JKenny
Active Member
Hello all...
About 6 weeks ago I woke up to find my salinity had dropped to 34.6 from 35 in about an hours time. I came to find out that the sponge before the return pump section in the sump had clogged up, lowering the water level in my return section which then called for my ATO to start adding fresh water to the sump - hence the quick drop in salinity.
So I cleaned the sponge and ordered a new one because the original sponge was tough to clean. My tank is about 8 months old so I made a mental note to add sponge cleaning to my to-do list going forward.
Now, this morning I find that the same thing has happened with the new sponge. Around 4am, the level dropped in my return and the ATO kicked in again dropping my salinity.
My sump is pretty clean but does have a significant number of pineapple sponges attached to the walls, heater, skimmer...
I guess I have 2 questions. Have other RS owners seen this type of thing before where the return sponge will clog and cause the water to raise over the top of the dividing walls? Also, I understood that pineapple sponges were a good thing to have. Will cleaning them out of my sump be a bad thing for me?
As always, I appreciate any thoughts or suggestions you may have.
Joe
About 6 weeks ago I woke up to find my salinity had dropped to 34.6 from 35 in about an hours time. I came to find out that the sponge before the return pump section in the sump had clogged up, lowering the water level in my return section which then called for my ATO to start adding fresh water to the sump - hence the quick drop in salinity.
So I cleaned the sponge and ordered a new one because the original sponge was tough to clean. My tank is about 8 months old so I made a mental note to add sponge cleaning to my to-do list going forward.
Now, this morning I find that the same thing has happened with the new sponge. Around 4am, the level dropped in my return and the ATO kicked in again dropping my salinity.
My sump is pretty clean but does have a significant number of pineapple sponges attached to the walls, heater, skimmer...
I guess I have 2 questions. Have other RS owners seen this type of thing before where the return sponge will clog and cause the water to raise over the top of the dividing walls? Also, I understood that pineapple sponges were a good thing to have. Will cleaning them out of my sump be a bad thing for me?
As always, I appreciate any thoughts or suggestions you may have.
Joe
