I booked marked this post when it first came out and have read over the info several times. I just moved into a new house and of course found this a excellent opportunity to replumb both of my tanks. I decided to try this new overflow method on my 120 Starphire tank, I wanted to put a Ampmaster 3000 on this tank.
This tank is 4x2.5x2.5 with a single overflow box centered on the back. Two 1" drains and two 3/4" returns. I reversed the bulkheads on the returns and now have 4 drains. I setup the ampmaster to split and return at each side of the tank with 1 1/2" PVC the entire way. The ampmaster is of course much to strong to be run wide open so it has a valve to throttle back.
I put the tank on a wall that has a full length mirror 7' x 8' The reason I mention this will be clear in a minute.
After running the tank for a couple weeks with this New overflow method I pulled them and put durso's back in. Here's why.
First, they do suck air in, any drain has to suck air in, Basic physics, it caused a lot of gurgling, So much that I actually turned off the pump at night and had just a couple powerheads running in the tank so I could sleep. They were that loud! I tried changing the distance the water would drop into the overflow before going down the drain, slowing down the ampmaster to the point it was only running aprox 1000 gallons an hour. Nothing worked.
Second, The water flow splashing and gurgling in the overflow box created so much spray that my mirror behind the tank required me to clean and wipe it down daily, almost twice daily. This was not acceptable.
Third, this overflow method did not silence the sump, Neither does the durso, Sump noise can be silenced in other ways, one was mentioned above. But I did notice that with the durso and those Little air holes that you can actually create a syphon effect and push more water down the drain than normal.
With the durso I have had very little splashing on to my mirror, I've only wiped it down once over the past week. To reduce the water noise in the sump I raised the water level on one end so the overflow pipes sit under water, causes more bubbles in the sump but almost eliminates the sump noise. There are plenty of ways to eliminate bubbles in the sump.
I now have the ampmaster pushing aprox 2300 gallons per hour and I can sleep at night.
My conclusion, While this method of overflow while does work and could be quiet under some conditions is not a Fix All.
John
This tank is 4x2.5x2.5 with a single overflow box centered on the back. Two 1" drains and two 3/4" returns. I reversed the bulkheads on the returns and now have 4 drains. I setup the ampmaster to split and return at each side of the tank with 1 1/2" PVC the entire way. The ampmaster is of course much to strong to be run wide open so it has a valve to throttle back.
I put the tank on a wall that has a full length mirror 7' x 8' The reason I mention this will be clear in a minute.
After running the tank for a couple weeks with this New overflow method I pulled them and put durso's back in. Here's why.
First, they do suck air in, any drain has to suck air in, Basic physics, it caused a lot of gurgling, So much that I actually turned off the pump at night and had just a couple powerheads running in the tank so I could sleep. They were that loud! I tried changing the distance the water would drop into the overflow before going down the drain, slowing down the ampmaster to the point it was only running aprox 1000 gallons an hour. Nothing worked.
Second, The water flow splashing and gurgling in the overflow box created so much spray that my mirror behind the tank required me to clean and wipe it down daily, almost twice daily. This was not acceptable.
Third, this overflow method did not silence the sump, Neither does the durso, Sump noise can be silenced in other ways, one was mentioned above. But I did notice that with the durso and those Little air holes that you can actually create a syphon effect and push more water down the drain than normal.
With the durso I have had very little splashing on to my mirror, I've only wiped it down once over the past week. To reduce the water noise in the sump I raised the water level on one end so the overflow pipes sit under water, causes more bubbles in the sump but almost eliminates the sump noise. There are plenty of ways to eliminate bubbles in the sump.
I now have the ampmaster pushing aprox 2300 gallons per hour and I can sleep at night.
My conclusion, While this method of overflow while does work and could be quiet under some conditions is not a Fix All.
John
