Do you ever clean your sump?

[Fountainhead]

My tank is 2 1/2 years old, and my sump has never been cleaned in any way. It's got stuff sort of growing on the walls, and a layer of crud on the bottom. Should I be cleaning this stuff out? I'm tempted to hook some tubing up to a powerhead and try my best to vacuum it out, but I'm concerned that this will just stir it up unnecessarily and make a huge mess in the display.

Short of taking the whole thing out for a thorough cleaning (it's under a stand and loaded with stuff...removing it would be theoretically possible, but no small task) any suggestions on sump houskeeping for 2 1/2 years of build-up?

[Porkibear]

Funny, I'm kind of having the same dilemma, but my sump is probably nowhere near as gunked up as yours. I've got a sprinkling of detritus on the sump bottom. My thought was to place some inverts in the sump, but not sure if they'd survive down there.

I've heard most people on this forum siphon out a lot of gunk from their sumps with a tube-sock attached to the exit of the tube to catch most of the debris.

I'll be flagging this post for sure. I'm in need of a solution, too.

[WMac]

do it on the next major water change, thats what I do, My 165 has a 45 gal sump, at the current water level with the tank pumps off. ( its a 65 gal ) I currently do a 10 to 15% water change weekly only because my tanks fairly automated and its easy to do....yadda, yadda,yadda.......BUT when the sump gets cruddy, I turn all of the pumps off, allow the tank to drain to the overflow untill it stops. I then drain the sump entirley and clean and then just add the 45 Gals of new water into the sump, hit the switch and ENJOY :)

[SDguy]

Once every six months. With a major water change. Make sure pumps are OFF while doing it so you don't pump crud into the tank.

hth

[crabsy]

I use a python syphon hose attached to the sink. No muss no fuss. Do it monthly.

[Fountainhead]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8187666#post8187666 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SDguy
Once every six months. With a major water change. Make sure pumps are OFF while doing it so you don't pump crud into the tank. My fear is that I'll still end up pumping crud back into the tank. Without removing all the equipment there's no way I'll get every nook and cranny, but you can be certain that the gunk will get kicked up from everywhere. Maybe leave the pump off for a couple of hours after I do that to let any remaining gunk re-settle? With powerheads running in the display obviously.

[SDguy]

I little crud won't hurt anyone. Maybe put a filter sock on your tank return outlet to catch any extra?

[Ritten]

I recently took mine totally apart and cleaned everything, boy was my pump dirty. Everything did just fine.

[carman9941]

you dont have to get every nook and cranny, you also dont have to do it all at once, every time I do a water change I clean some of the junk out of the sump

[sjm817]

Remove the equipment (good chance to give it a good cleaning too), and clean and empty the sump. Put the equip back in and fill-er-up.

[Buster4900]

I do like Wmac above. Turn all pumps and let the water drain into the sump. In the sump I use a power head with ahose attached and pump all the water and junk out. Fill with clean water. Do this first weekend of every months water change.

[Fountainhead]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8188144#post8188144 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sjm817
Remove the equipment (good chance to give it a good cleaning too), and clean and empty the sump. Put the equip back in and fill-er-up. Well, of course I know I should do this. But given the tight confines of the sump and equipment, I don't relish the task. I guess I was just hoping you all would say that having a cesspool of a sump was actually beneficial somehow. ;)

[fmuakkassa]

I have not cleaned my sump in 4 years! It has some debris at the bottom. It has three chambers: the first has the skimmer, the second the calcium reactor and the third the return pump (with a filter sponge at the inlet). Also there is a Tunze Osmolator water level checker. So taking the equipment out and doing a cleaning is a major endeavor. I liked the idea of emptying the sump during a water change, clean as much as you can from the bottom and refill with freash water. Your tank water will be cloudy for few hours and things will settle down again.

[Porkibear]

All of these are great suggestions...I'll probably have to do what these guys advised.

My plan of attack will probably be to turn all the pumps off, and remove the return pump to clean it entirely. Then, I'll probably drain the whole sump...clean it out of all the gunk...then refill with water. I'll probably turn on my protein skimmer that's in the sump a little while before I replace the return pump back in.

Hope all goes well with your sump cleaning! I'm gonna need to do this really soon too!

[Ritten]

It's not nearly as big of a task as it seems once you are done :lol: I took mine out of the stand and scrubbed it.

[Fountainhead]

Yeah Porkibear, I tell you I'm really looking forward to it.

[sjm817]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8189108#post8189108 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fountainhead
Yeah Porkibear, I tell you I'm really looking forward to it.
I'll admit, not my favorite pastime. My new 180G setup will have the sump in the basement. It will make water change and cleaning tasks a heck of a lot easier.

[marino420td]

I use a small wet/dry shopvac to vacuum the dirty water from the sump. Since it sits in the bottom of my stand, starting a siphon is nearly impossible. Turn off all pumps, wipe everything down then suck out the dirty water. Replace with clean water and restart the pumps.

[kevin gu3]

Another choice is to buy a canister filter and use that to vacuum it up. I have a Magnum 350 that I use.

If you have a big sump you can also run your tank outspew to a settling tank container inside the sump to localize the mulm buildup to a smaller area. I've done this but the canister filter is more cost effective.

[dc]

LOL, when I had a sump I just took a turkey baster and blew it all over right through my main tank. Put quilt batting in the overflow, kept blowing it off my rocks and then did a water change. My tank never suffered for it. Then I turned it into a refugium. Basically I still do the same thing, there's just not as much.

[lazluvtoo]

dc...you still clean out your sump, even tho it is a refugium? Would think that you would want to keep all the "nutrition" in there?

LL2

[meg]

Ran across this post while looking for answers to my high nitrate problem. I have a new 150 basement sump. It's very easy to clean the gunk out so I have been siphoning it out when I do a water change. Any thoughts on if this practice actually helps water quality?

[SDguy]

It certainly won't hurt.

[norm_al]

I have 50 gal sump and try to keep it clean like brand new except any little crusty guys on the sides.clean it monthly or bi-weekly if its not lit because you may be getting hidorids down below and dont want any migation in your main system. also rinse any sponges on return or skimmer pumps in the water change bucket. If you keep RDSB,lightly blow away detirtus.Also rinse your sock out ASAP when blid up occurs,anyway thats norm_al for ME.

[norm_al]

:lol:

[Ursus]

I just cleaned out my sump today. It was covered in diatoms from extra lighting in the fuge section. I really let it go to long. After 2 hours and a 12 gallon water change, it looks pretty good. I also removed my sand from the fuge. It was just to messy. Also added a better powerhead to keep things in teh water column.

[chrisd1009]

My sump is pristine. I clean it out every time I do water changes. There is no rock, no fuge. Just filter socks, baffles and skimmer.
A sump is a setteling chamber, plain and simple. If you do not remove the gunk off of the bottom, you are not removing nutrients.

[meg]

Chris,
That makes sense. What is in your main display?

[clsanchez77]

Neat coincidence finding this thread. Going to clean mine tomorrow as a matter of fact. Just boaght some vinegar to pass through the pumps and going to empty and reload my kalk reactor. I hope I can make it as pretty as it looks in my photo gallery :).

Chris

[chrisd1009]

That makes sense. What is in your main display?
DSB, 120 lbs LR, 21 fish, SPS corals.
I tried the whole LR in the sump and fuge thing. My nitrates and phosphates were high. I removed the rocks and replaced them with filter socks which I change daily. I dumped the refugium. Nitrate and phosphate declined since. Nutrient removal is key, especially for a guy like me who feeds his fish way too much.
IMO, I feel that far too many hobbyists set up refugiums with far to low of water flow. These become settling chambers which build and release far more nutrients than a little macro algae can utilize.

[meg]

Chris,
How are your nitrates now?
I have always had between 10-20. I got so digusted I quit testing.I just set up the basement sump and refug a couple of months ago.I got all fired up again to get everything "just right". I bought the salifert nitrate test kit. It looks like the nitrates are 25 up to 40. I have a mixed reef with new additions of a few sps that seem to be fine. Everything looks good coral wise, but this nitrate thing is driving me crazy. I do overfeed but I only have a sailfin tang 3 chromis and a percula clown. The tank os totally full of assorted corals.

[xtrstangx]

I siphon my sump when it needs it to clean it up.. also clean the return pump every 6 months or when needed earlier.

[chrisd1009]

How are your nitrates now?
My nitrates were well above 60. Now they hold steady under 10. Don't stress too much over nitrate. Test your phosphate. On a Salifert test kit, PO4 should read as undetectable. Slightest blue tint on Salifert is too high.
We should keep this thread on topic though. We seem to have similar set ups as far as water volume being close and basement sumps, DSB, etc. let's bring this topic to either another thread or PM.

[vanmo92]

I would turn off the return pump. do whatever you need to do to pump/siphon it out. thenlet the skimmer and stuff run and pull out a lot of it. Then do a W/C (in the sump with tthe return still off). then let it filter for a little bit longer. then turn on the pump.

Thats what I would do.

[geckofrog]

I clean out my sump every 6 months, and if you don't clean out your sump, odds are it will start to stink...

[derekman]

between my 1 1/2 overflow pipe, skimmer, chiller and UV returns I have a lot of flow in my sump, same for my display... so basically I have a snowstorm in my system all the time. I really don't know what to do to stop this... any ideas?

[01saleen]

My sump was really bad once, so I cleaned it. its not fun but if it ever gets really bad- i would clean it again.

[chrisd1009]

between my 1 1/2 overflow pipe, skimmer, chiller and UV returns I have a lot of flow in my sump, same for my display... so basically I have a snowstorm in my system all the time. I really don't know what to do to stop this... any ideas?
There is nothing wrong with keeping it suspended. I'd go so far as to say you've got it better than most. Aggressive skimming and possibly filter socks will provide most of the nutrient removal you need.
I have 5800 GPH going through my sump and I still get some detritus settling every month on the bottom of my sump.

[bllfish]

Thanks kevin gu3, I have an old magnum laying around somewhere. Why didn't I think of that.:rolleye1:

[scaryperson27]

why would you want to clean it? All that gunk removes nutrients from the water. I clean the front of my refugium so I can see in there.

[bllfish]

I clean the sump, not the refugium.

[bllfish]

I believe they are talking about cleaning the sump, not the refugium.

[clsanchez77]

between my 1 1/2 overflow pipe, skimmer, chiller and UV returns I have a lot of flow in my sump, same for my display... so basically I have a snowstorm in my system all the time. I really don't know what to do to stop this... any ideas?

You could throttle back on the return pump, reduce the flow through the overflow and sump. Then use closed loop and/or powerheads (or streams) to increase water flow. Closed loops, powerheads, streams, waveboxes...work at 0' static head pressure and are much more energy efficient than using a return pump for tank circulation.

The lower the flow through the sump, the more effective skimmer, chiller, checmical filtration...will perform. BTW, skimmers are very effective if the flow throught he sump has a higher concentration of organics and this is obtained by more efficient surface skimming, which is obtained partly by lower flow rates.

Chris

[Hop]

When I do my water changes (1-2 a month), I completely drain the sump and scrape, wipe or nuke it back to cleanliness:D

[Bebo77]

i clean mine every month....

[monaca]

I also syphon out the bottom of my over flow area once a month, major source of crud if you are not currently doing so. I use a three foot ... 1/2"piece of clear ridged tubing attached to flex tubing to syphon the top of my sand bed and the over flow area, I also clean out the bottom of my sump.

[MiddletonMark]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8479719#post8479719 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xtrstangx
I siphon my sump when it needs it to clean it up.. also clean the return pump every 6 months or when needed earlier.
I normally clean my sump every couple months [python :)].

I would strongly suggest the sump-pump cleaning every 6 months ... after having impellers stick w/ Calcium deposits/gunk + cause the return pump to quit at 3 am - regular return pump maintenance is a must + easily enough taken care of on sump-cleaning-day.

[Galloyien]

My sump is covered in junk too. I do a water change once a week.

I'n going to take my 6 gallon wet vac and place it on the back porch. I'll tape a small aquarium hose to the end of the wet vac and then use a remote on/off switch. Then I'll just hit the switch and suck the junk out. I would just use the wet vac but I already flooded the floor twice. It fills up way to fast.

Aquariums are a lot of work, but worth every second and every penny.