Cleaning sump and componets?

[apmark]

How do you go about cleaning your protein skimmer and pumps in your sump, as well as the debris in the sump itself? Do you use soap/vinegar or just clean water? Do you take anything apart? Need to oil anything in the motors? How often do you do it? Thanks in advance for tips! dontknow.gif

[Joseph9123]

My power filters and power heads are cleaned with Vinegar and water. I let it soak for about an hour then I use a soft brush to take off the debris. My protein skimmer is cleaned with sink sprayer with hot water once a month.

Hey Mark how are the corals working out for you? I have some stuff for sell in the selling section.

-Joseph Le

[Wryknow]

Never use soap or oils as they will contaminate your tank. Go to HEB and get a gallon of distilled white vinegar ($1.49) and use that to soak whatever you need to clean up. I mix about 1:5 vinegar to water, disassemble the pump, and then give it an over night soak. All of the algae and crud brush right off after that (a tooth brush works great.) Then I rinse it off with a little RO water and put it back in the tank. Pumps should be leaned every six months or so I guess but this varies alot by individual preferences.

If you're getting a lot of crud in your sump then you can always take it out and wash it I guess, but that seems like a lot of work to me. I have a live sand bed and algae in my sump so I just let the micro-fauna take care of clean up. Using a micron bag over your over-flow drains to catch debris would do the trick too I suppose.

[thedude]

Shop vac to suck out the crud in the sump.

We use muriatic acid to clean all pumps, skimmers, etc. except for tunze streams (the acid will eat through the brakes).