Overflow Maintenance Question

So I was looking inside the overflow and I noticed Algae starting to fill in the top little slits where the water flows in and also inside on the Dorso pipe.

So I know Algae is a good thing acting as a filter and such, but should I let this continue ?

If I cover the overflow to block the light that would solve it and eventually die off.

What do you all do for this ? Cover the Overflow or clean out somehow or leave alone ? I guess my only concern here is that the strainer intake on the Dorso could be getting clogged and affecting the water flow.


Any thoughts on this ?

Cheers

 

I clean my overflow with a toothbrush to keep this from occuring. IMO I like to keep that area as clean as possible. an cloged overflow means less flow to the sump and potentially a pump that is pumping more in to a display tank then is coming out. Just my 2 cents! Cheers!

 

Ditto what RemickJ said. I use a wire brush/pipe cleaner brush and just run it through the teeth of my overflow box. It's pretty much like flossing your overflow.

 

Good, will do. I will also clean the strainer as well.
After that if I put a solid cover to block the light, won't this stop the algae ?

 

Yes it should!
What I like to do with the area where mystandpipe is and the overflow is put snails in their as well as macroalgae, to help to control microalgae growth as well as offer other benefits associated with macroalgae. Basically this acts like another refugium for me!

 

i only clean mine when it starts to affect the flow. however, every time i clean my overflow box i have a major problem of air bubbles build it up. but like a protein skimmer it seems to work better after breaking in. so keep flow going but dont clean it to much, IMO