Clean sump yes or no ?

[Lesely]

hi, been using Red sea nopox for about 6 weeks now and very happy with results, my question is all the chateau in the sump has gone brown because the nitrates are to low to keep it growing, The green algae on all baffles is also turning brown.
Do I remove the chateau and clean the algae off the sump and have it clean or will that cause problems for the tank. I believe the nopox is controlling the no3 and no4 very well. I also had GHA in the overflow box that has just about gone completely It was only ever in the overflow and never in the sump or display tank. .
current readings are
salinity 1.025
mag 1320
alk 9.1
cal 430
ammonia & nitrite 0
nitrate 0.02
phos 0.02

 

[kbuser92]

Yes, you can clean it all out.

 

[Lesely]

Yes, you can clean it all out.

Thanks . How do you vacuum your sump, particularly between the baffles ? It is such a mess as we had no filter socks. Bought some on the weekend and will use when sump is clean ?

 

[kbuser92]

I don't run a sump, but you can just vaccuum with your siphon.

 

[emmett0122]

depending on the size of you sump you can take it out and clean it as this is what i did with my 10 gal sump but i cant remove mt 20 gal sump so i just scrap and scrub the sides and and net out as much as i can an put filter material in the last baffle before the return pump and catch the rest

 

[Lesely]

Thanks for your help. My sump is 200 litre so removing is not an option. Am buying a wet dry vac will pump out most of the water and vac the crap out the bottim. Just can't figure out how to clean in between the baffles as they are the worst. !!! Any thoughts ?

 

[emmett0122]

Green scratch pad on a stick

 

[kbuser92]

If they're tight and you need to siphon, airline hose ziptied to a plastic craft rod.

 

[2XAl]

they make a brush for cleaning lint out of dryers that is a very skinny tall rigid bristle brush. The one I have SUCKS for getting lint out of my dryer but it sure can clean up tight spots in my tank. I don't recall specifically using it on my sump but have used it in a lot of other applications with great success.

Something like this: http://www.peachsuite.com/807831/fr...e=googlebase&gclid=CNa83s_e2rwCFUcaOgodWVEAPg

edit: you can also break the handle off one and chuck it into a cordless drill for elbow-grease free scrubbing

 

[kbuser92]

edit: you can also break the handle off one and chuck it into a cordless drill for elbow-grease free scrubbing

I do that to clean my guns.

 

[Lesely]

Thanks every one. I purchased a shop wet/dry vac today. I will have a tank day shortly. might even post pics of my spic and span sump. (not really ) lol