Do you wash sump media?

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Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 2, 2008
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Thailand
I have a 70 gal sump with 1500 bio balls, and 15 bags of ceramic noodles.
half of the bio balls are submerged and all the bags of ceramic noddles are submerged.
I have filter material sitting on a drip tray on top of the bio balls, i change this every month because it catches everything and can start to smell if left for too long.
I read some where about washing other sump filter media in old fish tank water.
Do you do this? Is it recommended? if so what will happen if i leave it?

A few months ago I had a power out, the tank was OK due to AC/DC air pump but not the sump. So after an hour and a lot of deliberation my wife and I (she knows a lot about fish tanks due to her brothers.) decided to put some of the bags of ceramic noodles in the main tank to keep them airated, I moved about five and the power came back on.
The thing that spurred this question is as i was moving bags of ceramic noodles in an out of the sump loads of mess was pumped into the tank.
At the time i tested the water parameters and everything being ok went to bed. Next day no harm done and water still good but a good layer of mess on the bottom of my tank.
If I do have to clean it whats the best method to stop the above?
Thanks in advance.
 
You are correct to wash your bio media in tank water only but it only needs to be rinsed gently.
As for sump media you can do the same with you bio balls if they are getting clogged up which they really shouldn't if you have a pre-filter.
The muck or debris that was pumped into your tank is called "Mulm" and is the leftover waste material from your tank that has settled in your sump and media.
It can be rised off media (with tank water) or siphoned from tank.
Some people believe Mulm contains good bio bacteria that can be used to establish or cycle new filters or tanks.
I have read recently that bio bacteria produce a slime or sticky coating that allows it to adhere to it's colonising surface, i.e. bio media, substate and tank decor but is not free floating or easily dislodged by gentle cleaning (rinsing).
To seed a new tank and filter the bio material that is colonised must to transferred to the new tank or filter to establish itself there, rinsing material in the new tank is not very affective.
It was a good idea to keep your bio media well aerated as your bio bed can die, at least the aerobic bacteria anyway.
Remember you need both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria to complete the nitrogen cycle :D.
 
Ramesh;3163604; said:
Remember you need both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria to complete the nitrogen cycle :D.
Click to expand...
To oxidize ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate, you only need aerobic bacteria.
Denitrification - the process by which nitrogenous waste is reduced to nitrogen gas and water - occurs anaerobically. Typically nitrates are controlled by water changes and plants in the aquarium
 
^^

exactly... any/all media only needs to be washed/rinsed when it becomes cloged and nolonger alows water to freely flow over/through it and even then it should only be rinsed with tank water...

as for the layer of mulm that gets kicked up... you can either syphon it out or allow the water/fish movement in the tank to take care of it for you... i personaly ignore it whenever i manage to kick it up.. in fact i kicked up a "cloud" of it less than an hour ago in my loach tank.. for a lil while everything looked like it was coated in dust.. but now between the fish bouncing all over the place and the water moving around the tank is back to normal...
 
Thank you, so because i was inexperienced when i first set my tank up and didn't rinse the sump media first, it would probably be a good idea to remove the noodle bags and rinse in old tank water then drain the sump, which would allow me to remove all the "Mulm" from the bottom of my sump on my next water change.
 
chesterthehero;3163736; said:
^^

exactly... any/all media only needs to be washed/rinsed when it becomes cloged and nolonger alows water to freely flow over/through it and even then it should only be rinsed with tank water...

as for the layer of mulm that gets kicked up... you can either syphon it out or allow the water/fish movement in the tank to take care of it for you... i personaly ignore it whenever i manage to kick it up.. in fact i kicked up a "cloud" of it less than an hour ago in my loach tank.. for a lil while everything looked like it was coated in dust.. but now between the fish bouncing all over the place and the water moving around the tank is back to normal...
Click to expand...

The mulm in the tank is long gone due to changing substrate and adding more plant, obviously at the time of the power out and on i was panicking because the tank was mega cloudy.

The mulm is just now in the bottom of the sump. I have filter media above the bio balls and the inlet to the sump is a big drilled T bar to allow for good area distribution of water.
 
jschall;3163722; said:
To oxidize ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate, you only need aerobic bacteria.
Denitrification - the process by which nitrogenous waste is reduced to nitrogen gas and water - occurs anaerobically. Typically nitrates are controlled by water changes and plants in the aquarium
Click to expand...

Sorry my bad, your 100% correct about denitrification and anerobic bacteria.
It is better to have both types of bacteria established and working in your tank though.
 
Ramesh;3163891; said:
Sorry my bad, your 100% correct about denitrification and anerobic bacteria.
It is better to have both types of bacteria established and working in your tank though.
Click to expand...


I don't think that's true either. With the exception of a few specialized filters, having anerobic spots in the tank means having dead zones, like if you have a muddy, caked substrate. Typically not good.
 
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