Rinsing the return pump sponge in a RedSea Max Nano

[wwarby]

I have an RS Max Nano Peninsula tank with a peacock mantis shrimp in it. The tank has been running for about three and a half weeks and the mantis has been in there for about half that (the tank cycled quickly with live sand and live rock). the water is starting to smell a little, and I’m wondering if there’s any gunk on that big sponge surrounding the return pump.

I’ve cleaned the filter sock and inlet sponge a few times but I’ve resisted cleaning the big sponge because it seems like a massive faff to get it out - to do so I need to remove the ATO sensor and hose, the Inkbird sensor, another thermometer sensor and disconnect the return pump nozzle, then lift the pump and sponge out where I suspect I’ll spill water everywhere.

I realise I’m going to have to clean that sponge sometimes but I don’t have a clear sense of how frequently. If it should be a weekly job or more, I need to get the equipment out of the way to make it more accessible.

If any owners of this tank could share details of their cleaning schedule and techniques for quickly accessing the sponge I’d be grateful.

 

[Dan_P]

I have an RS Max Nano Peninsula tank with a peacock mantis shrimp in it. The tank has been running for about three and a half weeks and the mantis has been in there for about half that (the tank cycled quickly with live sand and live rock). the water is starting to smell a little, and I’m wondering if there’s any gunk on that big sponge surrounding the return pump.

I’ve cleaned the filter sock and inlet sponge a few times but I’ve resisted cleaning the big sponge because it seems like a massive faff to get it out - to do so I need to remove the ATO sensor and hose, the Inkbird sensor, another thermometer sensor and disconnect the return pump nozzle, then lift the pump and sponge out where I suspect I’ll spill water everywhere.

I realise I’m going to have to clean that sponge sometimes but I don’t have a clear sense of how frequently. If it should be a weekly job or more, I need to get the equipment out of the way to make it more accessible.

If any owners of this tank could share details of their cleaning schedule and techniques for quickly accessing the sponge I’d be grateful.

Three weeks doesn't’ seem long enough for an odor problem and saltwater aquaria usually don’t have odor issues. What is the odor like?

 

[wwarby]

The smell has pretty much gone now. I’m not sure what it was exactly, the water just smelled a bit funky. I have pretty bad hair algae in there and the other day I brushed the rocks with a toothbrush to get rid of some of it - perhaps the smell was somehow related to that, of maybe my mantis shrimp was just hoarding a bit of rotting cockle meat in her den

I did a 15% water change and cleaned the return pump sponge but it wasn’t particularly dirty anyway.

 

[Tim'sReef]

Because of the trouble of getting the sponge out and back in around the return hose, I just tossed the thing. It's mostly there to help with the microbubbles from the skimmer but since my skimmer is well broken in and fine tuned I don't have any.

No more cleaning and stuffing that thing for me. Made no difference to the tank.

 

[wwarby]

Because of the trouble of getting the sponge out and back in around the return hose, I just tossed the thing. It's mostly there to help with the microbubbles from the skimmer but since my skimmer is well broken in and fine tuned I don't have any.

No more cleaning and stuffing that thing for me. Made no difference to the tank.

That makes sense. It was a pain to remove. I’ve pushed the ato hose and Inkbird sensors over to the skimmer chamber now but still have to keep the ato sensor in that return chamber and the return nozzle fell into the chamber when I disconnected it. I might lob it when my skimmer is more bedded in.

 

[AFHokie]

I have a different tank, the Lifegard Aquatics AIOs, but sounds like the same type of thing. I need to move my ATO, undo all the return tubing, then squeeze my and down in there to lift the pump out.

The problem I get is that after about two weeks sludge builds up on the sponge in front of the pump inlet restricting flow and dropping the water level in my display area. That in turn messes with the ATO because the return chamber fills more and the ATO doesn't trigger.

I tried running it without the sponge but it vibrates due to noise. I might just cut the bottom section of sponge out so the pump sits on it but the intake is clear.