PSA: How clean is YOUR sump?

RonMidtownStomp

RonMidtownStomp

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I just stirred up my sump and found myself immediately flipping the switch for the return pump. I may have just found the source of my phosphate problem. The entirely contents of my sump are now pumping into the sewer system. YUCK! I figured I had plenty of flow through the sump to handle stirring everything enough that I didn't need a powerhead in there. I had some rock in there and everything, and with very little stirring it was nastier than my skimmate.

Try stirring yours up and see what you get. This is nasty! I can't believe that water was flowing throughout my system.

Ron
 
My sump is completely sunstrate and rock free. I vacuum/syphon my sump with every water change. I came to your same conclusion more than a year ago.
 
mpoletti said:
My sump is completely sunstrate and rock free. I vacuum/syphon my sump with every water change. I came to your same conclusion more than a year ago.
Click to expand...

+1 I do the same ( and actually got the idea from Mark) I forget his saying "clean sump is a happy reef " or something like that .. sorry to chop it up
 
Ron when I do a water change I pull the little bit of live rock out of my sump then turn return pumps off let the over flow from tank fill up the sump then use a power head and hose and stir up the sump while sucking the water out with the power head I find this handy to keep my sump clean.
Good luck hope this is a cure to your PO4 problem. :uzi: (PO4)
 
Yeah, yuck.

I have some nice pieces of rock that I want to keep. Maybe I can find a place to store them in the 100 gallon frag tank. If not, I'll be posting a rock for sale thread soon.

The water change chamber/spare 50 gallons of water sure does come in handy often. Fortunately, I made the sump easy to remove so I took it out to the street after it was drained and hosed it out. I'm wondering if letting the poo settle and then taking the sump out to the street once a month to hose out would be better than putting a big powerhead in there.

The rock is definitely coming out.

Ron
 
RonMidtownStomp said:
Fortunately, I made the sump easy to remove so I took it out to the street after it was drained and hosed it out. I'm wondering if letting the poo settle and then taking the sump out to the street once a month to hose out would be better than putting a big powerhead in there.
Click to expand...

I would think that if its one of the only low flow tanks in your system then it would be one of the only places that detritus would be able to settle. If you completely empty it and refill it once a month you would be removing all the gunk in there and probably a majority of the detritus is the system.
I would think that as long as you have a place to put the rock while doing the sump cleaning that you should not have an issue leaving the rock in the sump still, just shake it off really good before you take it out and put it in, say in your 50g WC area while you clean your sump then put it back when your done.
Makes me wish my sump were easier to remove. Someday I too will have a dedicated fish closet like yours. I need to stop by again and check it out, only time I have been over was to buy live rock from you back when you had just upgraded, you were still finishing the fish room outside. I cant imagine what it all looks like now.
 
No need to imagine.. I have pictures.

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I got most of the rock into the 100 gallon tank with plenty of allowance for good flow and quite a bit more surface area to grow SPS colonies. I moved a power head to accommodate. I had to put 4 large pieces into the skimmer chamber as a temporary holding place.. I'll see if I come up with a place for them, break them up, or sell them. We'll see.

Ron
 
Shawn has been trying to get me to head out that way. I should one of these days. I have a few pics I need to send you, single polyps now, but once they grow maybe we could trade ;)
 
don't you use some kind of filter media to catch the debris from your display? it helps considerably if you do that. i'm not talking about a filter sock either.
 
I could do that now that I don't have any rock in there anymore. The problem is my sump water level varies a lot fairly often. I'd have to make it so that it doesn't flood. I'm not using my filter socks because they're just a mess and I have to run the laundry all the time to try to keep them cleanish. Design ideas?
 
get sum cheap felt material at walmart, wrap it around some eggcrate.

prop the wrapped eggcrate onto some legs or if you have bars glued to your baffles/tank walls it'll be easier and cleaner. the water will drain onto it and the debris will be collected. every week or 2, you can just toss the filter media after it gets dirty. i've seen this in action and it keeps the sump immaculate.

filter socks = ultimate fail. they're a ***** to clean and expensive to buy. you will need at least 5 or 6 to rotate from.
 
I loooove Kenny's solution to this problem and hope to use it for any future system setups. Check out his build thread for his solution. I'll try to find the link.

EDIT: Here's the link
 
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That's just a filter sock, right? I have filter socks. They always wind up making a mess somehow or another. See.. the deal is that I like my sump to be able to go from pretty low water level to almost (and sometimes) overflowing. I can't dream up a way to have the filter material above the height of the sump without causing overflow problems or flooding the garage. I just haven't thought up a solution yet. I suppose setting up the float valve to shut off the RO-DI during water changes and setting up an auto-top off would fix those problems and then I could maintain a specific water level in the sump. I just don't have those things set up and if I did an auto-top-off, I'd have to figure out how to make it work since my RO-DI currently runs into the water change chamber which is in the house and everything else is outside. Too complex..

I have no nitrates (<2 ppm), I only have a phosphate problem. I think I finally have my skimmer set up so it's working much more consistently, and I swapped out the GFO today. I'll do another water change, give the GFO a couple days then send the water away for another test and see where my phosphates are at, now.

I'm seriously considering the carbon in a canister idea. I'm also considering a RDSB and I know exactly where I'd plumb it in, but then I'd just have fish poo on sand. I haven't yet figured out why that's preferable. The carbon in a can idea seems better.

Ron
 
No, it's not the filter sock I'm talking about. It's the spigots at the bottom of the sump. He elevates his sump and drills holes for spigots like on an ice chest. All he has to do is stir up the water in the sump a bit and open the spigot to let it all drain out and voila you've got a clean sump. Why would I link to filter socks?:spin3:
 
Oh. I might be able to do that.

Why? Because I don't have an ATO set up and since I have so much water volume, adding 20 gallons or so of fresh water to the system doesn't really matter much. When I fill the water change chamber, I usually let it run longer and top off 10-20 gallons at a time. Evaporation room, basically. With about 30 square feet of surface area, I evaporate off about 20 gallons a week, maybe 25.
 
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