How to remove detritus from the sump easily....

[StikHedRon]

I am looking for ideas on how to easily suck out detritus and other stuff from the sump. My initial idea is to take a pump hook 2 hoses up to is, one on inlet and one on outlet, use the inlet hose to suck out the sump but my concern is that will the debris would damage the internals of the pump and would there be or are there any best suggestions for pumps to use where I can do this sort of thing without the worry of damaging the impeller??

 

[miyags]

I use a bucket head shop vac from Home depot

 

[mcarroll]

Either use a plain siphon hose (smaller the hose the better since siphoning at ground level isn't very efficient.) or consider a cheap shop vac.....someone recently suggested using one of those bucket-top motors that converts a bucket into a shop vac. They're pretty cheap.

 

[StikHedRon]

But does a shop vac just go to town at sucking out all the water? I am trying to keep water removal at a minimum?

 

[eeyore357]

 

[StikHedRon]

Whats creating the suction on this little device?

 

[StikHedRon]

I use a bucket head shop vac from Home depot

So I just checked that out on the interweb, looks pretty slick, think there would be a way to control the amount of suck it provides? LOL!! That way to remove as little water as possible but still get the detritus?

 

[eeyore357]

Just a siphon. I can run it along the floor and out the door.

 

[StikHedRon]

Just a siphon. I can run it along the floor and out the door.

Maybe it's just me but I find it hard to keep a good suction when the sump is sitting on the floor and I'm trying to clean it out. What a pita!!

 

[mcarroll]

But does a shop vac just go to town at sucking out all the water? I am trying to keep water removal at a minimum?

It's pretty common for detritus to collect is one spot or a small zone....you shouldn't have to spend too much time doing this....but definitely let it coincide with a water change so you don't have to make things complicated. You could also take special measures to corral the detritus before you break out the shop vac.

Using a small diameter siphon hose may be better suited to what you are doing - I've even used airline on a number of occasions....works great on normal detritus, but not if there's a lot of debris in it. Detritus in your sump is probably fairly "clean". Take a little time, but it's effective and does not remove much water....which is good for ground-level siphoning where pressure is low anyway.

 

[StikHedRon]

It's pretty common for detritus to collect is one spot or a small zone....you shouldn't have to spend too much time doing this....but definitely let it coincide with a water change so you don't have to make things complicated. You could also take special measures to corral the detritus before you break out the shop vac.

Using a small diameter siphon hose may be better suited to what you are doing - I've even used airline on a number of occasions....works great on normal detritus, but not if there's a lot of debris in it. Detritus in your sump is probably fairly "clean". Take a little time, but it's effective and does not remove much water....which is good for ground-level siphoning where pressure is low anyway.

I guess if you use one of those bucket head shop vacs, as you suck out the detritus your filling a 5 gal bucket, when your done with the detritus just continue filling the bucket for your water change and your good to go, and replenish with fresh water. Makes sense now, thanks for the help!

 

[Windy]

I use an old canister filter to clean out my 100 gal sump. Like this:
Redirect Notice

 

[hart24601]

I use a bucket head shop vac, you can find tools for the suction tube for cleaning nooks or under appliances that have small openings that don't draw as much water in.

 

[gacolt]

i keep powerheads in my sump so the detritus never settles and i use socks to export

 

[miyags]

So I just checked that out on the interweb, looks pretty slick, think there would be a way to control the amount of suck it provides? LOL!! That way to remove as little water as possible but still get the detritus?

It actually pulls water out of sump pretty quick for a small vac.You can buy reducers for it. I use it a lot around the house. Easy to carry around to clean up stuff.

 

[GreatWhiteTang]

Old canister.. Simple siphon with hose.. My sump is one 4 inches off the ground and I have no problems creating a siphon with 1/2 I'd hose.. And it works fine

 

[dsmhero]

+1 for the bucket head.

 

[AquaCox]

I was about to make a post about this same thing as well...I have tried the buckethead shop vac but it just pulls out too much water, for me the detritus is scattered around not all in one spot. I also tried attaching a smaller diameter hose but it just didnt work that great. I been considering giving one of these a try.

 

[Jimbo662]

I use a plastic turkey baster to carefully suck it up and strain the water through a brine shrimp net.

 

[sawdonkey]

I was about to make a post about this same thing as well...I have tried the buckethead shop vac but it just pulls out too much water, for me the detritus is scattered around not all in one spot. I also tried attaching a smaller diameter hose but it just didnt work that great. I been considering giving one of these a try.

You could always run the bucket head hose into a couple of doubles up filter socks in your sump. This way you could remove the detritus without even doing a water change. I often gravel vac my DT using this method. I use a small powerhead with a screen over the intake when doing the sump.