Sump advice

[tootie]

How often is best to vac sumps?

i hardly ever do mine although I change the filter wool in the water inlet chamber. It does have the brown stuff at the bottom. I've never had any problems with losing fish with this system despite irregular cleaning of sump.

Googled and some people do it every water change and others only do water changes from there sumps.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fins]

I would imagine the sump should be vacuumed occasionally to remove the brown stuff.

I have a very simple sump on my display tank. 2 chambers single partition, media and pump. 

I'm one of those that do water changes by completely draining the sump. I just stick the hose in and let it drain, and while its draining I clean the main tank glass. I rarely drain water directly from the display tank.

My media and pump chamber stays pretty clean because I use a 100 micron filter cloth as the first point of water entry. It clogs up within 3~4 days and needs replacing.

Right or wrong, this is the way I do it. Minimal effort.

For sure others will do the same as you. Just make sure that what you do is sustainable.

 

[Alex]

I have never vacuumed my sump in the 8months its been running and probably never will. 

 

Depends on the design.

[PlecoSam]

I vacuum mine every few months, my sump is a very simple design and is easy to do, I use filter socks and although they need changing and cleaning they keep the sump clean and the actual sump requires little maintenance.

[tootie]

Thanks for the useful feedback.

Where do u get the filter socks and what do u put inside them?

where in sump do u put them and how many do u need?

ive had trouble vacuuming (the tubing with plastic thing at end) mine as its so low on the ground.

how do u vac?

cheers, shirley

[PlecoSam]

I bought mine from the UK, I use 100micron mesh socks and 200 micron felt socks, most of the ones in Aus are Chinese crap and I do not trust the micron rating.  Some say mesh are worse then felt but the fact felt is a poor filter medium makes them ok, what I mean is as felt blocks its micron rating decreases.

I do not siphon my sump but I do use a cheap pump and suck all the crap into a bucket and through one of my socks, works for me as I only need to do it 3 or so times a year.

The socks I change every other day or so, it takes 2minutes to change them and 20 minutes every two weeks to clean them, I prefer mesh over felt and will eventually just use mesh socks. Only problem is the mesh socks I have bought here in the major shops are rubbish, or at least they are not absolute rated.

[Fins]

I use AQUAMAXX 50 MICRON FILTER PAD

http://thereefshop.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15&products_id=2258&zenid=227bc572e6983055eaae8a911fe6c344

but that was before I knew about Everhard Drain Matting

http://www.bunnings.com.au/everhard-600mm-x-6m-drain-matting_p4770242

If the Aquamaxx ever wears out, I will switch to drain matting

I put the used matting into a bucket with bleach, every month I run them all through the washing machine.