Sump maintenance. Your thoughts?

[Elrodg]

Ok. Just out of curiosity. What do you all do when it's time for water change/cleanup time. Do you even touch the sump? What about walls? Mines covered in sponges. Scrape around them? Just cut em off?

 

[pjhaddock]

I wonder this as well. I tend to vacuum the gunk off the bottom every couple months or so. I hate doing it at all cause it also sucks up pods, but I also hate leaving it there to break down.

 

[reeftivo]

I leave the walls alone and let the tube worms and sponges do their thing but I vacuum the bottom with an eheim sludge extractor w/o the extender and it works great for me (5 minutes tops!)

just my .02

 

[treetopflyn]

I take my sump out back and completely clean the sump and all the equipment inside and out ever 3-4 months. That said I don't have a fuge it's just a tool for holding all my equipment out of site.

 

[Indymann99]

During WC I vac the skimmer and return sections but leave the Fuge section alone.

 

[azjohnny]

During a water change I remove most of the water and use a shop vac to vacuum up any detritus and than fill back up with fresh saltwater. Sometimes i will take a paper towel and wipe the inside walls to remove any salt creep or sponges, they will re populate as will pods

 

[Brando457]

I do all my water changes right from the sump, my process is relatively simple.

1. power off return pump + skimmer
2. allow sump to fill up to lines marked out and measured
3. drop my maxijet 1200 in skimmer chamber and connect hose that runs right to drain
4. turn valve to allow maxijet to pump to drain
5. pump out 15g of water
6. close drain valve and disconnect maxijet
7. place maxijet w/ hose in my 30g brute container
8. refill 15g of new water into sump
9. turn return back on and allow sump level to level off
10. start skimmer back on
11. relax - whole process takes maybe 20 minutes and involves 0 heavy lifting and a few pushes on my apex. I used to siphon from my display and make a huge mess. With the way I have it setup now I stay dry and my back stays great.

 

[Elrodg]

Well I have fuge mud in half and live rock in the other. 75 fowlr 30g sump.
It's all basic right now and I'm running skimmer less. I'm on a tight budget what can I say.