To clean or not to clean

My sump has been set up for about 4 mon. now and it has alot of brown dirt like stuff in it. the DT has it in it as well. Do I clean this out of the sump to stop this? I was also thinking my proten skimmer was not doing a good job. Its just a seaclone 150. What do ya'll think.
Thanks for any help

 

Overtime my sump/refugium was getting a little dirty. I was kinda lazy and didn't want to clean it, so I bought a couple turbo snails and hermit crabs, and they do an awesome job keeping it clean.

As for the Seaclone skimmer...... I hate that thing!! I would look into a better skimmer. I had some good luck with it, but in all it is garbage. Try a Remora or Urchin by AquaC. These skimmers are awesome and very reliable..

 

Ideally it's not good to let detritus to build up anywhere in a system. It rots and you will end up with Nitrates and phosphates (both of which are algae fuel).

 

never having had a sump.... if it were me, I think I would just siphon the gunk out from the sump next time I did a water change...

I'd be a bit concerned about putting snails/crabs in the sump bc of them getting up where they shouldn't be causing blockage...

again, I've never had a sump or refugium...

In my DT, if I get a build up somewhere, I account that to needing to adjust my flow to keep it suspended so my coral can eat it and my skimmer can grab it...

 

Not to hijack this thread, but how do you siphon the floor of your sump which is on the floor? I thought the basic principal of siphon is that the bucket you siphon into is lower than what your are siphoning, so that gravity can work?

 

Can't siphon it if your sump is on the ground. Will need to pump it out. I have some gunk in the corners in my one year old sump. I've read that it is inert so I'll just let it sit for a while. It is also in between my baffles. They are too closely spaced to get a hose in there anyway.

 

even a slight upslope should allow you to siphon it. its when its more pronounced that it doesnt work.

 

I keep a huge turbo snail and a chocolate chip star in my sump and I rotate them from sump to fuge, they keep it pretty darn clean..

 

Battery powered syphon Amazon.com: Marina Multi-Vac Battery Powered Cleaner: Home & Garden or a water powered siphon like a python python siphon - Google Search

In my case, my sump was several inches off the floor so once I got the siphon started, I could just run the hose to the floor drain.

 

you can always use a old return pump and pump the gunk out...



Best of Luck....