An apparatus for cleaning drywall tools includes a structure supporting two tanks, one above the other. The lower tank holds a supply of rinse water that includes a water-clarifying agent. A water-pumping assembly pumps the rinse water from the lower tank for pressurized tool-rinsing above the upper tank, with the upper tank collecting the used rinse water. After mud has settled from the used rinse water, thereby resulting in a body of clarified rinse water disposed above the settled mud, an upper water-draining assembly on the upper tank drains the clarified rinse water back to the lower tank for reuse or removal. A user lowers an adjustable inlet on the upper water-draining assembly to a position within the body of clarified rinse water so that only the clarified rinse water drains, without the settled mud. The apparatus is preferably work-bench size in order to enable contemporaneous tool cleaning by two users.