Do you clean your sump?

[partobe]

Hi everyone!
I have a 150 gallon tank with a 30 gallon sump. I have
1 1100 seio flow pump
1 1500 seio flow pump
1 aquaclear 70 power head
1 hang on aqua clear 110 used for flow no media
mag 500 pump in the sump for return
I do bi weekly 20 gallon ro/di water changes (is that too much?)
Ive noticed the last cpl of weeks a strong salt smell coming from the sump. I wiped down the walls of the sump but it still smells.
Do you all think I need to clean the sump?
How can I clean the sump with out killing all my pods?
I have live rock and little sand in the sump. I do run a light on the sump. I was running it 24/7 but since the smell Ive cut back to only at night.
Thanks
Patrick

[crvz]

Hmm, I have left my sump bare-bottom and siphon it out with a small diameter hose (about 1/4", any larger and it's hard to keep a siphon when the bucket and sump are at the same level). I also take out the sump every ~4 months and rinse it out completely. I don't know how this affects the pod population, but I see them sneaking around here and there, so it's not detrimental.

[frankandmaura]

I stir up the sump and use a cup or pitcher to scoop out as much of the poo as I can...I don't scrub it. But I only had my sump for about 7 months before I changed it out for a new one...

[partobe]

thanks Frank and Crvc
crvc when you clean it out completely do you save the water that's in it and poor it back in after cleaning the sump?
This sump is only about 4 months old. I have to do a water change this mon I may try stirring everything up and getting out as much poo as I can. Everything looks really clean except the walls. I have purple hard algae growing all over in there and tons of pods and bristle warms crawling all over the lr.

[tashier]

I try to although I haven't figured out a good system yet. I think it just keeps collecting more crap to be honest.

[crvz]

No, i dont bother reusing the water. I'll just make that part of the water change, even if it's a big one. My sump holds about 20 gallons (with a 58 gallon display), so that's not too hard to replace. If it were much larger, I may actually try to save some of the water.

[partobe]

thanks tashier and crvz
I guess I will take a large portion out of the sump when I do my next water change. Is 20 gallon every other week too much? I think I read it somewhere that I'm sapose to only do 10% every month?

[crvz]

Well I change about 20% or more a week, so I think you'll be doing alright.

[ScruffyRubicon]

Originally Posted by crvz

Well I change about 20% or more a week, so I think you'll be doing alright.

I do the same.

[Wiskey]

I do waterchanges of about 10% every month about and when I do I syphon the sump to remove all the detritus that collects down there. A big part of my sump is a settling area, and it tends to collect detritus rather quickly.

Whiskey

[Fly Guy]

I do......every water change after blowing my rocks off with a mj 1200 and letting the tanks run for a while I take my shop vac and suck the floors of my sumps clean.

My sumps are BB too so using my shop vac, this whole process takes less than 10 minutes for both tanks.........it would take less than 5 minutes if i didnt have to empty the shop vac. Then Im ready to pump water back in.

I change 15% every 1-2 weeks depending on laziness

[SPC]

I clean the detritus out of mine at least once/week. I shut off the return pump and use a brine shrimp net to remove as much as I can (there are 3 or 4 settling areas. I then stir it all up several times and let the skimmer pull it out.
Strvr

[Twitterbait]

when i had a large sump i used to place a powerhead in it to keep things moving until the skimmer was able to grab it all up.

[zxcv123]

My sump is bare bottom and detritus is siphoned out weekly while I do a waterchange.
Pat- your water changes are good, dont change them.

[jenajet]

My sump is bb. I siphon it out every other month and clean.