How Clean Is Your Sump & Why ? (HONESTLY)!!!

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Mine needs cleaning. Thanks for reminding me. :D

 

[Nep528]

I clean mine every other month..works for me

 

[Z3speed4me]

I also start my water change in the sump. Turkey baster around in there and suck up as much stuff with a pump every time. Then I pull the rest of my water from the display.

I think people with “nicer” sumps tend to want them to be more display worthy as well. If you buy a synergy or trigger or similar custom item you want it to look awesome. If that wasn’t at least a small part of it we would all use glass no???

 

[madweazl]

I also start my water change in the sump. Turkey baster around in there and suck up as much stuff with a pump every time. Then I pull the rest of my water from the display.

I think people with “nicer” sumps tend to want them to be more display worthy as well. If you buy a synergy or trigger or similar custom item you want it to look awesome. If that wasn’t at least a small part of it we would all use glass no???

My next tank will use a glass sump; hate the acrylic because it scratches so easy in a sump application.

 

[427HISS]

I also start my water change in the sump. Turkey baster around in there and suck up as much stuff with a pump every time. Then I pull the rest of my water from the display.

I think people with “nicer” sumps tend to want them to be more display worthy as well. If you buy a synergy or trigger or similar custom item you want it to look awesome. If that wasn’t at least a small part of it we would all use glass no???

I agree. I'm one of those people that that takes very good care of anything that works well & looks great, but once it takes a bad turn, it loose's that apeal. That part of my personality sucks, and it's hard to change. I almost take too much time in keeping things too nice, and spend too much time doing so.

 

[jda]

I will shop vac mine out once a year, or so. I used to do this more often until Dr. Holmes-Farley posted that nearly all phosphate is excreted in urine and that anything of carbon value in feces will be scavenged in the water column almost immediately before it even hits a filter sock, then I just let it sit. He used to post about having inches of gunk in his sump.

I do like to get it out because even though I think that it is benign, it can gum up the works if it gets back into my sand... makes it hard for the microfauna to get busy.

 

[427HISS]

Interesting. So I assume, he and you beleive more in doing more in water changes than using mechanical filtration ?
What is done with detritus on your rock, sand etc ?
I use a turkey baster or small powerhead to blow it off into the water and remove by floss or socks and the skimmer.
Is this backwords in what you guys do ?

 

[jda]

I have microfauna on the rocks that keeps them pretty clean - real ocean live rock with all of the critters. Of course, there are some spots that settle excess gunk. Most of the detritus ends up in the sand. I do start to vacuum sand in about year four and do about 25% a year - it will gum up the works.

I am all about lots of protein skimming. I run two skimmers at every chance. I also do very much believe in water changes... cheap to perform (50G bag of IO is $8), and parts of anything that is possibly bad is replaced with nothing but good.

 

[427HISS]

Awesome.

 

[madweazl]

Interesting. So I assume, he and you beleive more in doing more in water changes than using mechanical filtration ?
What is done with detritus on your rock, sand etc ?
I use a turkey baster or small powerhead to blow it off into the water and remove by floss or socks and the skimmer.
Is this backwords in what you guys do ?

Dwarf ceriths are good for getting in the nooks and crannies and strong flow makes a big difference here as well. Diamond goby, conch, and the goby/pistol pair typically kick up the sand enough to keep detritus suspended and subsequently sucked into the sump where it just collects, and collects, and collects... I do vacuum the sand a few times a year but I get less and less from it as time goes by.