surf&turf October 18, 2011 Share October 18, 2011 (edited) After having a conversation with John Coppolino on Saturday about detritus in the reef system, I came home and cleaned my sump. I was surprised what I got out it. I cleaned mine by taking out the skimmer and putting a PH in the sump to stir everything up. I also put a sponge on my return pump with a 50 micron filter pad wrapped around that. I turned brown in about 15 minutes. I was just curious how everyone cleans or doesn't clean their sump. Edited October 18, 2011 by surf&turf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanglandJoshua October 18, 2011 Share October 18, 2011 I don't lol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angel not fish October 18, 2011 Share October 18, 2011 Cleaning the sump makes a huge difference at the system, I do not have anymore nitrate after learn how to do it good. My sump is a rubber container, that I can take out off the stand and clean it in full, Before take it off, I take off the pipe from the RR compartment and all the dirt accumulated there goes to sump (then clean the sump). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf October 18, 2011 Author Share October 18, 2011 This was the first time I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onux20 October 18, 2011 Share October 18, 2011 I use a piece of pvc to stir the sump water up while I am doing a water change. I have compeltely dranined the return and skimmer section of the sump and cleaned them completely once in a year and half. Looks like I will be doing that again this weekend! Thanks for the reminder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf October 19, 2011 Author Share October 19, 2011 I had asked John what could cause my tri-color to loss its purple tips. He said it could be number of things and detritus was one of them. I came home and started looking at my system and decided to start with the sump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefmontalvo October 19, 2011 Share October 19, 2011 I have had my sump running for 4years with out once cleaning it. The bacteria in the sump are critical for nutrient export from the main tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf October 19, 2011 Author Share October 19, 2011 I didn't tear the system apart and clean it. Just stirred up all the stuff laying in the corners and low flow areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind October 19, 2011 Share October 19, 2011 I use a piece of pvc to stir the sump water up while I am doing a water change. I have compeltely dranined the return and skimmer section of the sump and cleaned them completely once in a year and half. Looks like I will be doing that again this weekend! Thanks for the reminder. I do the exact same thing during water changes. And I also completely pump down and clean out the sump during my yearly maintenance on my pumps, normally during the winter time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad October 19, 2011 Share October 19, 2011 I do mine ~semi annually or so (it is due!) When I do it, I drain it and use a wet dry vacuum to get everything good and clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf October 19, 2011 Author Share October 19, 2011 Good idea on the wet vac. I hadn't thought of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firecrackerbob October 19, 2011 Share October 19, 2011 I run a bare bottom tank as well as a empty sump(except pump and skimmer) without a sock on my return. Both get vacuumed every other day or so to remove detritus with some tubing. it ends up being about 5gal a week of dirty water that I pull out. I just add a little salt to the sump weekly to keep the salinity up(worth noting here, I have 120 total gal, so its not a huge shock). I also have a large fuge that is plumbed into the system which gets torn down, all rock and macro algae removed and siphoned free of detritus every three months or so. I have run my tanks in a variety of ways over the years only to switch to the above methodology in the last 6mo or so. the difference to my tank has been amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind October 19, 2011 Share October 19, 2011 firecrackerbob, I too like the bare bottom and empty sump system. But I don't clean mine near as often as you do. Keeping good flow in the sump helps to keep the detritus stirred up so the skimmer can help remove it. Wow, a member for three yours and only 14 posts. Where have you been hiding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite October 19, 2011 Share October 19, 2011 My sump and refugium are in two separate containers, with separate returns, so I never have to turn both the sump and fuge off at the same time just to clean up. A lot of the detritus doesn't end up under macros and rocks in the refugium, because a lot gets trapped in the sump or sump's overflow chamber before the water goes into the refugium. I drain my 29g sump for water changes without disturbing anything that would otherwise get stirred up and make a mess, and just wipe it out. The refugium I don't clean as I don't think it is necessary, and I think stirring it all up would be worse than letting anything in it stay in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rioreef October 19, 2011 Share October 19, 2011 To clean my sump I used a Bucket Head from Home Depot. Quick, simple and effective to vacuuming up the detritus. Twenty bucks and used one of my many 5-gal buckets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firecrackerbob October 19, 2011 Share October 19, 2011 Interesting- it seems that there are two schools of thought on detritus: let it settle and siphon it(sooner or later) or keep it suspended and let the skimmer pull it out.... I suppose a filter sock may also be a corollary too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicSG October 19, 2011 Share October 19, 2011 (edited) I am really interested to know the reason for doing this and how is the best way to do it. never done it before. Edited October 19, 2011 by RicSG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf October 19, 2011 Author Share October 19, 2011 I was trying to get my nutrient level down so my tri-color would color back up. I don't think there is any best way, I like the shop vac idea though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 October 19, 2011 Share October 19, 2011 How about pumping water with a maxijet through some vinyl tubing into a low micron filter sock back into the sump? This seems easy, and you can just keep going and going stirring as you go. If you don't want to put the water back in, pump it out without even using the sock and do a water change. You will have finer control of the "suction" with a vinyl tube vs a 3" shop vac tube imo. Lots of good ideas though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angel not fish October 19, 2011 Share October 19, 2011 I am really interested to know the reason for doing this and how is the best way to do it. never done it before. After a year I started doing this because my nitrate was way high, now is almost zero. Take off the skimmer, clean it. If your tank is RR, take the pipe off, let all the dirt goes to sump, than you have to detach your return pump and use the pump to transfer all the sump water for an external compartment to be trowed away. If you can not take the sump off the stand, finish taking the water off with the siphon. Put everything back on than add new water in the tank, the extra movement will help the dirt accumulated in rocks goes to sump. Its worth. You will be surprise how much dirt comes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsndvl1 October 20, 2011 Share October 20, 2011 I just run a small maxi-jet to not let any detritus settle, so it just goes back into the tank or sucked into the skimmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now