Noisy overflow on a frag tank

MJAnderson · 07/30/2007, 10:11 PM

Not sure why this happened...

Have a 40g breeder with a drilled corner for overflow. 1" bulkhead and a 90 elbow screwed into it with a 1" strainer at an angle. Overflow runs down 1" pvc with 1 90 and 2 45 angles and dumps into the sump, with the pipe about 2" below the waterline. Return pump is a Mag 3 and about 5' height so about 225 gph.

I thought this would work well but the overflow gurgles something nasty. Is it too little flow? Too much? I can't really do a durso since this doesn't have an overflow and I want to surface skim. I see this at my LFS and they get a little runnign water noise but this is a constant loud sucking sound.

Any thoughts or remedies?

pitt_prodigy · 07/30/2007, 11:43 PM

I use a durso (now... had a "poor-mans pvc durso rig" when i started) and its been a while since i battled that problem ... but the reason that your hearing that gurgling is that air/water is traveling down your overflow and ending up under water in your sump. Solution = find a way to get rid of the air (the source of the gurgling).

Without seeing your setup its a little tough to say... but if you could drill a hole on top of the PVC angle (in the tank) attached to your strainer... this should eleviate the problem by letting the air escape before being plunged into the sump. HOWEVER, this will not work if your angle and strainer rig is completely submerged in the tank. It would only work if the top of the pvc angle is exposed to air. Hope this wasnt too confusing.... as i said it has been a while since i fixed this problem (and i've had plenty of others since!) good luck.

reelsteel · 07/31/2007, 07:50 AM

On one of my tanks I have an overflow that has the regular pipe sticking out and the water jsut over flows into that. It made a bunch of gurgling noise, so I stuck a bio ball on top of it and now I can't hear anything and it also doubles as a filter(cathes all the junk and I either replace it or clean it off). Hope that helps, I couldn't picture your setup, so this may not help you.

der_wille_zur_macht · 07/31/2007, 07:54 AM

Do some searching in the DIY forum. Some creative folks have found ways to use really big PVC fittings around smaller tubes to act as an overflow weir (the wall that the water goes over to surface skim.) Then, you build a durso - or more likely a stockman - inside the bigger fitting. It's like having an island overflow connected to a drainpipe instead of an overflow built against the tank's walls.

And read up on stockman standpipes, too - they're much less bulky than a durso.

07/30/2007, 10:11 PM	#1
MJAnderson Premium Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: East Bay, CA Posts: 2,633	Noisy overflow on a frag tank Not sure why this happened... Have a 40g breeder with a drilled corner for overflow. 1" bulkhead and a 90 elbow screwed into it with a 1" strainer at an angle. Overflow runs down 1" pvc with 1 90 and 2 45 angles and dumps into the sump, with the pipe about 2" below the waterline. Return pump is a Mag 3 and about 5' height so about 225 gph. I thought this would work well but the overflow gurgles something nasty. Is it too little flow? Too much? I can't really do a durso since this doesn't have an overflow and I want to surface skim. I see this at my LFS and they get a little runnign water noise but this is a constant loud sucking sound. Any thoughts or remedies?

07/30/2007, 11:43 PM	#2
pitt_prodigy Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Palm Harbor, FL Posts: 751	I use a durso (now... had a "poor-mans pvc durso rig" when i started) and its been a while since i battled that problem ... but the reason that your hearing that gurgling is that air/water is traveling down your overflow and ending up under water in your sump. Solution = find a way to get rid of the air (the source of the gurgling). Without seeing your setup its a little tough to say... but if you could drill a hole on top of the PVC angle (in the tank) attached to your strainer... this should eleviate the problem by letting the air escape before being plunged into the sump. HOWEVER, this will not work if your angle and strainer rig is completely submerged in the tank. It would only work if the top of the pvc angle is exposed to air. Hope this wasnt too confusing.... as i said it has been a while since i fixed this problem (and i've had plenty of others since!) good luck. __________________ -Josh Current Tank Info: 72 gallon RR Oceanic, heavily modded ASM G2 skimmer, 30g sump/refugium, AI vega lighting x 2, apex controller, Phos Reactor, etc. Last edited by pitt_prodigy; 07/30/2007 at 11:48 PM.

07/31/2007, 07:54 AM	#4
der_wille_zur_macht Team RC Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NY Posts: 17,749	Do some searching in the DIY forum. Some creative folks have found ways to use really big PVC fittings around smaller tubes to act as an overflow weir (the wall that the water goes over to surface skim.) Then, you build a durso - or more likely a stockman - inside the bigger fitting. It's like having an island overflow connected to a drainpipe instead of an overflow built against the tank's walls. And read up on stockman standpipes, too - they're much less bulky than a durso. __________________ Inconveniencing marine life since 1992 "It is my personal belief that reef aquaria should be thriving communities of biodiversity, representative of their wild counterparts, and not merely collections of pretty specimens growing on tidy clean rock shelves covered in purple coralline algae." (Eric Borneman)

07/31/2007, 07:50 AM	#3
reelsteel Registered Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Southern Maryland Posts: 73	On one of my tanks I have an overflow that has the regular pipe sticking out and the water jsut over flows into that. It made a bunch of gurgling noise, so I stuck a bio ball on top of it and now I can't hear anything and it also doubles as a filter(cathes all the junk and I either replace it or clean it off). Hope that helps, I couldn't picture your setup, so this may not help you.