Herbie Help

G

gatsby174

New member
I have had my Marineland RR 75g tank going for about 3 weeks now. For the life of me, I can not get my Herbie drain to sit still and be quiet! I have the 1.5" drain (through a 1" bulkhead) as the main drain, the 1" drain as the emergency. Both drop straight down into the sump. I have about 1/2" leeway between the top of the emergency and the point where the water in the overflow starts splashing. The normal drain is 7" below the water line in the overflow. I have an Eheim 1262 return pump and an ato in the return pump chamber.

As this tank is right next to my recliner in the living room, I can't stand the sound of water trickling into the sump from the emergency drain or splashing into the overflow. If I adjust the level to perfect with the gate valve, it'll sit there. Sometimes it's steady for only 5 minutes, sometimes it sits there for a couple hours. But it always ends up making noise.

I'm so frustrated with it, that I'm about to just plumb my emergency drain under water so I can't hear the trickling, but then won't know when there is an emergency happening...Anyone else have this problem and/or know how to fix it?
 
Your system is not set up properly then. There should be close to 1.5" between the water level in the overflow, up to the inlet of the dry emergency. No water should ever flow in the dry emergency for any reason, unless the main siphon is occluded, and it is necessary for water to flow in the dry emergency to prevent a flood. If no water is flowing in the dry emergency, and the siphon does not suck air in, the system will be silent.

The waterfall into the overflow, should only be around 1". This should be silent, unless the weir is too short for the flow rate, or there are teeth cut into the weir.

The instability of the system is either not getting it dialed in precisely, or your pump has an issue of some sort, and the output is varying. The herbie is not rock solid, at the very best, but it should only require occasional adjustment.

The herbie is the most poorly documented, and mis-implemented drain system there is.
 
Hmmm, the overflow pipe height still shouldn't affect the varying drain rates though. It seems like my drain speed fluctuates, causing the overflow level to constantly change.

If it makes any difference, I also have an mp40w running, usually lagoon, nutrient transport, or reef crest. I don't think this is part of the problem though...
 
Exactly where is the noise coming from? Are you saying that the water starts splashing if the water level is more than 1/2" below the level of the emergency drain?

I have a 120 RR tank, and I'm assuming it's a similar setup - 2 holes in the corner and a curved plastic piece in the corner with teeth at the top. The problem I had was actually from the water splashing down in the overflow, not the plumbing itself. I had to to make my emergency drain come up fairly high so the water level could be higher up in the overflow. (make sure the emergency can still carry all the flow without the tank overflowing)

Also, do you have a gate valve to adjust the main drain flow?
 
Yes, where is the noise coming from the overflow or the emergency pipe? If from the emergency pipe, I too would run it dry (no water). You can put the emergency pipe below the water level in your sump no problem, I did. You will still hear it if your main drain gets plugged from the top or even the bottom from all the bubbles. If from the overflow, you can close the gate valve a little and raise the water level in there so the splashing noise would go away.
 
I would switch the drains, I.e., make the 3/4" the main and the larger the emergency. The smaller drain needs a gate valve to regulate the flow to full syphon and silent. The passage through the 1" bulkhead is disrupting the full syphon (no air).
 
With only a 75 gallon I agree with making the 3/4" the drain.
I jury rigged ABS plastic slopes in the back of the overflow drains to prevent any splashing. I have heard others use a plastic bag, a search on noisy overflow should reveal other ways too.
With a coupling I raised my emergency drains to where the very top of the overflow chamber is, it's high but still enough to not overflow the tank.
My drains fluctuate enough to be annoying but are not "noisy".
 
I think u guys nailed it with switching to the 1" pipe for the drain. That larger pipe must be airlocking just a tad. I'll switch them tomorrow and report back. Thanks for the advice!
 
Well I took out the 1.5" drain this weekend, and no difference. The water level in the overflow is still all over the place. Anyone think that having my eheim plumbed with 1" pipe might make the flow irregular? I've had eheim pumps in the past and they were consistent and quiet. I really want to get this overflow steady so I can add a couple corals!
 
Are you sure your siphon is actually running as a siphon? Varying water levels behind the wier suggest that perhaps your siphon pipe is alternating between siphon and open channel. How deeply below the surface of your sump is the siphon outlet pipe. If it is tto deep it may be causing the problem.
 
I have a 90gal. and have the 1 inch as my main drain and the 3/4 as the emergency drain. Same pump as you E 1262. I have mine plumbed with 3/4 inch. Never had a problem and hardly ever adjust it. It could be your pump like someone suggested... Is your 1 inch return line going directly into your main display tank or do you have a manifold/tee'd off into something else?
 
I have the return going directly back into the tank, and have tried different levels with the drain in the sump...I'm at a loss for why this is giving me such a headache
 
Raise the emergency drain.
Mine is as high as the top of the overflow box.
Still enough room for an emergency & if the water gets that high the braces show in the water.
This will allow you to keep the water from cascading down the box making noise and give you more room to play with.
 
How many inches from the top of your main drain pipe to the top of your emergency drain pipe? If they're to close, could be your problem. I don't think the depth of the drain into the sump will make a difference. Mine are pretty deep and never had a problem.
 
gixxerman said:
I have a 90gal. and have the 1 inch as my main drain and the 3/4 as the emergency drain.
Click to expand...

This presumably works for you, but the problem with having the larger pipe as the siphon, depending upon how much one opens the gate valve, is that the second, smaller pipe will not have adequate capacity in the event the larger one gets fully clogged (thus rather defeating the usefulness of the backup). And if you are closing down the gate valve significantly, then no reason not to use the smaller pipe as the siphon in the first place.
 
To me its not a siphon. It's a drain. Adjusting your gate valve all depends on how much water your pumping back in your tank(pump size) and where you want your water level in your overflow. I'd rather use the larger of the two pipes so if anything did go down it, it has a better chance of not getting plugged.

It all comes down to if your 3/4 emergency drain could handle the water, which mine can no problem...
 
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