taking the equipment out and doing a cleaning is a major endeavor. I liked the idea of emptying the sump during a water change, clean as much as you can from the bottom and refill with freash water. Your tank water will be cloudy for few hours and things will settle down again.

 

[Porkibear]

All of these are great suggestions...I'll probably have to do what these guys advised.

My plan of attack will probably be to turn all the pumps off, and remove the return pump to clean it entirely. Then, I'll probably drain the whole sump...clean it out of all the gunk...then refill with water. I'll probably turn on my protein skimmer that's in the sump a little while before I replace the return pump back in.

Hope all goes well with your sump cleaning! I'm gonna need to do this really soon too!

 

[Ritten]

It's not nearly as big of a task as it seems once you are done :lol: I took mine out of the stand and scrubbed it.

 

[Fountainhead]

Yeah Porkibear, I tell you I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[sjm817]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8189108#post8189108 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fountainhead
Yeah Porkibear, I tell you I'm really looking forward to it.

I'll admit, not my favorite pastime. My new 180G setup will have the sump in the basement. It will make water change and cleaning tasks a heck of a lot easier.

 

[marino420td]

I use a small wet/dry shopvac to vacuum the dirty water from the sump. Since it sits in the bottom of my stand, starting a siphon is nearly impossible. Turn off all pumps, wipe everything down then suck out the dirty water. Replace with clean water and restart the pumps.

 

[kevin gu3]

Another choice is to buy a canister filter and use that to vacuum it up. I have a Magnum 350 that I use.

If you have a big sump you can also run your tank outspew to a settling tank container inside the sump to localize the mulm buildup to a smaller area. I've done this but the canister filter is more cost effective.

 

[dc]

LOL, when I had a sump I just took a turkey baster and blew it all over right through my main tank. Put quilt batting in the overflow, kept blowing it off my rocks and then did a water change. My tank never suffered for it. Then I turned it into a refugium. Basically I still do the same thing, there's just not as much.