Do you clean your sump and why or why not?

[Reeflier]

Although I've kept salt fish for 40 years I'm new to reefing. My 90 gal tank started leaking so I opted for a larger 150 gal tank and decided to make the new tank reef. My old tank had been setup and running for 22 years and I had never cleaned out the sump. When I shut down the old tank I found 1-3/4" of detritus and other crud in the sump bottom. I vowed then to do better with a reef setup. I bought Eheim's Quick Vac Pro to vacuum out the sump every quarter or so. My new tank isn't quite running yet so I can't report on the Quick Vac Pro's effectiveness, but it looks like it'll do a nice job. I'll report when I've used it a time or two.

 

[N8Ball666]

I have a canister and HOB. So I never clean my sump

 

[N8Ball666]

Although I've kept salt fish for 40 years I'm new to reefing. My 90 gal tank started leaking so I opted for a larger 150 gal tank and decided to make the new tank reef. My old tank had been setup and running for 22 years and I had never cleaned out the sump. When I shut down the old tank I found 1-3/4" of detritus and other crud in the sump bottom. I vowed then to do better with a reef setup. I bought Eheim's Quick Vac Pro to vacuum out the sump every quarter or so. My new tank isn't quite running yet so I can't report on the Quick Vac Pro's effectiveness, but it looks like it'll do a nice job. I'll report when I've used it a time or two.

150g is a great size, but it'll cost you trying to fill it with corals. I have a 75g, and I found out why Nano's are so popular. Lol

 

[cdare99]

I clean it about once a year now, with it being a Red Sea sump it’s a pain and the fear of breaking it. But I completely remove it and hose it out on the lawn. It was simple with my old aqueon sump.

 

[Johne]

I haven’t cleaned mine in about 10 years. I do have an abundance of maco algae. I just stirred up the sand after looking at all of y’all’s posts, lol. I don’t have socks or any other kind of filter apparatus, other than a protein skimmer.

 

[PhreeByrd]

I really don't worry about it. My sump is also a refugium and cryptic zone, so there is all manner of weird stuff growing in it, which is the way I like it. Maybe once a year I siphon out mulm from the return section, but other than that, I let nature do its thing.

 

[lapin]

I clean sox, no need to clean sump. Unknown stuff grows in there. It is in the dark.

 

[Reef and Dive]

I have a nasty refugium. The nastier the better for the entire tank. Rarely I clean a little but the display gets dirtier some days after until recolonization.

And my water is quite clear with that sump. Beginning of the day picture, with sunlingth to show.

 

[Topekoms]

I always clean it when I do a water change. Get most of the gunk out and let it ride. That said my sump is in my basement and very easy to access. On one of my old tanks it was under the tank and a pain I didn't really clean that one

 

[Thaxxx]

I have a power head on a timer in the sump, runs for a bit each night to stir up anything that settled.

I do the same, except mine runs continously.

 

[jaxteller007]

I've started doing my water changes by mainly changing our the water in my sump. Seems to be less stress on the fish cause I'm not in the tank doing one, let's me shop vac out all the build up and seems easier on my back lol.

 

[DxMarinefish]

I have an unlit sump and hang-on-back cryptic refugium.
For sump i run a power filter every 3 months for 1-2 weeks. Gets a lot out but some stay in the corners which i don't stir or bother removing.

For the hang-on-back, i never remove as it feeds my sponges/critters there.

My ATSx2 take care of nutrients, currently fighting too low nutrients so I have upped feeding.

 

[MPS]

I’ll clean it every couple of months. I have my pump return line t’d back into my tank drain line and isolated with ball valves. I can just stir up the junk in my sump and it immediately goes right into my filter socks

That’s a very interesting idea. I like being able to circulate just the sump water for cleaning.

 

[anthonygf]

I found this cheap pump at northern tool that does a great job in small places in the sump. Well worth the 12 bucks, just wish is came with a plug for the wall instead of just battery powered.

You wouldn't want to handle a pump in water that is plugged into 120 volts, very dangerous.

 

[MPS]

I’ve found that the water volume in my sump is just about 20% of my total water volume. Draining my sump and cleaning the bottom makes it really easy during a water change. Once the sump is mostly empty, I know I’ve pulled out enough water for the change. I do leave the ‘fuge area alone so I don’t pull too many pods out.

 

[Timfish]

It's my understanding the muck in the bottom is an essential part of the carbonate cycle so I'm not going to mess with it very much. I'm not going to use filter socks either.

Fish as major carbonate mud producers and missing components of the tropical carbonate factory

Carbonate mud is a major constituent of recent marine carbonate sediments and of ancient limestones, which contain unique records of changes in ocean chemistry and climate shifts in the geological past. However, the origin of carbonate mud is controversial and often problematic to resolve. Here...

www.pnas.org

 

[tvan]

I think the real question should be "Is our sump maintaining our water column?"

 

[garbled]

I know someone used to sell a sump-vac attachment for some powerhead.. Are there any good sump-vac's out there? I might be inclined to do it if I had a reasonable way to do so...

 

[Alexusmc]

I know someone used to sell a sump-vac attachment for some powerhead.. Are there any good sump-vac's out there? I might be inclined to do it if I had a reasonable way to do so...

I use this one from Amazon.

 

[BlackGoldReefs]

I was gifted one of those. Seemed great for the first water change but after that it never worked again....

I usually flush mine out with RODI after a water change. I’ve had it over a year.