Waste in Sump

[abaldtown]

Hi all, I have a Red Sea Max Nano G2 Cube. It’s my first reef tank, mostly it’s been running well for a few months. However I took a flashlight to the sump compartment on the back and OMG. There is a ton of sand/beige colored waste at the bottom, it even built up in the return pump chamber. I’d say the particles were the size of sand to course sand, but definitely wasn’t sand. I just had an ammonia spike as well so I’m wondering if it’s related. Don’t have a pic because I already cleaned it out, what could this be? Is it waste getting past the filtration? Thanks all!

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Hi all, I have a Red Sea Max Nano G2 Cube. It’s my first reef tank, mostly it’s been running well for a few months. However I took a flashlight to the sump compartment on the back and OMG. There is a ton of sand/beige colored waste at the bottom, it even built up in the return pump chamber. I’d say the particles were the size of sand to course sand, but definitely wasn’t sand. I just had an ammonia spike as well so I’m wondering if it’s related. Don’t have a pic because I already cleaned it out, what could this be? Is it waste getting past the filtration? Thanks all!

How long has the tank been running? Do you have any mechanical filtration, like filter socks? I don't use mechanical filtration myself unless I am doing a cleaning of rocks to dislodge any detritus buildup. What you describe sounds like normal sediment settlement in a sump.