Dilemma between "noisy overflow and good filtration" ?? Need your help !

[Pandam]

Hello guys,

I need your help !
To reduce the noise made by the overflow I had to increase the volume of water in. I did it with the valve positioned just after the buckethead.
I WONDER:

With doing this I will reduce the capacity of the overflow to suck the sediment and waste from the tank right?

What do you think ?

 

[Ron Reefman]

It's hard to see what you have there, and I'm not sure I understand your question.

You raised the water level behind the weir of your overflow, right? Is there any drop at all between the level of the tank water in front of the weir and the overflow level behind the weir? If there is any drop, you probably didn't change the flow rate to the sump by much at all and the surface skimming by the weir should still be fine.

 

[Pandam]

It's hard to see what you have there, and I'm not sure I understand your question.

You raised the water level behind the weir of your overflow, right? Is there any drop at all between the level of the tank water in front of the weir and the overflow level behind the weir? If there is any drop, you probably didn't change the flow rate to the sump by much at all and the surface skimming by the weir should still be fine.

Dear Ron, Dear All,

Many thanks for the answer and your feedback. Sorry if I am unclear. I am trying here below to expose my problem.

My main question is about the importance of the water level in the overflow – On attached picture you ‘ll see a draw of my question.

If the difference between water level in the tank and water level in the overflow is important I may GUESS it will suck much more waste and sediments in the tank by succion effect, right ? Therefore I would think this is much better, but my problem is the noise when doing this !!

Then, If we reduce the difference in water level we will obviously reduce noise – but I wonder if this will not damage the quality of the filtration!

What do you think?

All my best for your support

 

[Ron Reefman]

You are looking at this wrong. There is no suction in the system, only flow.

The level in the overflow can be very shallow, say 1" above the drain, or very high, say 1" below the top of the weir. Both cases will have the same flow over the weir and down the drain. About the only thing that changes when the water level in the overflow is low, is the fact that the long fall of the water will make more noise.

The thing that will make the weir more effective is if the water level in front of the weir, that is the water level in the tank, is higher than it is now. Then more water will flow over the weir and that may help some with the skimming effect off the surface of the water and get a bit more waste out of the tank.

But what is probably more important is getting the water in the tank sufficiently stirred up with powerheads, or wavemakers or gyres, so the waste is suspended in the water rather than settling on the bottom.

Does that help?

 

[Brew12]

Completely agree with Ron about the height of the water not impacting filtration.

I am worried when I hear you adjusted level by closing a valve. If your overflow is set up correctly that shouldn't happen.
What kind of overflow/drain system are you running?

 

[Pandam]

You are looking at this wrong. There is no suction in the system, only flow.

The level in the overflow can be very shallow, say 1" above the drain, or very high, say 1" below the top of the weir. Both cases will have the same flow over the weir and down the drain. About the only thing that changes when the water level in the overflow is low, is the fact that the long fall of the water will make more noise.

The thing that will make the weir more effective is if the water level in front of the weir, that is the water level in the tank, is higher than it is now. Then more water will flow over the weir and that may help some with the skimming effect off the surface of the water and get a bit more waste out of the tank.

But what is probably more important is getting the water in the tank sufficiently stirred up with powerheads, or wavemakers or gyres, so the waste is suspended in the water rather than settling on the bottom.

Does that help?

Dear Ron,

Yes it helps me a lot to better understand it ! Many thanks for your time and patience. All my best from France !
Cheers

Damien

 

[Ron Reefman]

Damien, glad we could help. That's what we're here for and I appreciate the kind comments. You can ask me questions any time.

Ron