New tank - cleaning tips

[BeckyReef]

Hi all, had a Red Sea Max S-400 running for around 9-10 weeks now, have been carrying out weekly 10% water changes, regular tests etc. However, it's just occurred to me that when I kept much smaller tanks 10 yrs ago, I used to clean out the canister filter and pumps each month, so I should probably do that too on the sumped tank!



It used to be quite a quick job to disassemble the circ pumps, small skimmer and rinse out the filter media in the old water I'd removed for the water change. However, doing all this on a larger system is making me nervous..


Have bought food grade citric acid but I'm not sure how long to soak my circulation pumps for, a lot of posts suggest overnight but that seems really long to me and I'm concerned about oxygen levels in the water if everything is off for too long? I'm thinking of doing my weir combs and circ pumps every 4-6 weeks, do the main return pump at the same time? How often to scrub out the skimmer as I'm aware with a deep clean it'll need breaking in again? Arghhh so many questions, any tips on how to make this more of a simpler routine the better thanks!

 

[SPR1968]

Well I’ve got the S650 and I used to clean the rear circulation pumps only when one stopped working, so probably every 12-14 months. I clean the return around every 12 months. I have a spare so just swap them over.

I took out the rear circulation pumps and replaced them with MP40’s because they were a pain to get out in an S650 and hence the infrequent cleaning.

I also use citric acid and usually after 60 -120 minutes they are clean, but with my return pump I have a spare, so I just leave it in a bucket for days or a week, only because it’s not needed straight away. So overnight would be perfect but only if you have spare pumps.

I clean the skimmer every 12 months or so and the cup every 4 weeks

I have a spare set of wear combs and change them every 1-2 years

If you like cleaning pumps and things do It as much as you like, that’s good, put personally Ive not found it necessary

 

[BeckyReef]

Thanks for that, spares sound like a handy idea! I'm thinking more that if I start cleaning regularly then I'll either get quicker at it or work out that I can get away with longer in between cleans etc - with the smaller canister filter I had to scrub out monthly for nitrate build up purposes, but am aware this has more tolerance in the larger setup etc...

For citric acid, I assume mixing with tap water for cleaning is fine, as long as I rinse in RO before adding pumps etc back into the tank?

 

[SPR1968]

Thanks for that, spares sound like a handy idea! I'm thinking more that if I start cleaning regularly then I'll either get quicker at it or work out that I can get away with longer in between cleans etc - with the smaller canister filter I had to scrub out monthly for nitrate build up purposes, but am aware this has more tolerance in the larger setup etc...

For citric acid, I assume mixing with tap water for cleaning is fine, as long as I rinse in RO before adding pumps etc back into the tank?

Yes just use tap water, and also rinse with tap water, you don’t need to use RO. You can if you want but it’s not necessary