I would like to know how often you clean your sump, and to what degree? Is it to the point that you drain the water from it and scrub the thing down? I can see brown "gook" collecting on the incoming side, and even under the rubble rock. I now have a 20 gal sump with a heater on the incoming side, then the water flows over a filter media and through rubble rock (and do you/how do you go about cleaning these? How often?), then into the main chamber where the protein skimmer, and uv sterilizer sits. It then flows into the last section to the return pump and back to the tank. So all of the "gook" I'm seeing is detritus I'm assuming? I have noticed a sharp spike in nitrates, and I'm assuming all of these things are related... Any info about the maintenance of your sump would be great!
How often do you clean your sump??
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I was going to say never but thats not true.
I will occasionally suck out the crap in the sump.
I will occasionally suck out the crap in the sump.
I have had my current sump up and running for almost a year and have <u>never </u>cleaned it. Probably should though. Its pretty yukkie. But my nitrates are always zero. I guess I go with the "if it aint broke" policy.
So my guess is your nitrate spike may be the result of something else.
How long has the system been up? Good Skimmer? Water changes?
So my guess is your nitrate spike may be the result of something else.
How long has the system been up? Good Skimmer? Water changes?
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I do my water changes from the sump, so stuff gets vacuumed out every 2 weeks. I just kinda push the stuff around so I have room and get a good bit of the detrius up. I have a bunch of pieces of live rock in there as well and just shuffle those around as needed. Generally moving the stuff around is enough to keep the detrius suspended in the water column long enough to get siphoned out.
When I fill, I match temp/s.g. and fill up again from the top letting the water overflow into the sump like normal.
When I fill, I match temp/s.g. and fill up again from the top letting the water overflow into the sump like normal.
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How deep is the water above the rubble rock? Are you saying this sump has 3 or 4 chambers?
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Hell we know you don't clean!
Haha. The thing that most concerns me is that I did a water change on Sunday (20 gal) and on Monday the nitrates were in the RED! I'm glad to hear that you guys don't deal with the sump much. I have noticed detritus in the sump, but when I do a water change I just kick up the stuff from the rocks and behind the rocks that fall there, and siphon it from there.
The water flows over the rubble rock, and sits approximately 2 inches below the rock before flowing into the next section of the sump. The sump has 4 chambers. One that the water dumps into from the intake, then flows over the rubble and sits below that where it flows into the main part of the sump, and then goes to the return section. The tank has been running for almost a year, and until now parameters have been spot on. I have had an Ich problem lately too, and have been medicating with metro/focus. But the nitrate spike was before the medication so I'm sure they aren't related. Anyway, it's off to the fish store to buy 20 MORE gallons. That's 40 gallons within 3 days. Something's gotta give if I drain enough water right...?
The water flows over the rubble rock, and sits approximately 2 inches below the rock before flowing into the next section of the sump. The sump has 4 chambers. One that the water dumps into from the intake, then flows over the rubble and sits below that where it flows into the main part of the sump, and then goes to the return section. The tank has been running for almost a year, and until now parameters have been spot on. I have had an Ich problem lately too, and have been medicating with metro/focus. But the nitrate spike was before the medication so I'm sure they aren't related. Anyway, it's off to the fish store to buy 20 MORE gallons. That's 40 gallons within 3 days. Something's gotta give if I drain enough water right...?
The display tank is 90 gallons. And make that 45 gallons in 3 days! 
The nitrates dropped a bit today, but it's still in the orange, just not red now. I'm protein skimming and the whole 9. I did have a fair amount of xenia in the tank just bite the dust, and I just got rid of 3 or 4 kenya trees. I'm going to post a picture of something soon, and let me know if you guys can identify it. I believe it's dying, but I'm not sure what it is so it's hard to tell if I should get it out, or leave it. It came from Mark's (flying army) small display tank for those of you that know him. It was the one upstairs that had all the zoo's on them.
The nitrates dropped a bit today, but it's still in the orange, just not red now. I'm protein skimming and the whole 9. I did have a fair amount of xenia in the tank just bite the dust, and I just got rid of 3 or 4 kenya trees. I'm going to post a picture of something soon, and let me know if you guys can identify it. I believe it's dying, but I'm not sure what it is so it's hard to tell if I should get it out, or leave it. It came from Mark's (flying army) small display tank for those of you that know him. It was the one upstairs that had all the zoo's on them.Similar threads
