Cleaning of sump

Originally Posted by Ekia

Hey thanks, i can understand all of your explainations. Actually all of us more or less in the same wavelength.. just missed out a detail or 2. My biohome is in my sump for 2 weeks already... let hope it can sustain the bioload of my tank after the sump cleaning session... just worrried that there will be ZERO bacteria is my sump after the cleaning session and the nitogen cycle will depend solely on the LRs and sandbed while the bacterias will slowly populate the biohome again...

just make sure your biohome doesnt touch freshwater, kept in a pail with tank water and there MUST be circulation, then bacteria death is kept to the minimum...better use a powerhead to circulate and not a air stone, if use airstone, it will not be good for the denitrifying bacteria or the anaerobic bacteria...

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!

I do that once a year. Don't seem to have much problem. However, my sump is quite easily cleanable becos the LR other filtration units are compartmentalised for easy removal. Just keep whatever filter materials u want back later in a pail of sump water (u suck the clear water first from your sump to use before u stir up the dirt, so save on water mah!). Then move the stuff back after cleaning but don't pour back the sump water hor!

btw, how long is your sump functioning already? Will stink meh? I never have stinky sump so I'm curious...