How to quiet drain lines into sump?

[carb850]

I have done several searches but none with any luck on ways to quiet my drain lines. I currently have them running down at a 45 degree angle then another 45 keeping the water level with the water surface. It isn't horrible but it needs improvements. Any good links for the best ways to quiet the drain lines?

(BTW, most of my searches only found ways to quiet the durso not the lines into the sump)

 

[pwoller]

Is the water splashing into the sump? Is it going through a filter sock? Where is the sound coming from?

 

[carb850]

I'm using an Eheim 1260 as my return so I'm splitting about 500GPH between two overflows.

One is pictured but both are run the same way. The water just seems to be coming at a high velocity into the sump and is creating a lot of bubbles and noise as it enters.

 

[carb850]

This is a still of the bubbles being created by the velocity of the water entering the sump. I'm not really detecting any pulsing or flushing sounds. Looking into the overflows it appears the water level is staying constant.

 

[futureeyedoc]

I had the same problem on a tank/sump combo very similar to yours that I had bought previously set up from someone else...
All I did was connect another 6-10 inches of pipe so that no matter what the water level, they were always emptying under water.
Just run a tiny piece of pvc, then another 90 to shoot it down, then that 6-8 inch run of pvc.... in your sump you won't even have to glue it - it'll stay on from you forcing it on alone...

Mine went from being insanely loud to extremely quiet in literally 5 minutes


you might also add a filter sock like the above post stated to each line just to help cut down on the noise....

 

[carb850]

I will give that a try. I feared emptying the line underwater would make the noise worse but it would be super easy at this point to see what happens.

 

[cccapt]

I had my 1" pvc drain dump into a piece of 3" pvc with holes drilled in the bottom. Works great.

 

[THE ROOK]

I agree lower that 45 until it's 2"-3" under water. Should help. Mine are at least that far under.

 

[Reefbox]

A reducer 2"x4" or such with the big diameter slightly under water acts like a muzzle. and collects bubbles when they pop.

 

[sunsetSPS]

Any luck in fixing the noise? Your bubbles in the drain are from overflow standpipe, most of these bubbles aren't newly created when the water hit the sump surface water.

 

[carb850]

I will not get a chance to try any of these suggestions until later this evening. I will report back, most likely with more questions.

 

[carb850]

Turning down the ends rather than having them parallel with the water surface made a big difference. It is clear now that the bubbles are coming down my drain like sunset mentioned. So I guess my next step is to try the airline tubing down the center of the durso unless anyone has another suggestion.

 

[carb850]

I attemped the airline tube +/-7" down the durso. I started to get a massive flushing of the overflow. Water level would vary 6". So I drilled a second line. The water level is now constant but no decrease in bubbles. Also, water started backing up my drain line to the point of water started coming out of my air vent pipe (down near the sump). I blocked if off but still no change in bubbles.

 

[becact]

Try inserting a large PVC pipe with holes drilled in the bottom (like a previous poster), but throw a bunch of liverock rubble in there.

 

[carb850]

That might difuse it a bit, but not reduce the bubbles coming in I assume. I will do whatever it seems like there should be away to minimize the bubbles to begin with.

It was suggested to me to increase the drain from a 1" to a 1.5"(+) before it reaches the sump. The thought being it will slow the water down a bit.

I found another thread were someone suggesting going down to the sumps water level with a horizontal section then using 90's come up and back down essentially making a trap. I tried this and it didn't make a noticeable difference.

 

[becact]

What is that upturned open piece right before the return line to the fuge?

Really, all you need to do it decrease the bubbles in the fuge area. If there are bubbles in the skimmmer area, they should be caught by the bubble trap, right? Try turning down the flow more to the fuge, maybe?

 

[carb850]

It was to vent the air. It helped a lot at first but then I drilled more holes in the top cap of the durso. After putting the additional holes I got ride of that piece and noticed no change in volume or amount of air coming down the drain.

The bubble trap on the skimmer side does take care of the bubbles.

 

[Imzadi]

from the 'non-expert' point of view, all I see is turbulance. Everywhere. The water blasting out of the tube, the water ripping across the surface of the sump, the water hitting the front of the tank, and the water going over the overflows into the return area. Even the little vents that you got down there would make more noise by themselves then I would find to be acceptable.

I have twice as much flow, give or take, and I hear NOTHING on my BeanAnimal type circ system... I mean a crab passing algea-gas would make more noise than my setup.

From where I sit, in my chair of limited knowledge, I see turbulance = noise... calm water = silence.

 

[sunsetSPS]

What is your drain bulkhead size and what is your drain pipe size down below the sump?

 

[sscherin]

The only truly silent system I've used is the one posted by Bean Animal

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1541946

1 full siphon restricted drain line (no air al all. submerged return)
1-3 vented (durso)drains.. 1 for minimal flow to catch excess from the throttled line and a 2nd for emergency overlofw.

I build mine with just 2 (1 siphon and 1 durso)but I was sure to size the 2nd Durso to handle full flow if necessary. It's already passed the emergency test when a snail went down the restricted line.

This setup is amazingly quiet.. my fan and skimmer make more noise than the returns.

I've had it running for 2 months.. I've only had to adjust the restricted line maybe 2 times when it was flowing to much and the durso was getting no flow at all.