135 gallon sump sponge cleaning help

[Nyrkorey]

So I have a custom 135 gallon sump. I have 5 swisstropicals sponges which are amazing if anyone else uses them here. A question for cleaning them. I have well water so no chlorine or anything, I know the old saying of washing sponge media in fish tank water. But the sponges are so big that a real pain in my rear end.. do I need to be rinsing these out in my fish tank water and can I hose them down which would be so much easier, looking for opinions on this. I feel when I only rinse in fish tank water I font truly get all the gunk out

 

[duanes]

Without any chlorine, it would seem hosing the down perfect.
I also use Swiss topicals sponges and treat them the same way.


I find with only about half the sponges, and a couple bags of rings, I get adequate ammonia remval, but with 80% of the sumps being planted, I also get almost 99% nitrate removal.

 

[duanes]

To me once a tank is cycled, nitrate removal is the most important factor of chemical nutrient mitigation

 

[Nyrkorey]

I wanna put live plants in my sump! But I have no light over it so idk how that would effect it? Is that all jungle vale? No substrate ?

 

[deeda]

Not a problem to take them out in the yard and hose them down, I've even slapped them against the cement patio to help dislodge the gunk. Just be sure to wear shorts and no shoes as you'll need to hose your legs down afterward.

They will dislodge a lot of particles though when you remove them from the sump and they will be heavy with water so it might be helpful to shut off the pump and lower the sump water level first.

 

[Nyrkorey]

Not a problem to take them out in the yard and hose them down, I've even slapped them against the cement patio to help dislodge the gunk. Just be sure to wear shorts and no shoes as you'll need to hose your legs down afterward.

They will dislodge a lot of particles though when you remove them from the sump and they will be heavy with water so it might be helpful to shut off the pump and lower the sump water level first.

Awesome and yes how I constructed my sump you'll see that small baffle right outside the sponges so what that is for is I drain the sump to that lower baffle and what it does is when I remove my sponges it doesn't allow that gunk and poop water to travel anywhere else in the sump, it contains it too that sponge section so I just vacuum that little section out and no other part of the sump is effected

 

[Sassafras]

I too use Swiss Tropicals Poret® Filter Foam and love it! D deeda described exactly what I do to clean mine. I soak them down with the hose and then whack them against the stone exterior of my house. It takes several rinse and whack cycles, but they come out much cleaner that if I simply tried to rinse them with water pressure alone. I also have spring/well water, so chlorine isn't an issue, much like your situation. You were very wise to set up your sump sections to include a catch baffle, because it is impossible to pull the sponges out without a lot of gunk draining out.

 

[Nyrkorey]

I too use Swiss Tropicals Poret® Filter Foam and love it! D deeda described exactly what I do to clean mine. I soak them down with the hose and then whack them against the stone exterior of my house. It takes several rinse and whack cycles, but they come out much cleaner that if I simply tried to rinse them with water pressure alone. I also have spring/well water, so chlorine isn't an issue, much like your situation. You were very wise to set up your sump sections to include a catch baffle, because it is impossible to pull the sponges out without a lot of gunk draining out.

Thanks for all the replys! Bc cleaning these have been a pain in my butt, but now that I know all this, it will be so much easier thanks as always everybody