That looks like a very handy device. What is it? Where can I get one?

What is that contraption you got there Johnny?

With all the concerns of needing ro/di water, nitrate factories etc, I'm rather surprised the detritus is being left that long in your sumps.

Normally I do 80l water changes, I'll siphon out ~50l from the display to get the accumulations there, then I'll go downstairs and siphon out from the sump and refugium ~30l to get the crap the builds up below.

Brown stuff
 

Does using your shop vac for your sump leave a distinctive 'sump smell' when you use it for other projects as well? I have always been hesitant you use mine to clean out a tank or sump.

We just used a siphon to suck out most of the detritus from our sump, worked well for us.

I didn't say I recommend leaving the gunk as long as me. :lol: I live my life to serve as an warning to others.
http://images.despair.com/products/d...s/mistakes.jpg

In my defense, this was only 1 tank I let it get that bad, and there were a couple complicating factors. I had mangroves growing in it for the longest time so I had sort of gotten used to not doing much to the sump. My other tanks get their sumps cleaned on a far more regular basis but the odd thing is that this one tank happens to be the tank with the least amount of nitrate or phosphate or algae, and generally speaking the squeeky wheels get more oil.. so it just didn't get onto my radar.

Still, three years without a sump cleaning is kind of bad. :lol: I guess I'm doing a "Do as I say not as I do!!" :redface:

Well, I do rinse it out really well after use but I imagine it probably smells richer than your average shop vac. However, the tanks are the only reason I have it in the first place anyhow, cleaning up spills during water changes or overflows or whatever.

I too would like to know what Johnny Reefer's little device is. I'm guessing a power filter modded to be a vaccuum ... but does it dump the effluent back into the tank or into the sink?

I think that "device" shown earlier is just a powerhead with a prefilter?

I use a powerhead to vacuum my sump. That's what I do for regular water changes. I plug the powerhead into a powerbar so I can switch it on and off as needed while filling buckets. Works like a charm.

Looks more like a HOB powerfilter to me with a couple adapters maybe? What's really caught my eye though is the scoop of the nozzle. Was just thinking if it was an off-the-shelf product it might be worth picking up.

Yes...I need to rig up something like that gizmo. I can't siphon the stuff out of there because the sump is too low. Shopvac is too large.

My problem exactly