Overflow question

[dweyant]

At the suggestion of several people we decided to have our 75 gallon tank drilled so we could use a sump without hanging a box.

We had Shane at Fishy Business drill three holes in the back of the tank, and he did a very nice job.

However, after having it up and runing for about 24 hours, we are noticing how loud the flowing water is. I'm fairly sure the noise is coming from the water going over the overflow(?).

Is there anything we can do to help mute the noise some? Put some sponges in the boxes maybe?

Thanks,

-Dan

[Derek]

I put a U trap under my tank to keep it quiet. This is one of the U traps that I made:

[JamesL]

Moving this to the reef discussion, as I think more people would be interested in talking about this.

[+Eckreef]

What type of overflow drain do you have.

The noise is usually due to several reasons. If the water is falling to far in the overflow box then that makes a lot of noise. You should have the water level inside the overflow set at less than an inch to avoid this.

Also the type of oveflow matters. If they draw in too much air then it will make a lot of noise.

Check out the hofer gurgle buster for an easy and quiet solution

Stockman and durso's are also an option but the HGB worked best for me.

Post of pic of your overflow so we can help

[+Hydro]

I have a lot of experience with quieting my tank, it was so loud when we put it in the office that I had to leave the room to talk on the phone. Now with all 3 tanks in the same room plumbed together with a sump it is nearly silent. This is what I learned...

1. If it is gurgling you can put in a plumbing vent. The reason it is gurgling is b/c the falling water can cause a vacuum in smaller pipes, that will cause it to draw in air. Basically making it freer flowing will stop it from pulling a vacuum, which can be done by using a plumbing vent. Every drain in your home has a plumbing vent, it's what keeps your sinks from gurgling and backing up. The vent allows an even draw of air that will keep it from pulling a vacuum. I attached some pictures of my plumbing vent from both sides, I installed a "t" in the drain line and ran my 1" pipe horizontally about 12" and then up to the top of the tank.
2. Use the largest size pipe possible for the overflow, I use 1" on my smaller tank and (2) 1 1/2" on my large tank. My large tank came with (2) 1" overflows and once I changed them out to 1 1/2" that helped alot.
3. I use plastic spirals (the ones used for binding some catalogs) that perfectly fits the inside of 1" PVC pipes, just drop them down in to the overflow tubes. I put several of them in, stacked on top of each other until the last one barely sticks out of the pipe. This causes the water to spiral down instead of just falling, this also made a big difference. I had to buy a whole box of the size that fits the ID of a 1" pipe and would be glad to give them to other members who want some to use on their tanks.
4. I put baseball size pieces of styrofoam in my filter sock. There is about 6" from the top of my filter sock to the water level. The draining water splashed inside my sump until I put in the styrofoam. These pieces float on top so the water flows over them first instead of just dropping in the sump.
5. Use valves and adjust your flow if necessary, the slower the flow the less noise it makes.