Help me with plumbing

[crew]

My pump is quite, my skimmer is quite. In fact they both sound like they are off if the stand door is shut. I posted in my build page, but it isnt getting any hits, so I was wondering if anyone here could tell me how to quite down the intake pipe into my sump, its extremely loud, it sounds like a mix between a hottub and a watery gurgle sound

here is a picture

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the larger pipe is the intake, the smaller pipe is the return, it doesnt make any noise

 

[spike]

Do you have a reef ready tank? If so how is your intake design a Durso? The noise would suggest not getting enough air. I had holes drilled in my Durso, but was making a lot of noise. Someone suggested drilling more holes. It did correct the problem. If you have an overflow box i would suggest putting a piece of air tubing down the intake, leaving one end out. That also seemed to help when I had a HOB.

 

[mockery]

Do a durso.

 

[johnr2604]

Yes, enlarge the hole on the durso.

 

[crew]

Which hole do I enlarge, the one at the very top that keeps it from syphoning? there is one at the top and then three on the sides but I think those are supposed to open the vacuum since they go underwater as soon as the tank starts pumping

yes they are stainless steel clamps, I figured it was ok because they wont ever contact the water... the one thats in the sump, if I replace it, what would I use, no plastic would hold that on... just glue it?

the tank is full of freshwater right now, I was just adjusting things trying to make it all work before I start filling with salt

what I have:

>http://www.reefland.com/rho/2006/05/images/megaflow_diagram.jpg</a>

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Enlarge the top whole of the durso... Better then that, make the whole big enough for a piece of airline tube (7/16" I think) and silicone some airline tube in the hole. Then place a air regulator in the tube. This way you can adjust small amounts without worrying.

BTW: you can order plastic clamps off the internet. Depending on the pressure a good placed zip tie might hold as well but I would not trust my life on it..

 

[johnr2604]

Enlarge the one on the top out of the water. Usually what I have seen is they are not large enough to break the siphon when using larger pumps. My dursos are DIY so I dont know about the holes on the side. You need to break the siphon because thats what is creating the noise. Basically you want the water to be pushed down the pipe by the head on it not pulled down from the weight of the water in the pipe.

The stainless is fine for the clamps above the sump but the one at the pump needs to be plastic. Try using a zip tie on it. Use some plyers to get it tight then grab up just before the catch on the tie and twist till the loose end breaks off (this tightens it more) I promise if you do it right it will hold. We use them on the cooling lines for our jetskis and I can tell you the pressure from the pump that drives the ski is far more than any pump we will encounter in the reef hobby.

 

[crew]

Bueno, I will put some zip ties on tomorrow, I will also do the hole thing you guys are talking about, I lowered the durso into the water more (which lowered the water in the overflow) I only lowered it like 3 inches, but in mine, the water in the over flow was level with the tank, and in every picture I see its like 3 inches down, so thats what I did... I will drill the hole tomorrow and let you know how it goes, thanks for all the help

 

[FutureInterest]

I'm a noise nazi so I found there are few things you can do to make your drain absolutely silent.

First we deal with your drain exit into your sump. You want the drain to be submerged so as to have the least amount of falling water sound. However, when you submerge the drain you get backpressure as air is being forced to go under water. So you'll get lots of loud noises as the pressure is equalized over and over again. Even if you do match the hole in the durso above for the amount of backpressure you still get bubbling sounds as air is forced underwater. The fix for this is to put a durso at the end of your drain line. The durso is half submerged so the drain is technically submerged and the air opening at the top of the durso will allow air to escape upwards and out instead of being forced under water.

Now we deal with the air hole in your durso in the overflow. Honestly, the easiest way to deal with this is to drill the hole LARGE. Drill it large enough to fit a 5/8 vinyl tube. Snake the tube into the hole and partially down the drain, then feed the other end of the tube into your cabinet. This does two things, it will first and foremost physically move the sound of the rushing water in the overflow to under the tank and into the cabinet where it can be easily buffered. Secondly it gives you such a large hole that air flow will never be an issue. You can try this with the smaller airline tubing, but at longer distances the airline tubing that this mod requires actually has poor air flow for whatever reason and is simply insufficient. Also the small airline tubing can often be a victim of salt creep and clog which the large tubing never will.

After doing those two steps my overflow made absolutely no sound at all. If I wasn't very clear on the steps feel free to send me a pm and I'll give you my number. Typing all this was wearisome .

 

[crew]

haha thanks Jin, but my overflow isn't loud, its underneath where the water is splashing into the sump, I have the piping submerged, but like you said, there are bubbles being forced underwater which I think is the cause of all the noise, I will try the hole first, and then if that doesn't work Ill add the durso. Thanks again

 

[johnr2604]

Do like he said and try the durso T at the sump just above the water line. If this is the case then you may not need to enlarge the hole on the overflow durso.

 

[crew]

What I did...

first i drilled a hole in the top, and that didn't do anything but make it louder because now the noise was echoing out the top of the pipe.

Than I tried to see why it was making the noise and it was the bubbles being forced underwater, so to counter that I took about 4 feet of tubing (5/8"s maybe) and ran it down the tube so that it stopped just 3 or 4 inches above the water line. Then I got really small tubing and lead it from the tubing, out the hole in the top, and over the side of the tank out of the way. The sound is almost completely gone, the air goes up the tube and the water falls down along the tubing making it a smooth entry into the sump. I am going to try and fill in the holes in the stand that face the wall to cancel the noise out entirely. Although right now it's definitely manageable.. but im going for 0 dB's

 

[johnr2604]

Glad to here you got it worked out :thumbs:

 

[FutureInterest]

Glad its better! But... if you can still hear it... its too loud .

 

[crew]

ya thats my stance too jin, so I have more work to do. I cut out some wood last night. I think that the reason it is making noise is because its a corner tank and the sound is echoing of the wall behind it. I cut out 2 pieces of wood to fit and Im going to fill in the holes that are in the back of the stand. After that Im going to carpet the inside of the stand