Did i plumb my overflow completely wrong? and noise issue...

B0red04

New member
Hello! My first Post!


This is going to be my first salt water tank and everything is completely custom.

I have the glass holes Super Nano con Dientes overflow (all plumbing is 1") with a ViaAqua 1800 return pump which flows at 480gph. But my stand is rather tall at 42", so i have 5ft of head height. my return line is 3/4", i think my pump is either a good match or a little under powered at that head height.

Theres some background now on to what my plumbing looks like and noise issue and if my plumbing is causing the noise.

sump goes Refug-->Return<--Skimmer
img20101102201052.jpg


Behind the tank
img20101102201206.jpg


Overflow box
img20101102201216.jpg


Fug drain
img20101102201340.jpg


Skimmer section. its hard to see but theres a lot of bubbles coming out of the drain, Also if you look at the 90 elbow i drilled a hole to try and vent but doesn't really help.
img20101102201310.jpg


Did plumb things wrong? do you see issues with it? Also the overflow box it self isn't loud, But all the air bubbles running down the plumbing is quite loud. Is there anything i can do about that?
 
I thought the glass holes overflow had an air tube at the first 90 from the overflow? Some of the things I see are that you are using too many 90's in the mix. the straighter the better. You could be getting air bubbles trying to pass through but keep getting in the way of the water flow. Also maybe raise the plumbing out of the water by about an inch. The sound of falling water is better than burping IMO. Could you flip your sump and have the overflow go straight down to the intake side of the sump?
 
I am kind of new to this tank set up but I did just complete one very similar on a 175 bowfront. It was INCREDIBLY loud when I first set it up.
I have dual drains and they both are teed where the drain domes out the back. I have 3/4" vent risers that I elbowed down above the water line to help suppress the sound coming from them.
The bigger problem was the water cascading down the overflow. My pump is incapable of over powering the drains so the overflow box stays empty, the cause of the very loud sound. With just barely enough room I was able to slip fit an elbow INSIDE the overflow and run 1.5" pipes up to just below the overflow cutouts. This elbow was black pvc (abs?), the regular pvc elbows were too loarge. This stopped the waterfall as the over flow box filled up to near top and cut a majority of the noise, though still louder than I hoped. I was hoping to put a Maggie Muffler on top but my LFS made the box too small to fit them. I also placed a small piece of acrylic over the overflow box, that reduced the sound a little more, but still not enough.
It looks like your over flow box is even smaller than mine. I've had people suggest filling the box with bio-balls. I tried it but the balls were too small and went right through the drains. I could've struggled with a drain guard but the pipes to the top were much simpler considering the room I had to work with.
I also extended the drain pipes to go beneath the water line in the sump, that quieted my sump down a lot.
Anyway, good luck with it. Noisy tanks are no fun
 
[welcome]

I always use a Tee coming out of the back of the tank, then drill a hole in a caop to be able to control the siphon. I don't know of too many design that are dead silent.
 
And, ion that last picture where you have the 90 going into the sump, I would suggest another Tee there. I will look for pictures to help explain, but what I found is that the Tee helps excess air to escape before entering the sump. Make the Tee tall ehough that water doesn't come out of it.
 
And, ion that last picture where you have the 90 going into the sump, I would suggest another Tee there. I will look for pictures to help explain, but what I found is that the Tee helps excess air to escape before entering the sump. Make the Tee tall ehough that water doesn't come out of it.

I agree with this. When I first plumbed my tank I had tons of bubbles and loud "burping" sounds. I added a tee where the drain enters the sump water and it cut way back on the bubbles and totally eliminated the burping.
 
I don't know of too many design that are dead silent.

I have the Herbie method on my freshwater tank and its dead silent. But i can't do that with the Glass Holes.com overflow box.

I thought the glass holes overflow had an air tube at the first 90 from the overflow?

Yes it does, you can see it in one of the pictures.

I can try a Tee on the skimmer side.

What about putting a ball valve on the skimmer side as well and restricting the flow just enough to make the pipe be full of water. because right now its like 50/50 water/air running down the pipe.
 
over flow box noise

over flow box noise

Hi I have a 90 gal tank with a wet dry filter with a hang on the back over flow box
I found two things that cause this noise
your prefilter maybe dirty or not all the way seated to the bottom of the box over the stand pipe
Next you have to make sure your tank is filled to about 3/4" from the top
I have a piece of tape as a water line mark on my filter under the tank where the return pump is
I try to keep the water level about an inch above the pump
now you have to tune the over flow box to keep this level by adjusting the height of the box inside the tank
I run mine this way and the only thing I hear is re water running over the bio balls I can deal with that
I use no tee or anything else
I do use a 3' hose to conect the two
 
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