Cleaning of sump

Due to the increased amount of detritus in the sump which is causing the sump to stink really bad, I have decided to clean the sump this coming weekend. However, I'm not sure whether this would cause any problems.

I'm planning to siphon/scoop out most if not all the water in the sump including the detritus and also clean all my equipments(skimmer/return pumps/FR etc). The only problem I can think of is whether the bacterias in my biological filter can survive. If not, whether will it cause any problems. I'm currently having bioballs as wet-dry filter and also 1 kg of biohome which has been in my sump for 2 weeks.

Will it help if I take the bag of biohome out of the sump and place it in a pail of saltwater?

What other problems do u think i will encounter? A bit worried that I might kill all the BB in my biological filter in the process of cleaning the sump.

Thanks!

I juz cleaned my sump. What I normally do is to siphon out the deritius in the sump , then get another pail , siphon out sufficient water to house my LR,BIOHome in the sump in a pail and aereate it... then i wash my entire sump tank. Afterwhich transfer everything back and kao tim.... so far never experience ammonia spike or watsoever leh.... at the same time i do somthing u guyzs don like , dose some commercial bacteria to replace those killed in Action or MIA.

Originally Posted by Ekia

Due to the increased amount of detritus in the sump which is causing the sump to stink really bad, I have decided to clean the sump this coming weekend. However, I'm not sure whether this would cause any problems.

I'm planning to siphon/scoop out most if not all the water in the sump including the detritus and also clean all my equipments(skimmer/return pumps/FR etc). The only problem I can think of is whether the bacterias in my biological filter can survive. If not, whether will it cause any problems. I'm currently having bioballs as wet-dry filter and also 1 kg of biohome which has been in my sump for 2 weeks.

Will it help if I take the bag of biohome out of the sump and place it in a pail of saltwater?

What other problems do u think i will encounter? A bit worried that I might kill all the BB in my biological filter in the process of cleaning the sump.

Thanks!

Wah bro so fast clean liao, now i still thinking what to put in my sump.

One question. I'm still having bioballs in my sump and if i remove all the water in the sump, will it cause all the bacterias to die off?

[BarraCuda™]

Originally Posted by Ekia

One question. I'm still having bioballs in my sump and if i remove all the water in the sump, will it cause all the bacterias to die off?

get a pail and submerge them instead .. dont let them dry out

[KaLiB]

Originally Posted by BarraCuda™

get a pail and submerge them instead .. dont let them dry out

Remember to use tank water to minimize loss of bb.

Originally Posted by BarraCuda™

get a pail and submerge them instead .. dont let them dry out

hmm... understood.. seems like a risky procedure to wash my sump....

Originally Posted by Ekia

One question. I'm still having bioballs in my sump and if i remove all the water in the sump, will it cause all the bacterias to die off?

Yes. any bioballs and BioHome remove from the water will affect the bacteria cycle.

IMO, I would suggest you pour some sump water to hold your Biohome.
The Bioball you can clear and clean it as it will not serve any purpose once you remove it from the sump

Btw, you should get some bacteria supplement to boost your bacteria growth after the restart.

Originally Posted by wlchew

Yes. any bioballs and BioHome remove from the water will affect the bacteria cycle.

IMO, I would suggest you pour some sump water to hold your Biohome.
The Bioball you can clear and clean it as it will not serve any purpose once you remove it from the sump

Btw, you should get some bacteria supplement to boost your bacteria growth after the restart.

I'm definitely going to hold my biohome in a pail with my tank water... just worried about a tank crash if i remove all my bioballs. Even if i don't remove the bioballs, the bacteria in the bioballs will most probably die...

So if i place all the bioballs in a pail with my tank water.. will the bacterias survive? if not... then there's no point for me to put the bioballs back into the sump... i'm in the process of removing them slowly... replacing them with biohome

Originally Posted by wlchew

Yes. any bioballs and BioHome remove from the water will affect the bacteria cycle.

IMO, I would suggest you pour some sump water to hold your Biohome.
The Bioball you can clear and clean it as it will not serve any purpose once you remove it from the sump

Btw, you should get some bacteria supplement to boost your bacteria growth after the restart.

some bacteria will die off after removing, so after washing...reduce some of your feeding, dont feed gp like nobody's buisness.....let the dead bacteria to grow back....shouldnt take too long a time..