How Clean Is Your Sump & Why ? (HONESTLY)!!!

[3lusive]

I used to just leave the tank / sump alone and let it do its thing,everything seemed to do pretty well. I stopped doing water changes, and just kept an eye on the big 3 . I had growth, i had color, i had no stress.

Then I moved and started over from scratch.

I started running filter socks, doing large water changes, testing and chasing numbers, cleaning everything. Now i have no color, no growth, and started to lose interest in my tank. This past week i decided to pull the socks, and take a more hands off approach to see if maybe less of me is actually the better way

 

[MBX5]

Clean it about every 3 months. This was the other day the lefts side is what it looked like dirty. Don’t mind the wires they are all tied up now lol.

 

[427HISS]

3lusive, Interesting, but please continue and keep in touch.

 

[Forsaken77]

Until I finish setting up my 180 (just need to plumb everything), my 93 cube's sump will remain a mess.

It has an oversized custom sump that can only fit before you put the tank on top of the stand, so it's not able to be removed. Unfortunately the stand has water damage and I don't trust that it won't collapse on me if I decide to climb under there. I would literally have to lay across the sump to even reach the return chamber and the stand is so small. I have to turn my skimmer completely sideways to get it out of the narrow space between the sump and the stand.

I put a lot of Tisbe pods down there to help with the detritus. I also use 50 micron filter socks so less "stuff" gets through and keep a lot of bio-filtration down there. But it is a nasty pit of hell.

 

[Lasse]

My sump is a part of my biological system - full of tubeworms and other critters - cleaning never during normal running.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[ThunderGoose]

My plan is to clean the skimmer chamber and the return pump chamber on an as-needed basis. The refugium chamber - never. It's there to be a biological filter.

When is as-needed? When the detritus threatens the function or longevity of the equipment. So far it's every 6 - 12 months. I'm a big fan of biological filtration over mechanical filtration.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I scrape the front occasionally so i can see in ,I clean the return pump compartment when i notice might effect operatiom. my fuge area is covered in mini feather dusters and sponges on sides, bottom and back wall.
I do not interfere with their free cleaning of my water. I do not run filter socks, they are the mechanical filter.

 

[tony'stank]

I don’t clean the center section of my RSR 450 sump other than the glass. I use it as a refugium for the Triton method. It was getting dirty with detritus so I added six various snails and 6 blue leg hermits an d now it looks very clean

 

[ca1ore]

"Detritus removal is over valued IME"

Really ?

Yep! Been in this hobby for many decades. My own anecdotal observations is that detritus is mostly inert and that removal, while of aesthetic value perhaps, appears to make very little difference to the health of my tanks - and it provides an excellent medium for the little reef critters. Consequently, I only remove it if it becomes physically problematic.

 

[427HISS]

I guess I don't understand what is the makeup and what defines of "detritis" ?

I assume,....it's mostly fish poop and other crap we don't want in our tanks, so that's why we use filterfloss, socks etc, to trap it all before in enters the sump, so it doesn't become a "nitrate factory", unless you clean/change out the mechanical filtration often ?

A long time friend that works in the field does not beleive in mechanical filtration, saying just let your skimmer pull it out.

 

[427HISS]

I guess I don't understand what is the makeup and what defines of "detritis" ?

I assume,....it's mostly fish poop and other crap we don't want in our tanks, so that's why we use filterfloss, socks etc, to trap it all before in enters the sump, so it doesn't become a "nitrate factory", unless you clean/change out the mechanical filtration often ?

A long time friend that works in the field does not beleive in mechanical filtration, saying just let your skimmer pull it out.

 

[stylaster]

Mine is a little bit dirty for the most part it stays pretty clean due to the high flow i have going through it (6,500 gph)

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I do not clean my often enough. Why would you want to clean it often you might ask? For me it's just about the looks of it all. I don't like the nasty gunk and buildup so I try to clean it once in a blue moon. When I do I will scrape it and use a shop vac. It's a good time for a water change as well. I'll also soak the pumps in vinegar and clean the probes and skimmer.

 

[stevieduk]

never do, i want to keep all my bacteria

 

[Ramon Estevez]

I think the key is to keep Skimmer,reactors, other mechanical pumps free of debri and detritus. All other areas of the sump can get get gunky to create a vast micro-fauna population thus helping the tanks stability. I do wonder if occasion dosing of Dr. Tim’s or other sludge cleaners are useful rather than a clean out.

 

[Finhead]

I'm slightly OCD, once a month I clean the sump, skimmer, return and drain lines etc. I use a shop vac on the bottom, takes about a hour.

 

[madweazl]

"Detritus removal is over valued IME"

Really ?

No filter socks, no mechanical filtration (outside the skimmer and carbon reactor), and no hands on removal of the detritus (or anything except for some macro-algae every few months). I keep the visible panes of the sump clean so I can see in but everything else is wild wild west down there.

Last three Triton results

If it becomes an issue at some point, perhaps I'll mess with it but after 19 months, I don't expect much else to be different.

 

[Bow69]

Occasional wall cleaning and suck out any bottom build up.

 

[carlson]

No filter socks, no mechanical filtration (outside the skimmer and carbon reactor), and no hands on removal of the detritus (or anything except for some macro-algae every few months). I keep the visible panes of the sump clean so I can see in but everything else is wild wild west down there.

Last three Triton results

If it becomes an issue at some point, perhaps I'll mess with it but after 19 months, I don't expect much else to be different.

I really like this tank style.

 

[1979fishgeek]

I clean the floor of my sump whenever the mulm starts to build up (as no point leaving it there to decompose) But I leave the sides as they are covered in fan and tube worms. Suppose it gets a good vacuume every 6-8 weeks with a pond vac.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Mine needs cleaning. Thanks for reminding me.