What is a good pump for water change?

[m0nkie]

I'm looking for a pump so I can do some deep cleaning in the sump. right now I rely on running a faucet, wasting clean water for pressure.

What's a reliable pump that can take some solid detritus without getting clogged constantly? I tried using pumps like MAG but it get clogged on every snail shell, chaeto, etc..

will attach a hose about ~15ft. so a decent sized pump is needed

any recommendations?

 

[pga7602]

This may sound crazy, but I clean all my sumps with a Shop Vac. You can buy a pretty big one to handle your monster. And no worries about power, it will suck rubble out

 

[m0nkie]

hmmm that's a good idea. a wet dry vac.

how much hp for your shop vac?

 

[iSeeMax101]

Just get a nice 30g craftsman. That’s what I got.

 

[keepLearning]

I am not sure how fast the salt will damage the wet/dry Vac. Besides, it will smell pretty bad unless a lot of cleaning is done after each usage. I don't like either one so I just siphon the dentrius out with a turkey blaster

 

[five.five-six]

I use rio 2500. Cheep workhorse.

 

[pga7602]

I am not sure how fast the salt will damage the wet/dry Vac. Besides, it will smell pretty bad unless a lot of cleaning is done after each usage. I don't like either one so I just siphon the dentrius out with a turkey blaster

I've been doing it for past 7 years and still own the same shop vac. As for the smell, I remove the "filter" and when I'm done with it, I take the top off, dump out the water and hose it down. 2 min job max.

 

[pga7602]

hmmm that's a good idea. a wet dry vac.

how much hp for your shop vac?

I just checked.. Mine is 6 gallon/ 3 HP. I wouldn't worry about power, the 3HP is way more powerful than any pumped I've used. 6 Gallons fills up in a matter of just 2 mins or less.

Which is why I think you just need a bigger size one, like a 16 gallon would be nice. Once it fills up with water, it does get heavy, but it has wheels.

 

[pga7602]

I am not sure how fast the salt will damage the wet/dry Vac. Besides, it will smell pretty bad unless a lot of cleaning is done after each usage. I don't like either one so I just siphon the dentrius out with a turkey blaster

P.S. stop sniffing your vacs.

 

[keepLearning]

Lol

P.S. stop sniffing your vacs.

 

[ilyad]

Home Depot also sells a pretty cheap wet/dry vacuum top only. It actually attaches to their 5 gallon buckets. I've used that one plenty to suck out water from the tank and sump. Its great too if you have multiple buckets, you can swap the top to the other ones and keep going. Only downside is that although it fits a 5 gal bucket, because of the mechanism it really only fits like 3.5 or so.

 

[swnoob]

If it’s just to clean your sump I would recommend a maxijet with a hose attached to it.

I’ve been using a maxijet 1200 that feeds one of my reactors for years. I just disconnect from reactor and use the suction side to pick up any detritus that then dumps into my filter sock. It’s small enough to get into all the tight spots in the sump. It will get clogged up quick if you’ve neglected your sump for a while so I don’t allow it to get too bad. 5-10 minutes a month is all it takes.

 

[Speaker73]

Home Depot also sells a pretty cheap wet/dry vacuum top only. It actually attaches to their 5 gallon buckets. I've used that one plenty to suck out water from the tank and sump. Its great too if you have multiple buckets, you can swap the top to the other ones and keep going. Only downside is that although it fits a 5 gal bucket, because of the mechanism it really only fits like 3.5 or so.

I second this. Got one and it works well for my nano but sort of irritating due to the low volume of water that you can suck before you need to empty the bucket.

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

 

[m0nkie]

thanks guys. I was originally looking for a bigger pump like a used Pan World.. I would sit the pump in the yard and do a massive sump cleaning. Usually I do this once a month and drain ~100-150gal of water.

this is why a small handheld pump or turkey baster is no good. a small 3-5gal storage is probably too small too.

 

[five.five-six]

Inspired me to clean the detritus out of my sump. Connected a hose to each end of my rio2100 put the output in my filter sock. Got a bunch of junk! Most notably this:

It’s a chrome plated screw... if you don’t know, the first step in chrome plating is to copper plate

 

[BeanMachine]

Inspired me to clean the detritus out of my sump. Connected a hose to each end of my rio2100 put the output in my filter sock. Got a bunch of junk! Most notably this:

It's a chrome plated screw... if you don't know, the first step in chrome plating is to copper plate

Dang whats that from? The rio?

 

[five.five-six]

Dang whats that from? The rio?

I don't think rio's have screws. Looks like it is one of the screws for my piano hinge. I had a bunch extra and had been using them to mount other things.

 

[golfish]

For WCs I use an old Danner 1200 that I've had for years, if I'm going to clean the sump I use my shop vac. The Danner pump uses the same male 3/4" threads as a garden hose, I use a female/male adaptor just in case I cross thread or mess up the threads, this way I won't have to replace the valute.

 

[moondoggy4]

If you use the Home Depot bucket vac try to find a 7 gallon bucket.

 

[lowbudget]

i use a bucket vac from home depot