How dirty do you let you sump get before cleaning and how do you do it.

[gotscreensprinting]

I usually do a water change about every couple of weeks or so depending on how it looks .I get a red algae on the acrylic green algae on my live rocks and im finally getting coraline algae the pics are today 12/16/2014 i just did a 20 gallon water change and cleaned sump i cleaned the sump pretty good my question how clean should i make it but to not get rid of all the benefits of the diffrent algaes.I just started getting like a brownish algae on acrlic and keeps coming back.

 

[Waters]

I don't have any light source on mine so it is rarely ever cleaned. Once every couple of months I will vacuum out some of the detritus but that is it.

 

[ChrisQ0904]

I don't run any filer socks anymore so when my sump got dirty I developed the bad habit of stirring everything up in the sump and then put a filter sock on to catch everything. Then I realized all that is still getting into my DT. doh! So recently I purchased a bucket vac and plan to use that to vacuum out whatever mess is in my sump.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I never clean mine. I have a thick layer of accumulated mud.

 

[Quinn123]

every three months, i remove all water from the sump, wipe it clean, clean the skimmer .

 

[eranschau]

I keep an LED light on mine to keep the cheato happy so I get a little algae grown in my sump, but have gotten buy thus far tearing it down and cleaning it out every six months. It's good to scrub the gunk off the skimmer body and check that all the pumps are working correctly and quietly.

 

[gotscreensprinting]

Ok so got another question i have like these brownish dots that get on my front of the tank mostly how would i stop that anyone?I dont know if it comes from leaving the gunk in my sump.

 

[lmhufty]

Ok so got another question i have like these brownish dots that get on my front of the tank mostly how would i stop that anyone?I dont know if it comes from leaving the gunk in my sump.

I have the same issue.... I sure hope someone can answer the question. What are these little brown dots. Makes me have to scrap tank every other day, cleaner mag isn't strong enough to clean it off of tank.

 

[Bpb]

I never clean sump. Ever. Pods, sponges, worms, macro, and skimmer keep the detritus from ever truely building up. Nuisance algae is minimal/tolerable/manageable and I don't have NO3 and PO4 issues so never saw the point. I do disassemble the skimmer and thoroughally clean it every few months though. Otherwise it gets completely caked with hard purple coraline and I can no longer see inside it

 

[Cal]

I never clean mine. I have a thick layer of accumulated mud.

interesting

 

[gotscreensprinting]

Ok so im sord of new only about 8months in 70 gallon tank 30 gal sump

So i keep getting this brownish algae showing up on my acrylic tank how do i get rid of it.Should i swap out my carbon pad and phosphate for like a phosban reactor and the carbon 1 as well.

 

[Feathers&Frags]

My tank has been up and running for seventeen months and I've never cleaned my sump. I just let it run and worry mostly about my display. The only thing I do in my sump is replace my mineral mud every six months and thin out my macro algae. Never had any issues and my tank looks fine.