drilled overflow - too noisy! Any suggestions??

[celticreefer85]

hey guys,

just set up a 93g cube. drilled overflow and used glass-holes.com 1500 gph overflow kit. works great except for fact that it is soooo noisy. it is a constant gurgling noise coming out of the overflow box. i have tried playing with the tubing to see if this could lower the noise but no help. any suggestions/anyone run into the same problem with their overflow?

i have attached some pics to help you see what the overflow is like.

 

[jeepinreefer07]

You might need to pull the air house almost all the way out. Then slowly push in after min or so each time unit if quiets down

 

[cilyjr]

i have a friend that runs the same overflow his is noisy too. that being said his tank is in a basement and he never did much to mess with it. in addition to trying to adjust the height of the air intake hoses as mentioned the other option is to slow the flow going into the overflow. you would need to dial back your return to do that but it might help

 

[mightymizz]

For me, it is all about the Herbie method. You already have two holes drilled, so if you dialed back your return AND used a Gate valve (NOT a ball valve) you could get a dead silent tank.

I did it, and for the first time in my reefer experience, I have a totally silent tank.

 

[cilyjr]

For me, it is all about the Herbie method. You already have two holes drilled, so if you dialed back your return AND used a Gate valve (NOT a ball valve) you could get a dead silent tank.

I did it, and for the first time in my reefer experience, I have a totally silent tank.

the herbie system requires a siphon. this premade overflow would be hard to do because of the height of the holes related to the waterlevel and the lack of room to use an elbow to lower the entry point of the siphon drain

 

[mightymizz]

True, I am not sure how deep his overflow box is. If his bulkhead has a Slip thread on the inside of the box, it would sure be easier to attach the two elbows, one for main drain, one for emergency.

Something for him to consider, especially since we don't know if his tank would be ok with only draining from one drain instead of two, although with a true siphon you will drain a decent amount more than what one will typically drain with air in the line.

Food for thought.

 

[pmrossetti]

looks like too much flow. dial it back some.

also, how did you zip tie those returns? looks very clever.

 

[Reefahholic]

Beananimal overflow.... Enough said!

 

[pmrossetti]

what size return pump?

 

[celticreefer85]

return pump

return pump

thanks for all the feedback. i have been trying moving the tubing to the top and lowering it by 1 inch every 10 minutes but it does not seem to help much.

i ordered some enkramat and am going to try to put a little in the overflow. i know if i do this though, i will have to change it on a regular basis.

one other thought is that the intake tubing might be too "unstraight". it is a long tube and my sump intake is right below so it forms an S shape. maybe if i try to make it more straight, it will help....

 

[KJAhp098]

Let us know how it works. I'm setting up a tank with the same overflow right now.

 

[Overland04]

thanks for all the feedback. i have been trying moving the tubing to the top and lowering it by 1 inch every 10 minutes but it does not seem to help much.

i ordered some enkramat and am going to try to put a little in the overflow. i know if i do this though, i will have to change it on a regular basis.

one other thought is that the intake tubing might be too "unstraight". it is a long tube and my sump intake is right below so it forms an S shape. maybe if i try to make it more straight, it will help....

Enkamat is the way to go... I just went through the exact problem with my 1500 kit. It was the nosiest overflow ever!!
I cut 4 pieces of the Enkamat in 1.5" x 6" strips. Sandwiched two layers together so it is around a 1.5 x 1 x 6 Strip.
when you look down into the over flow on the left and right sides you see the channels that the water goes down into. If you put the two strips that you made in each channel, the gurgling sound almost stops instantly.

The sound I guess is coming from the water splashing around inside the channels and the Enkamat brakes the flow and separates it.

The tube length didn't do anything for me, if anything when I put them all the way down they were the quietest with the Enkamat.

Good Luck!!

 

[Gold Stripe]

I tried everything and nothing worked. The E-mat helped the most but still much louder than anything else in the system.

Not enough room in the box to do a herbie or Bean. No way you can get elbows in there. You would have to pull the box and build your own larger overflow box. Then you could add 2 elbows (1 turned up and 1 turned down) that would allow you to use the Herbie method.

 

[celticreefer85]

enkramat - drilled overflow

enkramat - drilled overflow

how often do you change the enkramat/wash it? i just heard from LFS that this will work but i will need to change it or rinse it very often so flow doesnt slow down too much.

 

[Bilk]

Someone posted about zip tying plastic bags to the inside of the weir all the way around where ever there are slots. Claims it totally silences the overflow. Just search the forums for a better explanation. Also says it will work with any plastic sheet material.

 

[Overland04]

how often do you change the enkramat/wash it? i just heard from LFS that this will work but i will need to change it or rinse it very often so flow doesnt slow down too much.

I clean mine around every 3-4 weeks, I'm no where near maxing the capacity of the overflow anyway. Even if I shut off one entire drain it still keeps up with the flow with out a problem. The water capacity of a 1-1/2" pipe is pretty high, forget about two of them.