Wet/Dry Sump Cleaning

[9000rpm]

Anybody ever clean out their Wet/Dry sump? I have a 36"x15"x16" Tenecor sump under my 240g with about 14 gallons of Bioballs. Its been running for almost 8 yrs now, no real problems. Water quality and clarity is good, Dovii pair in the tank are thriving. I am noticing lot of sediment on the sump floor, and lots of crud on the bioballs. I use an Aquaclear 110 sponge as a prefilter in each drain. Water in this area is hard, and the sump has a freshwater version of "salt creep" over some of its exterior.
I was thinking of taking out the bioballs and "dipping" them gently into a large bucket of tank water to get some of the junk off of them, and then siphoning off the sediment in the sump. The obvious issue here is disturbing the bacterial colony to the point that it shocks the system. Anyone with similar experiences?

 

[slapnutz]

I've had to do this on my DiY sump. I'm going to end up purchasing a Wayne PC2 pump to help with cleaning the bottom of the sump though, as siphoning takes longer because my sump is only 4 inches off the floor. I haven't experienced any issues with killing too much BB, but I also have a canister filter running on the tank.

That wayne pump will also assist me in my water changes, as I have a faucet that doesn't support a python water changer.

 

[davidtcb1]

Using a pump that draws from the sump and returns as a "hose" to rinse the bio balls will be much easier than taking them out completely. Plus, it will be much less likely that this is disturb to biological colony. In an optimal world, you could plumb a filter in line that would catch the waste before it returns to the sump as rinse water. Not a powered canister, but a canister with a cylindrical filter that you could rinse out after the bio balls and sump floor are adequately cleaned.

 

[9000rpm]

Thanks for the replies. I like the rinsing idea using a pump. The water that returns to the sump could be "filtered" using a filter pad or the like to catch all that sediment. I'll probably try that next WC. Thx again.