Drains gurgling, slurping etc.

[revival]

Ok so for my 225 gal i swapped out my sump for an Eshopps 300 wet dry filter (long story). I been replumbing the past couple days and put the water in last night and fired it up.

I have 2 toal 1.5" bulkheads in each top back corner. I have external dursos to 1.5" flex hosing connected to hard pvc entering each bulkhead in the wet dry filter. I am also running a quietone 6000 pump.

My left drain/strainer is extreamly loud and you can hear it gurgling pretty bad. Every so often there is a humming sound that resembles a moose/deer mating call or something. I dont have the lid on and you can hear it slurping away.

I took the cap off the sanitary tee to see whats happening and it seems like every so often water is rushing back up and then flushing down. Problem is i dont know how to fix this?

I tried drilling airholes on the caps of the external dursos but it seems like it doesnt help at all.

Unfortunately with my tank, its too late for a bean animal/herbie type set up. Ill know better for any future tanks. But in the meantime and someone please help me!?!?!?!


Any advice is appreciate and thank you in advance.

 

[revival]

Tried putting a long airline tubing and same thing. When i cover the airhole with my finger you can hear the gurgling at the strainer. When i release the airhole the sound is at the airhole.

On a side note, i have 1000 watt jehmco heater and i set it to 84. When i came home from work my water temp was at 99! its been unplugged for a while but its still reading 99. Im going to try my other digital thermometer to see what it says. I had no problems with the heater when i had my previous set up. I dont know what is going on with my tank!

 

[das75]

with Dursos you need to tune them. It just not drilling a hole but getting one the correct size, once you do the level becomes stable (no slurping) and the Durso goes near silent.

When I did mine took a drill index and drilled through the caps going slowly up in size. Ended up for dual 2" Dursos , each flowing ~1000 gph, single hole was only about 1/8"

Can still do Herbie if drilled top/back (see this build link). If your holes are side by side, can do up and down turned elbows, just may need to redo the overflow chamber to fit.

 

[revival]

Tried putting a longer airline tube down the airhole and nothing. I bought new caps for the sanitary tees and started off with the smallest dril bit and am working my way up and nothing seems to be helping.

The sound is gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle....then it stops....then repeats again.

Also woke up 4 hours later after unplugging my heater and temperature was still at 93. My pump wasnt hot or anything either. I have no idea whats going on.

 

[willybub]

sounds like its siphoning and then it breaks then siphons again. i would say the air hole is too small if its doing that, some ppl drill a large hole and tap it then put a small valve in it to fine tune it

 

[Flaring Afro]

What do you have that needs the temperature at 84? That's very high. The 93 temperature could be caused by your lighting, especially if you have a top.

Also, I assume you don't have any livestock since your tank is 93. I'd honestly take it down and do a beananimal if it's that loud. Better to do it now than get fed up with the noise later when you have fish and corals. Just my .02

 

[snorvich]

Tried putting a long airline tubing and same thing. When i cover the airhole with my finger you can hear the gurgling at the strainer. When i release the airhole the sound is at the airhole.

On a side note, i have 1000 watt jehmco heater and i set it to 84. When i came home from work my water temp was at 99! its been unplugged for a while but its still reading 99. Im going to try my other digital thermometer to see what it says. I had no problems with the heater when i had my previous set up. I dont know what is going on with my tank!

Get a Ranco controller for ANY heater in your tank. You will sleep MUCH better. However, you may be throwing heat into your tank with lights or pumps. You may need a chiller. I keep my tanks at 75 F.

 

[revival]

sounds like its siphoning and then it breaks then siphons again. i would say the air hole is too small if its doing that, some ppl drill a large hole and tap it then put a small valve in it to fine tune it

I have an external durso but have strainers in the tank instead of the street elbow. So i guess my drains are gravity fed but it seems like there is not a consistent flow down the drains. When u say large airhole, how large are we talking? Can you be more specific on the valve they put on it. Can it be found at Lowes or HD?

What do you have that needs the temperature at 84? That's very high. The 93 temperature could be caused by your lighting, especially if you have a top.

Also, I assume you don't have any livestock since your tank is 93. I'd honestly take it down and do a beananimal if it's that loud. Better to do it now than get fed up with the noise later when you have fish and corals. Just my .02

Truth is i am a freshwater guy but i know the best filtration/set ups and troubleshooters are you saltwater guys. Please dont hate me..haha. I did not have the tank lights on when the temp hit the roof.

Also unfortunately I have to work with what i have and cant do a bean animal with this tank. Trust me i would love to and wish i knew about the bean animal before i got this tank.

Get a Ranco controller for ANY heater in your tank. You will sleep MUCH better. However, you may be throwing heat into your tank with lights or pumps. You may need a chiller. I keep my tanks at 75 F.

I have heard about Ranco controllers before but I also thought Jehmco was a good brand for a titanium heater. So do you think something is wrong with the controller? Can it be fixed? And immediately i thought it was my pump but it didnt feel warm at all. I been constantly checking the pump as the temp has been cooling off and its still not producing any heat.

But as far as the tank goes, the left side strainer which is in the inside top left of the tank is still gurgling. It sounds like trying to pour a small cup of water in a soda can then changes to a washing machine sound.

Again i am i freshwater guy and hope i didnt offend anyone. I only have a few posts on here but i lurk here all the time hoping to learn and get educated. You guys and gals here are the masters and hopefully i will figure this problem out soon.

 

[revival]

I think i fixed the noise! I have a pvc ball valve above each bulkhead in the wet dry. I gave both of them a 1/4 turn. And presto the noise went away. Question is.....is this safe? I lifted up both plates where the drains are connect to and it seems like there is still alot of flow comming out.

I can still hear water trickling down the drains but it is peaceful compared to the gushing, slurping, moose calls etc.

If this is not safe please let me know. Thanks.

 

[greech]

Restricting drains increases the likelihood of a clog but with 1.5" drain lines you are in a little better shape. I think I would continue to look for a solution that allows the drains to remain fully open.

Trying to get this straight. You have basket strainers at the bulkheads and lines coming out of the tank into external dursos? If that is the case you likely have a lot of air going into the line but the water rushing back up the pipe at times and then flushing sounds like the lines need more air to drain effectively. In my mind, I would think a bigger air hole and larger dianeter tubing should help. Are the ends of your drain lines submereged in the wet dry?

 

[Flaring Afro]

Truth is i am a freshwater guy but i know the best filtration/set ups and troubleshooters are you saltwater guys. Please dont hate me..haha. I did not have the tank lights on when the temp hit the roof.

Also unfortunately I have to work with what i have and cant do a bean animal with this tank. Trust me i would love to and wish i knew about the bean animal before i got this tank.

Not hating. That is strange that with lights off and heater unplugged it's at that temperature though. Water takes more time to change in temp and you have a very large tank so I'd give it another day or so and see if it has gone down before blaming the pump or something, which I've never heard of raising the temp like that.

I don't really have much experience with sump piping but I'd guess going with a smaller pipe (as said above) might help since it would reduce the amount of air in the pipe.

 

[wildman926]

I really like the Hofer gurgle buster. Easy to construct, adjust, set it and forget it... Just make sure you do the adjustments at the end of the page. I cut my prefilter in half to use on it. Works like a charm.

HERE is the link to it.

 

[sjm817]

Are you saying that you just have bulkheads with strainers in the tank and no overflow weirs? If so, the noise is a problem that wont be corrected without adding overflow weirs.

 

[revival]

Restricting drains increases the likelihood of a clog but with 1.5" drain lines you are in a little better shape. I think I would continue to look for a solution that allows the drains to remain fully open.

Trying to get this straight. You have basket strainers at the bulkheads and lines coming out of the tank into external dursos? If that is the case you likely have a lot of air going into the line but the water rushing back up the pipe at times and then flushing sounds like the lines need more air to drain effectively. In my mind, I would think a bigger air hole and larger dianeter tubing should help. Are the ends of your drain lines submereged in the wet dry?

I agree on finding a better solution so i can keep the drains fully open. I have extra caps that i can experiment with. How bigger of a tubing should i try? I have only tried the regular airline size tubing so far.

When i was messing with it and took the caps fully off, the splashing and gurgling got louder. It would even spit out water. When i would put the cap back on the noise would change and come from the strainer.

And the ends of my drain lines are not sumerged. My wet dry is an Eshopps 300. So they enter the 2 bulkheads at the top of the fiter with hard pvc.

Not hating. That is strange that with lights off and heater unplugged it's at that temperature though. Water takes more time to change in temp and you have a very large tank so I'd give it another day or so and see if it has gone down before blaming the pump or something, which I've never heard of raising the temp like that.

I don't really have much experience with sump piping but I'd guess going with a smaller pipe (as said above) might help since it would reduce the amount of air in the pipe.

Not sure if you read correctly but the heater was plugged in for couple hours and it shot up to 99. I then unplugged it and 4 hours later it was still at 93. I never blamed the pump but pointed it out so the people that are helping me was aware of that. So it be clear, the temp raised when the heater was plugged in...not just the pump.

Did someone say to go to a smaller pipe? Sorry if i missed it but i didnt read that anywhere?

I really like the Hofer gurgle buster. Easy to construct, adjust, set it and forget it... Just make sure you do the adjustments at the end of the page. I cut my prefilter in half to use on it. Works like a charm.

HERE is the link to it.

Can these be used on a external type set up? I always thought these were for overflow box type set ups?

Are you saying that you just have bulkheads with strainers in the tank and no overflow weirs? If so, the noise is a problem that wont be corrected without adding overflow weirs.

Correct, just bulkheads and strainers. Before setting up my wet/dry i had a sump using the bulkheads and stainers and never had this problem. Only difference was that i used all hard pvc for the sump and pond hosing for the wet dry.

 

[sjm817]

If you dont have overflow weirs, just strainers, air will be pulled into the drains via the strainers. That is why the holes in the top of the Dursos aren't having an effect. The water entry from the tank has to be submerged and the air from the cap of the Durso. In addition to the noise issue, you wont have proper surface skimming without weirs.

 

[capecoral]

Pictures or diagrams of his setup would sure make it easier to figure out

 

[the droob]

I agree with Capecoral some pics sure would help figure this out ,I used a Hofer gurgle buster that I made to suit my tank and lucky I did ,the noise was driving me crazy but now, aaahh piece and quiet

 

[willybub]

sorry it took so long for me to get back on the vavle in the cap

drill and tap a 3/8" and instal a valve either direcly in the cap or use a hose barb and hose to attach the valve
and tune it in, also the reason you get the gurgling and slurping is likely because you have alot of air entering the drain and going through the whole drain into your sump if you can cut back on the air traveling with the water the noise will go away. I have the same problem and have been doing alot or research and also trying to figure it out on my own. if you need to put a valve in the drain line the best place for it is as low as you can get it either just befor the sump or in it this will ensure the line is full of water getting rid or the "trickle" sound. mine is in the sump half in the water and so far it seems to be working but the only draw back is the posiblility of it clogging, i used a true union ball vavle for easy removal and cleaning just need to balance the flow again after each clean

 

[willybub]

also when setting the ball valve in the bottom of the drain start with it open and then full closed for a few seconds or as long as you can this will eliminate all or most of the air then slowely open untill the water is balanced with the return

 

[sjm817]

He has open bulkheads with strainer's in the display. No overflows. Air is pulled right into the strainers in the display side. No tweaking of the plumbing side will correct that.