Plumbing Issues Help!!!

SUPERHERO2943

New member
hi guys,

I am having a little plumbing issue. I am setting up a 125 gallon display with a 20 long refugium and a 40 gallon sump. The sump is under the refugium, which is under the display. I have 2 mega flows in the display one going to the sump one to the fuge. The issue I am having is a loud sucking noise from the 3/4 inch pipe going from the fuge to the sump. The bottom of the fuge is drilled and the pipe does straight down into the sump. I need a way to make this noise go away. The 3/4 inch pipe is handling the water flow just fine, it is just making a loud sucking gulping sound. HELP!!!!!!
 
Try turning the pipe into a durso standpipe. That should help.

Running just one pipe as a drain is pretty risky. If it were me, I'd make at least one more hole and have two pipes and turn it into a herbie overflow. The 3 pipe silent/fail safe overflow would be even better yet.

What's going to happen when some macro algae breaks loose and clogs up your single drain? I hope you have flood insurance.
 
Thank you so much. I built the Durso and installed it. That got rid of the loud sucking noise at the top but I am still getting alot of gurgling and burping at the bottom where the water enters my sump. I know this has something to do with the air vent at the top I just can not figure out if it is too much air or not enough. Any suggestions???
 
Hi,

What I did to help this was use a T going into the sump. Water enters horizontally into the T. The bottom is a pipe that goes down submerged in the water about 2". The top raises up several inches with a cap on top.

In the cap I drilled a small hole (I think 3/16?") and inserted some 1/4" rigid airline tubing into the cap. It was a tight fit so make sure the hole is a snug fit.

The natural curve of the tube the pointed straight down at the sump.

Now air shoots out of that tube like somebody trying to blow out a birthday cake. The gurgling is alot quieter, but I am thinking of increaseing the size of the vent tube.

But my drain line is 2", so 1/4" tube would work well for you.
 
OK, Now i must ask because i am just ignorant. I have known nothing but a small tank with a canister filter for as long as i have been in this hobby until now. Is it safe to say that this system is just NOT going to be as quiet as a canister filter on a small tank. I am just not used to hearing the water flowing over the overflows and gurgling in the sumps. Is this going to just be a fact of life now??? I will try the T and a piece of tubing.
 
There are methods of plumbing that are indeed perfectly silent.

However I think you can still significantly quiet down a durso system, but it will take time and tweaking.

Look for "herbie drains". They require you to have at least 2 drain pipes per overflow, but they are completely silent. the main drain pipe has a valve that throttles back the flow enough to stay at full siphon (no air), and the other drain valve is set a bit higher, and only kicks on when its needed.

The idea there is that since its a restricted siphon, its operating almost exactly at its full capacity, so if anything gets stuck in the standpipe (algae, snails....), the waterlevel in the tank could rise. This is when your 2nd standpipe kicks in, which you should hear like a really loud gurgle. This could be you "CLEAN OUT THE SIPHON DRAINS" warning :)
 
On the top of the durso you can add some airline tubing or the tubing that is used for RO systems and attach a JG ball valve fitting. Looks like this:
JGballvalve.jpg

That way you can "dial in" exactly how much air enters the durso stand pipe rather than just hoping your hole is the right size.

HTH
 
Ok guys, i appreciate all the input, and it sounds like I am just going to have to tinker with this until I get it close enough that I can live with it. On another note does anyone have any experience with sound proofing a cabinet? I have seen in auditoriums and theaters where they use carpet on the walls to absorb sound. Would Have any luck with something like sheets of cork or styrofoam on the inside walls of my cabinet to absorb sound???
 
ALSO,

I installed a piece of 1/4" tubing into the cap. I also put an elbow on the drain into the sump (didn't have a T on hand). NOW, it seems to be a little quieter. However I am still getting a load gurgle every few minutes. Please someone correct me if I am wrong. If the only way to make a Durso function correctly is by adjusting the air intake is it then NEVER going to be perfect. Will there in fact always be a gurgle perhaps just not quite as often??? Just trying to figure this thing out. Like I said before I am new to all these plumbing issues. Thanks guys!!!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12870019#post12870019 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RyanBrucks
Hi,

What I did to help this was use a T going into the sump. Water enters horizontally into the T. The bottom is a pipe that goes down submerged in the water about 2". The top raises up several inches with a cap on top.

In the cap I drilled a small hole (I think 3/16?") and inserted some 1/4" rigid airline tubing into the cap. It was a tight fit so make sure the hole is a snug fit.

The natural curve of the tube the pointed straight down at the sump.

Now air shoots out of that tube like somebody trying to blow out a birthday cake. The gurgling is alot quieter, but I am thinking of increaseing the size of the vent tube.

But my drain line is 2", so 1/4" tube would work well for you.


WAIT A SECOND......I keep re reading this and I am thinking I did not understand what you were saying. Are you saying that you put a cap on the T underwater in the sump and then drilled the hole and put the tubing coming out of the water. This way does the air escape through the tube in stead of underwater and bubbling to the surface??????????????????
 
no, the T is above water, and only the downward part of the T goes into the water, via a pipe thats just dry fit.

heres a pic, but it doesn't show the airline tube.


the tube is just there to direct any spillover back into the sump, should any occur.


bleed_pipe.jpg


The T that is immediately to the right and behind the red valve is what I am talking about. You can just see the cap, the photo isn't big enough to see the tube sticking out the top.
 
ok ok, then i understood it right the first time. This is how I am currently set up. Still need tweeking. I appreciate the photo and the suggestions. I will try to get a picture of my set up so you can examine it perhaps you can see something I am not seeing. Thank you so much.
 
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