Do you keep your sumps dirty or clean?

[HB AL]

I use one of these

 

[ksfulk]

Youd likely end up just sucking the sand/gravel out of your tank if you tried to just remove the debris. The hose on them I think is a 3/4" - there is just an attachment nozzle that takes it down to a 1/4".

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I never thought of that. Can you use it to clean gravel in the DT or is it too strong for that?

Way too strong! I use a shop vac to suck sand out of my tanks when I'm moving or any instance I need to remove sand.

That being said you sparked an idea! What about a filter you could attach over the hose where it would suck the dirty out but not the sand?

 

[PlanB]

The dirty look doesn't hurt but I like it to look clean! HA! Almost impossible to keep it that way.

I feel very OCDish "trying" to maintain a clean sump. I was hoping more would say dirty so I convince myself to lay of the cleaning

Dirty dirty dirty. Gotta have something nasty in the mix. I've always kept it dirty and my tank pristine. I really only clean it out when I have to clean the return and even then I only clean out the return section.

Thanks for making me feel better about my dirty sump . I was initially having trouble maintaining some trace amounts of nutrients, so I had to get it a bit dirty.

Kept mine clean. Used a 1g wet/dry vac to clean it out every other water change

Great idea, thanks!

I like to keep mine spotless. When I designed my water change setup, I made sure that I included a way to attach a soft hose to it and just vacuum out the sump any time I do a water change.

Seeing your builds made me think to myself: How does he keep it SO CLEAN?! It just when you take the pictures, right?

Home Depot bucket head wet/dry. Sump is clean on the bottom, full of pineapple sponges on the sides.

Think I'll be vising HD this weekend..

Thanks for the input and ideas, everyone. The R2R community is awesome!

 

[sk8elenex92]

I used to use this on my old tank but on my new tank I like it nice and dirty to keep my nutrients a little higher, even dosed nitrates. hah

Use this bucket head adapter to suck out the water since you cant siphon it.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Bucket-Head-5-gal-1-75-Peak-HP-Wet-Dry-Vac-BH0100/202017218

 

[Whisker Biscuit]

I just drained my sump the other day and used a shop vac to remove the detritus from the bottom. Never cleaned it before but started seeing a rise in my nutrients and acros and millis not extending polyps. Went ahead and gave my equipment in the sump a good cleaning while I had it brokedown.

 

[rovster]

I clean mine 1-2 times a year

 

[Fudsey]

I, unfortunately, have a wet/dry sump and have never cleaned it. Would be next to impossible with the plastic hay and bioballs in it... and yes I know it's time for an upgrade

 

[Salty1962]

I have a 6 mth. cycle where I clean out as much debris as possible to keep nutrients down.

 

[Whisker Biscuit]

I, unfortunately, have a wet/dry sump and have never cleaned it. Would be next to impossible with the plastic hay and bioballs in it... and yes I know it's time for an upgrade

I use a wet/dry for a sump. Removed all the bio balls and placed live rock in that chamber ontop of egg crate. I keep it filled halfway up with water at a level when I turn off my return the water level is about one inch from flowing over. Keep the bottom bare so I can just shop vac any detritus that accumulates. The wet/dry fits perfectly in my stand and leaves enough room for my apex, ATO and 5 gal reservoir. Sometimes you just have to work with what you got.

 

[Atif]

I do nothing....

 

[atoll]

Dirty, and I see no need for prefilters like socks or wool etc. Works for me.

 

[steallife904]

I try to suck stuff out of the sump with a turkey baster every water change. about 2 times a year I will shut off the return, stir everything up in the sump and suck the water out and replace with new.

That pump that was posted above that looks like a bike air pump ... where can I get one?