Do u clean your sump?

[Watchm@n]

Well.. do u?
My tanks been running for almost a year now and i have never cleaned my sump..

Should i be?
And if u do... How do u go about doing it.

I can see detritus in there, well I'm assuming it is... Looks like dust.
Also i can see loads of pods and other stuff in there so if i drain it I'm gonna lose all of that.

What are u all doing in this regard?

Thanks!

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[GimpyFin]

I think it will vary depending on individual setup, but I shop-vac a couple spots periodically that accumulate a little crud (Mainly under the filter sock and over by the return pump.) I don't really touch the fuge area with sand/rock and the skimmer chamber stays fairly clean.

[DarkSkyForever]

I don't. I have similar looking stuff, dusty crud that is too small for the filter socks to catch, but I have a thriving pod and brittle star population in the powder so I'm keeping mine.

[sde1500]

1 year in and I have not yet cleaned it. Shine a light in there and I see feather dusters and amphipods everywhere. I'll let it be.

[Watchm@n]

Thanks guys... Yeah i don't wanna knock back my pod population.

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[FullBoreReefer]

I have a few valves setup on my return pump so I can shut off my display tank and recirculate the water through my sump. It acts like a mini closed loop so to speak.

Then I can stir up, or blow off any equipment, and "pre filter" the water through my filter socks before I pump it into the display. Then I don't have to let it get into the display just to work it's way back down into the sump.

I save the pods that I can, if not they get tossed out as well.

I clean my sump once a month.

I can clean my sump, change 3 filter socks, and change out 30 gals in about 25mins, no biggie.

[AlSimmons]

I don't have any baffles so every time I do a water change I'll use a powerhead and really stir things up in my sump. The majority of the detritus gets pumped up into the DT where it's either siphoned out or removed with a filter sock on the way back down. Being that this is done every two weeks or so there's really nothing down there to begin with. Simple & effective.

[d2mini]

I have before.
There have been times when I've had p04 readings around .12 and then do a total sump clean out and get p04 readings of .01.

[soulpatch]

Every 6 months I suck up everything from the drain, skimmer, and return sections of my sump. This is also the time I clean all my pumps so the sump is free of equipment which makes it super fast to do. I pump out perhaps 5 gallons or so as I suck up any crud and I backfill with fresh water.

I do not touch my fuge portion though as that just keeps on ticking on its own.

[Alfrareef]

Only when GFO gets out of the reactor into the sump. I vacum the GFO and that's it.

[jeremevans]

Only when GFO gets out of the reactor into the sump. I vacum the GFO and that's it.
I've never bothered to clean out five bits of list GFO...should I be concerned?

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[ktownhero]

I did a sump tear down yesterday (well my skimmer section) and vacuumed a ton of detritus that was trapped under the skimmer stand. I don't generally do maintenance like this but if I get into the mood I'll go for it.

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[kozmic]

Very rarely will I mess with cleaning out the sump, but I also have a filter sock as the first step in the sump that gets replaced about weekly, and do not keep a light on anywhere near the sump either... I do have a fuge for growing macros, but it's housed in a separate barrel off to the side of the tank with a very targeted light. With the sock, and with the sump/fuge separated, I do not get any build up of anything in the sump area itself... well... nothing besides pineapple sponges, or maybe occasional copepods that get back siphoned down there when I shut off the pumps, etc...

[stacygirl]

I normally just wash my sump in RODI Water, and change the filter socks, and Phosguard Bags Monthly.

[jda]

I suck it up every few months or so. Shop vac after I pump all of the water out of the chambers. That stuff that is in the bottom of the sump is the same stuff that people don't want in their sandbed, so why leave it in there? A long time ago, RHF had said that it will not really release phosphate (mostly comes out in urine) or other stuff back out into the water, but it can still gum up the works.

[JohnnyHildo]

i leave the faster flowing 1st 1/2 of my sump alone but i like the skimmer section and return to be clean. i'm not entirely sure if it's good, bad or otherwise but it looks nice.

[Timfish]

Nope. This system, http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2601390&highlight=skimmerless had it's sump cleaned out when it was moved 11 years ago but it's been left alone since then. And no filter socks or any other kind of mechanical filtration, well, except for the corals and sponges ;)

[Alfrareef]

I've never bothered to clean out five bits of list GFO...should I be concerned?

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My theory is that the GFO stays there releasing PO4... so I remove it.

[2wheelsonly]

You can just use a wet vac and grab it all out without totally draining it. I squeegee all the buildup and junk into a pile in the corner either with a tool or my hand so I can suck it up without a major water change. I do this once a month and it takes about 10 minutes, the end result is a sump that looks like I just filled it brand new! :)

Or you could put a powerhead in there and stir it all up with the return pump off isolating the sump and let the skimmer take alot of it out by skimming wet for an hour or so.

[wildman926]

I don't. I use crabs to keep is clean.

[Watchm@n]

Nope. This system, http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2601390&highlight=skimmerless had it's sump cleaned out when it was moved 11 years ago but it's been left alone since then. And no filter socks or any other kind of mechanical filtration, well, except for the corals and sponges ;)
Wow!! Nice...
I'm running mine the same.. no socks or anything.
Gonna leave it be based on this [emoji7]

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[d0ughb0y]

I use 100 micron felt filter sock. my sump is squeaky clean. as a result, return pump and skimmer pump need almost no maintenance.
it's like you said, you see detritus in your sump, bouncing around for days and weeks on end. and people say filter socks are detritus traps, lol. a dirty sump is your biggest detritus trap, and skimmers are intended for exporting dissolved organics, and not intended to capture solid, undissolved detritus. regardless of how wet you skim, it will never capture detritus like a filter sock can.

fwiw, I have tried sock less, dirty sump, etc. and in the end, I know it makes maintenance more difficult.

[Hentz]

I just recently took a my Skimmer and ZEOlite reactor out, used a small pump connected to a hose, and sucked out all the detritus. I still have very small amounts left over, even with a filter sock.

Torn on running a small pump down there with a hose and some notches in it to keep it stirred up and clean!