Sump Maintenance

[alarmguy66]

Today I broke my sump down (20 gallon rebbermaid) and cleaned it. I had a lot of "Crud" buildup in the sump and particulates floating in the water. The sump has one baffle with a large filter sponge at the base of it, a Remora skimmer, two 150 watt heaters, and the return pump. By the way, the addition of the baffle did an amazing job of minimizing microbubbles.

What I was wondering was this - am I removing helpful bacteria by doing this, or am I removing potential nitrate fodder, or some of both? I preverved both the large filter sponge and the sponge over the return pump by placing them in a bucket of water from the sump while I did the cleaning.

I did notice many small growths on the walls of the container, whith I no doubt killed in the rinsing of it. I also found a small pistol shrimp which I returned to the display tank.

Basically it seems my tank is healthy, was this a good move of a bad one?

 

[loganj]

Although you probably are removing some bacteria, I don't think it'll be enough to make any difference. I would think it would be a good idea to clean the sump out when it is starting to really crud up...you don't want any of that stuff to break loose and go through your pump impeller. I'm sure the pistol shrimp was happy to be rescued too . JMHO.

 

[fishfreek]

The stuff on the walls where filter feeders. either sponges or tubeworms depending on how it looked.

I go thousands of tubeworms on the walls of my 30gal sump.

 

[WarOrks15]

so if i were to get a new shell from Pro Clear Aquatic system for my sump to replace the broken one i have i would not have any big problems? i will put every thing i have in the old one in the new one like all the sponges and the live rock and filter pads.