Fuge questions

[Akronviper]

Where my drain is running into the fuge is driving me nuts the water level is close to the top and the micro bubbles from the drain are my problem. When they pop there is so much spray that I put a lid on top, If I lower the flow I get loud drainage noise. and still bubbles.

My set up

and fuge drain

How do I limit the spray from the drain, I'm thinking some sort of tee with a loose cap to allow air to vent and water to run back down?

Also any recommendations on fuge critters, I have a few snails in there now and the detritus is building. I'm going to get 10+ nass. snails once I can find some. Any thing else sound good.

 

[vietcu]

Instead of using that 90 right there, run it straight down leave about 2-3" at the bottom. The pipe that is going straight down, cut grooves in it or drill holes up to about 2" from the water line. That should stop the spray quite a bit.

 

[silverking]

put a filter sock on it and you wont have anymore bubbles

 

[Tonycip]

+1 to both of the above..

 

[aerius007]

Filter sock, Coral Reef in coventry had them in stock over the weekend.

 

[chuggy]

run subsurface all my drain lines run 1-2 " below water level

 

[daniel_a_blake]

+1 Filter sock

 

[Akronviper]

Wouldnt the filter sock work against the refuge idea? I know there are two schools of thought one using raw water and another using skimmed or filtered water.

I may have to just do it any ways the spray is driving me nuts

 

[johndawg]

Looks like the issue is because the water is returning at/above water line. Dropping below would help alot.

 

[Tonycip]

the real problem is the water draining from the tank (upstairs I presume) has water and air in it and is vary turbulent, if you made a bean animal's drain system the main drain would be a full siphon and would contain no air and no bubble problem .and as a bonus no noise from the drain.see here..
http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx

 

[Esquare]

I upgraded my dt drain pipe to 2" and it made a huge difference in the water entering the sump more gently. Also, maybe too much water is going to the fuge.

 

[Murphs205]

My Beans pipes rock ,,,, they are silent too . as long as your drain into your sump is 2 inches below your sump water level it should be pretty silent in your sump too. my main pipes run 40 plus ft into my sump , so it REALLY FLOWS by the time it hits the sump downstairs , when your working with true siphon the longer the run, the more the flow into your sump , so your pump has to be able to keep up downstairs , i have to run a 4800 GPH pump wide open to keep with the amount of water going to the sump .

 

[Tonycip]

hay murph don't you control the amout of water in the siphon run with a valve? to choke it off a bit..

 

[chuggy]

the open channel standpipe stays wide open and the full siphon run has a valve thats where you adjust the level in the overflow box.The third line is for emergency and stays empty just in case the other 2 become clogged. This is by far IMO the best overflow system ever designed it is absolutely silent has very very few air bubbles that make it to the sump and is fail safe. But yes tony that one run has a valve so you can set the level in the box without the valve that closed channel just keeps flushing the box dry over and over and that's super noisy. Once you adjust it its set and forget and dead silent.

 

[Akronviper]

I thought about the bean system but didn't think it would work well with the 2 different size holes in the RR AGA's.

If I run the pipe lower it just gives the bubbles more explosiveness. The big bubble are not the problem its those little micro bubbles that rise up and pop.

I thought about the flow being too high but when I take the pipe off the flow is non existent. Right now the bubbles move real slowly through the tank and my chateo is not drifting.

I think the filter sock may be the way to go and if I ever change tank the bean will be something to think about cause this duruso lets too much air in, plus I think I like the emergency overflow.

 

[Akronviper]

Any recommendations on fuge critters, maybe some pep shrimp or somthing like that. I guess if I use a filter sock I wont have to worry about a detritus eater. Being my first fuge I dont want to crash the tank because of ammonia or nitrates

 

[chuggy]

my fuge has a dsb with some snails, chaeto, and some mangroves and lots of pods.

 

[Murphs205]

like chuggy said , the one channel runs wide open , the other one with the fitting and hose on it is dry along with the emergency pipe , the one with the hose will kick in if the water level in the overflow box reaches the hose mounted inside the over flow box , i have mine set at 1 inch above the level inside the box , but the main channel runs fat out wide open , with mine wide open the water level is right at the top of 90 deg street elbows , runs perfect and silent ,,, truly a set it and forget it system. 1 full wide open channel and basically 2 emergency channels

 

[Cove Beach]

If you are gonna run socks plan on changing them frequently. Otherwise you end up with back pressure and a ton of crap in a bag. I run them on my drains only and change them every morning before i go to work. I stopped for a while and am regretting it because now i am playing catch up. I'm gonna test an idea i had recently, if i get good results i will report back with pictures.

 

[Kreeger1]

Changing the socks everyday before work sounds like a job before your job. If that was the case with my socks I'd no longer use them. I change mine once every 2 weeks or so.