Noisy drains

[rostervandross]

So I got my tank filled up and find the drains to be pretty noisy after all. I think first I am going to try putting gate or ball valves on my drain lines to slow them down or fill the drain lines full from the valve up, then maybe drilling a hole and inserting an air tube if that doesn't work.

Any other ideas apart from that? After exhausting modifications I may be up to build a coast to coast overflow along the back wall that drains through the two holes and rig up one of the current methods that are popular .

Just looking for thoughts or experience; here's pictures of what my plumbing looks like :

 

[cracker]

Hello Roster, Try a length of air line. that should help.

 

[rostervandross]

Where do you think the best point of entry would be for the air line on those elbows? Just right through the top of the horizontal part?

 

[DaveK]

... I think first I am going to try putting gate or ball valves on my drain lines to slow them down or fill the drain lines full from the valve up, ...

Unless you are going to go all out and construct a bean animal overflow or a herbie overflow, installing valves on a drain pipe is an invitation for a flood. Because you have placed a restriction on the pipe, anything that gets sucked into the overflow can jam their causing a backup and a flood.

It can be a bit of trial and error to get the drain flow all worked out. A lot of this depends upon the sort of noise your getting. In general you want to have a source of air getting into the pipe so that it's not running fast or slow. Think in terms of how the drains are plumbed in your home.

Try using airline tubing first, since it's inexpensive. If that doesn't work, you can try a larger tube maybe 1/4" ID. You may find your self using a larger drain pipe once you get outside the tank, and creating a vent stack with a T.

 

[cracker]

Good idea Dave. Yes Roster straight down from the top horizontal.( right where the whirlpool is )

 

[rostervandross]

Thanks amigos . Adding airline in the middle of the drain piece helps for sure. I tried to adjust the pieces of air tube such that they were feeding the air into the part of the elbow that wasn't full with running water . I can now run my pump a fair amount faster with no gurgle. I think I may want to have whirlpooling and a gurgle every so often to effectively skim the surface?


You know those coast to coast overflows; I wonder how they drain out the back? Through holes such as mine into a collection box in the back and then drain down?

That would definitely be more effective in skimming the surface and draining more water but it might be going overboard if the drains I have work all right. Know what I mean?

 

[joaocdestro]

The noise is inside the aquarium or is after the overflow? If is before you should use some construction meterial like water box filter to increase the flow, if is after you can use a cap on the breather and drill 3 holes with the same size and put 3 standard airtubes, it solved my problem (5cm each) ive made this with cheap materials and is extremly quiet


Enviado do meu iPad usando Tapatalk

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

@joaocdestro

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Start a tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along, we love pics

 

[bazmackem]

Just had a similar thing with my new tank. Quietened with airline and also found a lot of the noise was from the actual sump... the filter sock was overflowing and dripping loudly. I have bodged the sock placement and now a lot quieter... amazing how much the pipework magnified any noise in the sump!

 

[Squatch XXL]

If you use airline, could you add an inline muffler to reduce the noise?

 

[rostervandross]

Hey compadres, have been playing around with airline and the drains are still not ideal. Squatch that's an idea about trying to silence the gurgling through the air tubes also, but overall I'm just not really digging the drains. They have to whirlpool and suck some air in from the top every so often at least to skim the surface so it's kinda tricky.

anyone have experience making a overflow box across the back that drains through the glass? It could go through the two current drain tube holes into a box in the back, then down drains from there. I wonder how that box design should look and how I would work around my return line coming through the middle . Maybe more of a hassle than it's worth for right now because they're functioning fine and I can sleep but it would be a nice project in the future

 

[Squatch XXL]

There are tons of sites that sell overflow boxes. Some require silicone, which really needs a dry tank to configure. There are some that attach through holes in your tank, but they would need to line up for the height of the top of the tank. They come in all shapes and sizes, and certainly can be custom fabricated to very specific hole configurations. It would probably be simple to install a "coast-to-coast" overflow on a dry tank.

Out the back of the tank, you could run each line as a drain in either a dual durso design http://www.dursostandpipes.com/make-your-own-durso-standpipe

You could "Herbie" Drain
http://gmacreef.com/herbie-overflow-reef-tank-plumbing-method-basics/

You could complicate it farther and do a "Bean-Animal"
http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx