How to build a SELF CLEANING SUMP for your Reef Tank!!!

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Most popular comments
for How to build a SELF CLEANING SUMP for your Reef Tank!!!

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CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

this worked out very well.. still could be better If i could modify my baffles.. thanks for watching everyone!

dudesreef - 7 years ago

No thank you for posting.

Denier Betancourt - 6 years ago

Hey man great job like always, always coming up with unique stuff, i have been following you since you started the old jbj and once i saw you upgrade to your 120 and how good its looking i had to upgrade as well soo i was able to get my hands on a 125 for a good deal lol. Anyways i want to set up my plumbing somewhat like yours but i wonder if this would hurt the fuge or the pods having them going through the mechanical filtration

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 6 years ago

This setup is for people running cheato reactors or algae scrubbers... they can be bypassed and keep pods safe. Normal fuge may still work but u wouldn’t be able to run mechical 24/7 to avoid removing to many. Take advantage of the recirculating Line ether way for extra contact time with your filtration. Good luck wit your 125!!

Budget Aquatics Aquatics - 6 years ago

Awesome so essential it cycles the water through the sump cleaning up the detritus in the sump prior to running it through the display?

Alex Juarez - 7 years ago

great video, Thanks for the tip. I will be doing this to my sump.

Joshua McCline - 7 years ago

Hey cj mane I really enjoy the videos they are a huge help for me, but I need a video on plumbing I want to be able to to plumb for future equipment seeing how I’m hard plumbing can you help

Joshua McCline - 7 years ago

I wanted to increase the flow to keep the water strong then going through the pipes

Joshua McCline - 7 years ago

CJ'S AQUARIUMS ok I thought the flow was to keep the tank self sufficient ok well I'll just research more I'm not really interested in corals just yet

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

flow is relative to the types of corals you plan on keeping and the aquascape u create... 30X-50X turnover rate inside the tank and 6-10X turnover rate thru your sump... My tank has alot more flow than most recommend thru the sump.. 15-20X turnover rate but I go against the grain because thats just how i like to do things haha.. just research types of corals and flow requirements..

Joshua McCline - 7 years ago

CJ'S AQUARIUMS I saw I'm using it as a reference how do I calculate how much flow I will need from my power heads and return pumps to keep a balance

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

check out episode #4 i covered the plumbing in detail https://youtu.be/yqfg04Zxygk

muffemod - 7 years ago

Dude you're a genius! This is brilliant!

David Miller - 7 years ago

Great vid-
Subbed!

Luis - 7 years ago

CJ... now that you added the pods to the tank and fuge, you still going to use the pumps on the fuge to clean it since pods are in the media rocks?

Eric A. - 7 years ago

Thanks for the tip! Great idea... I'm getting tired of yanking out my sump and power washing it... very labor intensive and messy! Thanks again

10. comment for How to build a SELF CLEANING SUMP for your Reef Tank!!!

ReeferGil - 7 years ago

great video. quick question do you find that the return pump becomes clogged with all the debris going through it?

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

ReeferGil detritus is so small I've never noticed it... if I had a full fuge with macro algae I wouldn't be able to run it this way...

abreezeducttesting - 7 years ago

I had my Waveline 12000( 3100gph) dc pump stop working. I bought a pump just like yours ( good pump ) but its not as powerful as the waveline 12000. I have to buy a second pump now , maybe a ECOTECH VECTRA just to get the flow back. Brother my hole tank is suffering right now. I don't have enough flow for GFO reactor or Carbon reactors. I had to take them offline . its bad! saving money right now!
the reason I'm posting is because I hoping you have a back -up pump the same kind! I only had 1 pump running everything, and I had to buy a new one that day, so now I'm stuck....

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

damn i hate to hear that... im working on getting a second dct 12000 but the price jumped on them for some reason.. but for now i do have a 900 gph pump as a backup.. not as powerful but will be enough to run the scrubber and display at a slower speed.. i wont be running gfo/carbon 24/7 but I will be tying in a calcium reactor and that also doesn't need much flow .. fingers crossed this situation doesn't happen

abreezeducttesting - 7 years ago

The sump is setup nice Bro... well thought out!

Nick Connors - 7 years ago

Great idea! Wish I had thought of it before I plumbed the sump. I think I'll have to add it though. BTW, adding a ball valve to your siphon line would prevent needing to retune it again with the gate valve if you got the room for both valves.

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

Nick Connors that's a great idea... I have elbows connecting directly to elbows so I'd have to redo the whole drain to make it work though

TheStudioblock - 7 years ago

I like the plumbing works

Tristan Lambert - 7 years ago

I think this is a great plan to introduce into any sump set up.

I just dont think that I will be able to introduce a system like this if i have a roller mat...

Brandy Blake - 7 years ago

I've been digging thru manifold designs for some time now to fit my needs.you have a great set up. thanks for sharing

Reefgrrl - 7 years ago

This is awesome CJ! I'm fond of my hard-working chaeto algae though.

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

Reefgrrl I'm lucky my Scrubber is self contained .. normal refugiums prob wouldn't want to do this lol

ZirrelStudios - 7 years ago

Plumbing-Tastic :)))

CrystalReefer - 7 years ago

Good idea makes things easier

20. comment for How to build a SELF CLEANING SUMP for your Reef Tank!!!

SPS Dominant - 7 years ago

That is freakin genius! Great Video!

マンダリンチャンネル - 7 years ago

Thank you all for coming to my live! I was surprised!

Trihope140.6 - 7 years ago

Cool. Thanks for sharing that.

PsychedelicBabe - 7 years ago

That was so cool CJ you did a great job here

DEL'S REEF - 7 years ago

great info video man who dosent like a clean sump that you don't have to move to clean

Bradley Roberts - 7 years ago

Great idea! Do you keep a separate Refugium? I would like to try this, but don't want to strip all of the pods and other critters out of the fuge. Maybe a bypass with another valve?

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

people with macro algae and pods may not wanna use this.. My sump wont have a actual fuge.. just equipment and algae scrubber.. which is bypassed when i do this.. pods should survive in the scrubber to repopulate again.. wont do this as often when tank is stocked..

Fishin Addicts - 7 years ago

Hey CJ thats nice bro, Would love to see the blue print of that design to create my own. I was cleaning my sump and all the junk was going in the display tank.. I need this....

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

never made a blueprint I just pieced it together on the fly... i have a few videos details how i built this sump and plumbing. check back thru the SCA playlist...

Mason. - 7 years ago

Keep it 8 more than 92 with me, 100.

EDK ReefMeister - 7 years ago

sump mastah! I need to emulate this....

lou9294 - 7 years ago

awesome system man thanks for sharing

30. comment for How to build a SELF CLEANING SUMP for your Reef Tank!!!

fishlaw1 - 7 years ago

Awesome and informative video bruh. . . Thanks for sharing and happy fish keeping ! ! !

VallejoVibes - 7 years ago

Beautiful plumbing job! I'm going to use this method on my current build, thanks for the post!

COOPER'S CICHILDS - 7 years ago

thumbs up

At My WorkShop - 7 years ago

Great video CJ glad you put it out before I started plumbing my Sump. One question why do you have to put a shut off on the emergency drain? Wouldn't the display drain down the stop?

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

valve on the emergency drain helps me dictate the water level in the sump while im running my self cleaning process.. otherwise draining the actual sump into the display would causing water level to rise in the over the emergency drain stand pipe and flow right back into the sump...my display has plenty of room to accommodate water from my sump. goal is to have water falling over each baffle for surface skimming in my sump.. if that makes sense.. great question!

Josh Houser - 7 years ago

Never thought of this. That's awesome! Luckily I'm plumbing my new system this week.

Ryan Boisoneau - 7 years ago

really cool idea! definitely will be considering this with my plumbing on the new build

Davis Mcmoney - 7 years ago

Good idea I'm going to incorporate this into my next tank for sure

nhall00195 - 7 years ago

Can't wait to see this tank in 12 months!

Tony Jibster - 7 years ago

I have the same setup, and I use it whenever I'mm fiddling with the sump to avoid a cloud of detritus from getting in to the display. I'm loving it . Thanks for sharing :-)

Tru Reef - 7 years ago

dude I have never cleaned my sump once in 3 years. And I must looks good sounds great. in the words of Mike paletta make it easy you'll do it more make it hard and of course you know the rest

Brandon Meade - 7 years ago

that's a brilliant idea cj

Ralph Pastine - 7 years ago

genius idea

Fishin Addicts - 7 years ago

Hey CJ that's a nice clean set up. Real clean great idea... Thanks for sharing..

Billy Pipes - 7 years ago

I'm a clean freak too lol. "mo detritus mo problems"

mnelson10000 - 7 years ago

Very clever, nice nice

laminar flow - 7 years ago

Really awesome tip! Thanks for this one. I will add it to my list of of stuff to implement!

reef guy 92 - 7 years ago

I will be doing my plumbing soon on my build so I might give this a go ☺

FenderSchonJPX - 7 years ago

Damn. Nice work. thanks for sharing.

Coralcrayz - 7 years ago

Bro this is genius!

AcuaTV - 7 years ago

I actually installed my pipes in a similar way, except for me I use an outlet from the manifold with a hose instead of PVC and put it inside the Rollermat since that thing takes up so much space I couldn't put a direct PVC line there. If someone didn't pipe it like you, but still has the manifold, they can use a hose in one of the outlets and just make sure to direct it to the mechanical filtration or even use some sort of temporary filter sock in the hose outlet tied with a ziptie so it stays in place and just put it anywhere inside the sump and run it for a few minutes.

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

yes that would work too... long as its going into some sort of mechanical filter.. it polished my sump in under 10 mins.. I def will be using this design in some shape or fashion from now on..

50. comment for How to build a SELF CLEANING SUMP for your Reef Tank!!!

Curtis Bridgen - 7 years ago

Nice job, will definitely be using that one. Thanks.

nanoaquamania - 7 years ago

nice idea..

Infamous Aquatics - 7 years ago

bro. This is a game changer.

Infamous Aquatics - 7 years ago

100! I am going to have to do this on my next real build. I am going to go all out on a 75 or 120 gallon in a year. Waiting until I buy a house

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

my life has never been the same since lol!

ReefDudes - 7 years ago

Cool idea CJ. I just run my drain lines through a filter sock so its not really an issues (except for my chaeto/fuge) but awesome idea when not running a filter sock!

ReefDudes - 7 years ago

Yea i like it! less work is always a bonus. I may run a line from my reactor manifold into there and just crank the pump up once in a while :) Its a smaller Jebao pump but may work.. something to play with! thanks for sharing your new creative idea :D

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

if u ran a line into that first chamber it would keep those marine pure balls clean and force everything into the socks if u based the main display.. it works for people with socks too.. only people excluded would be macro algae people that could clog the return pump..

Mike Lemming - 7 years ago

Awesome idea CJ. I've been trying to figure out a way to clean up my fudge section and even though I can't close it off and cycle it through. I can still keep the crap suspended to be caught in some filter floss! Once again, bring some CJ knowledge to my tank. Thanks bruh!

Sean's Aquaria - 7 years ago

Beautiful system, CJ! When I look at your plumbing I have a hard time figuring out a couple of things. Do you turn off the back flow back to the sump during normal operation? Or is that valve open always? Does the height and gravity play into the equation? Catch you on the Livestream soon!

JCS Reefing - 7 years ago

Might have to implement this into my manifold somehow! Nice VId!

pelphrey - 7 years ago

Great tips! I feel like this would be something I could accidentally do to my sump then realize... Hey this is a good idea! haha

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

started as a way to keep detritus from building in the first chamber.. then i realized I could manipulate valves to do this than bam! self cleaning sump and it works perfectly .. and fast as hell haha

11eneo - 7 years ago

nicely done!

FADETOBLACK - 7 years ago

Great work my man as usual . What a great way to clean out sump! Love your pluming work .gives it a professional look .Do you have a video.on how you did plumbing?

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

yessir check ep.4 on the sca playlist.. its linked to this video on the top right as well..

Don Lidtke - 7 years ago

Very cool! I had never thought to build in a recycle line. Thanks for sharing this great idea!

CJ'S AQUARIUMS - 7 years ago

no doubt! ill always have one on every tank moving forward.. worked perfectly!

About How to build a SELF CLEANING SUMP for your Reef Tank!!!

The "How to build a SELF CLEANING SUMP for your Reef Tank!!!" video is part of the reef tank, salt water category, which contains similar videos like this one.