Fuge cleaning

[JARRETT SHARK]

How often do you clean yours out?
I know you should do every 1-3 years but I have slacked and I think I might be causing harm???
When I mean clean I mean taking out all sand and starting over...

What's the good and bad on doing this!!!!

 

[JonnyJ]

I just did mine a few days ago. Do you use filter socks?

My system is on a much lower scale but I had let a lot of detritus build up. It was the first time in a year and I couldn't believe the amount of crap.

I'm running skimmerless. My fuge is 2x the size of my dts.

I had a few pieces rtn afterwords which was strange considering I did a large water change with dead on salinity and temp. Maybe it was caused from an excessive nutrient wipe. The pieces were given to me in poor condition so I'm sure that may have contributed to my experience.

I know nothing about large setups so maybe some others should chime in.

 

[MIKE NY]

I keep my fuge BB and siphon out ditris every week with a WC...but in my DT sand beds have lasted about 6-7 years before I have to remove it because it leaches out nutriants...I think that this time period would be different with each tank because it depends on how nutriant rich or starved the tank has been running. I've have read that if I surface siphon the bed once in awhile it will extend the life so I'm trying that with this one....so I voted 4+

 

[ravi197699]

i took out my fuge complete and trying to keep it simple i have one carbon reactor and bio pellets reactor that i converted in to recirculating reactor so. i took out fuge and its been 4 months so far so good. more room in the sump and where fuge used to be i use that portion of the sump for fresh water for top off, it worked out just fine for me. i don't have to keep bucket next to tank for ato .

 

[h2o]

I run my fudge bare bottom had sand in it ones before but I took it out it was hard to keep it clean . Now When I do my monthly water change I throw a pump in my sump with a hose to suck all the stuff of the bottom then I take my cheto out shake it well to get build up out of it ,trim it to much cheto is no good ether it dosent get light at the bottom so it will start to die off witch can also be a problem then I get all the copods out and put them back .