Sumps

[LornaS]

how do people keep these spotless sumps? do they shop vac them out every month? I am afraid mine looks like where small things go to die. I have live rock rubble in the drain section with a sock but still stuff gets through and frankly i hate the way it looks. Is it form over function or the reverse?

Are you one of those reefers who let people see their dt but god forbid anyone asks to see your sump? Lets see pics of people's sumps. How clean is yours? If spotless how do you keep it that way?

 

[HoaglandDiver]

LOL.. my sump, as a whole, not bad (salt creep and foggy glass, but not much crap lying in bottom).. but all my wiring (located next to sump)certainly has a lot to be desired.

 

[Damon]

Lol, yes it's interesting, but my sump is pretty simple. I have a lot of hose running around that I haven't figured out where to put, but, I try to wipe it out at least once a week. Try..

 

[LornaS]

Damon you wipe? It out?

 

[Damon]

Damon you wipe? It out?

Lol, that came out funny.. I wipe the glass once a week. Just in the fuge and return pump areas. I don't worry too much about the main overflow too much as that is constantly both, in a state of Flux and water flow is constantly going and spraying(skimmer output, etc. Though, I just did a mod with my filter socks that may eliminate a lot of that, but to soon to tell.

This sump is much smaller than my old one, so I don't have the room to play with things like I did with my previous. But at the same time, it makes me get away from the tank and just say "hey, just enjoy the thing"..

 

[gcrawford]

Mine's pretty nasty. This is when it was clean....

 

[gcrawford]

Present day....

 

[Damon]

Here is a picture from this morning. Definately nothing special..

 

[kevantheman35]

Mines spotless so far haha

 

[leptang]

how do people keep these spotless sumps? do they shop vac them out every month? I am afraid mine looks like where small things go to die. I have live rock rubble in the drain section with a sock but still stuff gets through and frankly i hate the way it looks. Is it form over function or the reverse?

Are you one of those reefers who let people see their dt but god forbid anyone asks to see your sump? Lets see pics of people's sumps. How clean is yours? If spotless how do you keep it that way?

This is why i dont use a sump.

 

[woochi]

Shop vac is a dang good idea .
Spray bottle with rodi water to hose inside glass and equipment down daily is a easy cleaning method. Also hunting down anything that is causing salt creep and find a way to minimize. If you have a lighted sump for algae, or rubble rock, it will be a little harder to keep clean but not impossible. I've plumbed my sump so many times over and moved stuff around to make it easier to keep clean it's sickening but I think I'm getting closer

 

[LornaS]

I just wonder how everyone keeps detritus out of it even with a sock I get it. Siphon doesn't work as it is at the same level as the bucket, so shop vac is the only option. I need to replumb mine and giving it some major thought, if I could I would reconstruct the whole thing with a split drain, part to refugium part to skimmer so it had a lower flow rate in the fugesection.

Kevin, that is one clean sump. Skimmer is spotless too. Easy to keep that puppy clean no doubt. One question, exactly how tall is your stand that you are putting that in? due to the height of the sides removing the skimmer once in the stand could be a problem. Are you going to set up a seperate fuge or is this it?

 

[HoaglandDiver]

Lorna, I've heard of people using a maxi-jet pump w/ tubing on the input and output and using the other end of input tubing to "suck" up detritus from sump.. goes thru pump and out into bucket

 

[woochi]

That's a good idea too Hoagland Diver

 

[woochi]

I'm pretty tempted on the shop vac idea, drain sump , shop vac and fill with new water, get her down to a science and your downtime may be 10 mins

 

[LornaS]

$20 get a Buckethead from Home Depot turns any 5g bucket into a shop vac. There you go......