So Completetely disappointed with owning a sump!!!!!

[dakota9]

For 20 years I've kept tanks. I've had tanks from 5g to 75g. I've always ran canister filters, and have never owned a sump. I just upgraded from the 30g that I've maintained for years now, to a 65g that came with a sump. After all the hype I've heard about how great sumps are, mere words cannot express how disappointed I am with this unbearable noise, splashing and micro-bubbles.

I actually hate sitting here right now, the place I used to spend my free time, in my sunroom, in front of my tank. This noise is anything but calm and pieceful. I seem to have two choices with the noise. I can put the cover on the standpipe and listen to a toilet flush continously, or I can take the cover off and and listen to a bathtub drain nonstop. Under that sound, I have water gushing through the drain into the sump which sounds more like I'm shooting the rapids down the Colorado River than sitting in my house. It is driving me insane.

The micro bubbles are worse than any intank skimmer I've ever used, worse yet the MH fixture doesn't have a cover, and I fear the micro bubbles popping at the surface might find the bulb and cause it to shatter.

Water seems to continously splash on the wooden stand due to the turbulance in the sump, that can't be good!

Oh, and the 250watt heater I bought for this thing is too long to go into the sump without the sump being filled past the flood capacity. So..... Since a ran the heater in-line attached to my canister on my old set-up, I'm still running the Magnum to heat the tank.

This both Sux and Blows at the same time! Rarely am I completely negative about something, but if I came home tomorrow and tank and all was gone, I think I'd be ok with it.

In short is there any quick fixes for these god awful problems?

 

[dannybradley]

Dakota, we can fix those problems!
Is it a drilled tank with an internal overflow box?
Is it a DIY overflow kit?
I really need to see the sump to address spalshing and micro bubbles.

Any filter will be louder than a canister, a sump is definitly not an exception. I know you had an awful time getting that all together, and that's probably a big part of the lack of reward you're feeling. We'll make it work for you.

 

[dakota9]

Drilled, with corner overflow

 

[jetchris]

Dakota, like danny said those are way easy to fix! PM me your # and we'll talk about it.

 

[dannybradley]

Put the heater there. The Overflow gets the same flow as the sump, and has always worked on big heaters for me.

Are you using a Megaflow overflow kit, or one put together out of PVC?

 

[dakota]

You need a Herbie overflow.
Totally silent.

Check it out:

 

[schwaggs]

Don't give up, you CAN make your overflow totally silent. What type of overflow do you have?

I messed with my Durso overflows with little success for quite some time. The solution to my setup was that you need to use one size larger pipes for the Durso. In other words, if you have a 1" bulkhead for your overflow, you need to use 1 1/4" pipes for the riser, T, elbow, cap, etc. Just swaping out these parts with the correct size parts solved the problem for me right away.

 

[dakota9]

Thank you all! I especially thank DannyBradley for the ARC 911 phone call. The sound is 50% better! It was that infernal flushing sound that was boring a hole in my brain!

I'm in the process of adding insulation to the side of my stand.....

Thank you Chris for your offer. I've come down off the ledge now, I'll be ok.

 

[sprayin70]

Remember that this takes time to get things just right. It took me awhile to get my tank just right. Good luck with it.

 

[seedless reefer]

Didn't ask when I was there but I dont think he had a Durso up and running on the tank.

The 54 I set up with the durso is quiet as can be until evap cuses the water to drop.

 

[FutureInterest]

No worries Dakota. If you need help with it, I'll drop by for a consultation. I guarantee you that you can make it absolutely silent.

 

[suasati]

Filtersocks help with both noise and microbubbles but you need to clean it out every two days....

 

[dakota9]

I feel so much better today. Danny called last night after my frantic post, and just by placing a piece of tubbing in the stand pipe, the terrible flushing sound ceased! I'd have gone nuts if it wasn't for that one suggestion of his.

That was the closest I'd come to a total melt down in this hobby in years.

Thank you all!

 

[stroid]

I totaly understand what you are going through. I have a 29g with 10g sump about 3 ft from my bed and I couldnt sleep the first week I instaled the sump. I put a stockman standpipe and my overflow was silent. Now I still have alot of noise because of the mag 5 but you cant win all the battles. I now have simply gotten over the noise and deal with it but never again will I have a tank in my room that has a sump. I cant wait until I either upgrade or move the tank out of my room. It is nice to have in your room but the noise is unbearable especially with my mh lights.

 

[cameron]

This is the design that stopped the sound from my pipes "crashing" into my sump. The best thing to do in this setup is to go up a size on the elbow connecting to the drain pipe. This way the water slows down when it hits the larger pipe. Also, give it time. After slime builds up inside the pipes you will pleasantly suprised with the noise reduction.
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[dakota9]

Cameron, thats a great diagram. Thank you, I think I'll use that!


Thanks again to all of you. I hate the sump less, but oddly appreciate my Magnum more.

Magnum and I have been together for 20yrs now, parting is such sweet sorrow.........

 

[cameron]

I am still a fan of the sumpless design. If I ever do this reef thing again with a new tank, I may go with the divided tank idea where the tank is divided down the middle of the tank length-wise. So a 180g tank becomes a 120g front with a 60g rear. Dual overflows feed water into the back chambers one for skimming/heating and the other a fuge. Kind of like a giant HOB skimmer/fuge setup only directly attached.

 

[dakota9]

That sounds like a great idea! That's like a nano design only on a larger scale.

Because I used an in-line UV, and an in-line heater on my canister filter, all I had sticking off my tank was the skimmer, so not sure this upgrade was in my best interest. I'm going to go with this because its what I've started, but I'm not really seeing a great benefit in owning a sump right now...

 

[cameron]

I was frustrated initially (and continually) as well. I have often thought about how to design an inline skimmer. I would ditch the fuge if I could just plug in a sealed box that skimmed, heated, ozone/uv, etc.

 

[dakota9]

Wow! Now that would be worth the price what ever it cost (within reason). Someone needs to come out with that idea, I'm shocked at how heater designs havent changed much. My sump/sump water level is so low that my heater will have to go into the overflow, the whole point of my having a sump was to keep cords/equipment off the back of the display. Seems like someone could invent a 250watt heater that wasn't three feet long (exaggeration)