SUMP! Keep it clean or leave it be??

[Ghostweim]

I regularly clean mine, but after reading the feedback might not for a while.

 

[1112-425XL]

I clean mine if there’s too much crap in there with a shop vac. It keeps the nutrients and pollution down. I do have some sponge growing in there on a baffle. I used to have live rock in there, all that does is trap detritus so I took out the rock….i still have ceramic bioballs in a large mesh bag.. been doing that for years.

Never tried a shopvac? I have sponges, spirobid worms, bio ball, peppermint shrimp and an elephant snail in mine.

 

[seamonster]

Never tried a shopvac? I have sponges, spirobid worms, bio ball, peppermint shrimp and an elephant snail in mine.

Yes. I shop vac mine pretty regularly

 

[Lavey29]

Mine looks like a wierd science experiment

 

[1112-425XL]

Mine looks like a wierd science experiment

That's usually when I decide mine needs a little cleaning.

 

[Lavey29]

That's usually when I decide mine needs a little cleaning.

When I walk through very successful LFS with nice frag tanks I always look at their sumps. Most look like complete mess. Some are well over a decade old and never cleaned. I just prune back my chaeto and scrape a little algae off the glass each week but that's it. I change sock every 2 weeks. Empty skimmer cup weekly but never detail clean the sump. There is so much biodiversity and microfauna there.

 

[nemotang2019]

I used to clean it weekly but then I got lazy. Haven’t cleaned it in 6 months now and I don’t see/smell any difference.

 

[00W]

Pull/clean my heater mainly to see if the light is actually going on.
Other than that I've cleaned it once in 7 years.

 

[vlangel]

I do not use filter socks, a skimmer and my sump/refugium is a 30 gallon XH. It has a more than decade old clown , a pistol shrimp and a few nassarius snails. Its been up probably 4 years or more and I never have cleaned it, except the glass. It also has a DSB, rock and macroalgae in it.

 

[nursingcoral]

A couple of months ago I used the shop vac to suck up/out the layer of sludge from the bottom of the sump.

 

[fishface NJ]

I don't clean my sump.

The only things that get cleaned once a year are the return pump and the skimmer pump. The skimmer cup cleaned once a week

 

[1112-425XL]

I don't clean my sump.

The only things that get cleaned once a year are the return pump and the skimmer pump. The skimmer cup cleaned once a week

I do the skimmer cup every couple weeks, the whole skimmer every couple months, and the return pump every six months or so.

 

[steveweast]

I guess I'm the unicorn here. My OCD will not allow a dirty sump. With every month or so water change.....I completely empty the sump, remove and clean all equipment...and fully wipe down and dry the the sump. This is today's view after about 3 weeks and nearing the time for the next water change and cleaning.

 

[Reefering1]

I'll give 1 clue. .

 

[1112-425XL]

I guess I'm the unicorn here. My OCD will not allow a dirty sump. With every month or so water change.....I completely empty the sump, remove and clean all equipment...and fully wipe down and dry the the sump. This is today's view after about 3 weeks and nearing the time for the next water change and cleaning.

I'll give 1 clue. .

To each his own...

 

[Reefering1]

To each his own...

Lol. Many different ways to skin a cat.. every year or 2 I'll stick my hand in there and wipe some glass clean if I need to check something. I'm pretty sure there's a couple fish in there somewhere

 

[Keko21]

Critters of an unkempt sump!

 

[mfinn]

About once every year ( maybe a little longer 14-15 months) I need to do a deep clean on my skimmer. At this time I clean out the skimmer section and the return section in my sump. I leave the refugium section alone.