First Time Using Flex PVC - new 220

[ZsWithTheFishes]

I was very skeptical about flexible PVC (especially given its tendency to cut unevenly), but nothing seems to be leaking yet. I'm not new to fish husbandry (15th tank, have assorted fresh/brackish/marine & a reef-ish with mostly softies), or various plumbing for them, but this is my first build with a sump. Being my first I was not aiming for the level of professional plumbing that I see on this forum, so I'm open to feedback. Gear list so far is at https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/setup-feedback-220g.563342/

Only complaint on this one is that it's a little loud (much like if Niagra falls had a filter sock , so I've been told) so I'll be looking into ways to bring it into household mandated noise compliance

 

[Flippers4pups]

Picture of your inside of the overflows please.

 

[Pntbll687]

I'm gonna guess it's durso pipes. One drain and one return in each corner Flo, probably a marineland/perfecto tank.

Op, is the noise coming from the overflows, or from the sump where it drains out? And what is your return pump rated for as far as gph?

 

[DarthSimon]

Are both drains below the water line in the socks?

 

[JoshH]

Can I ask, what was your goals with this drain setup? Did you want two durso drains or were you trying to go for a herbie style? I notice there is no gate valve unless I'm missing something in the pictures?

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

I'm gonna guess it's durso pipes. One drain and one return in each corner Flo, probably a marineland/perfecto tank.

Op, is the noise coming from the overflows, or from the sump where it drains out? And what is your return pump rated for as far as gph?

Good call. I was originally aiming for something quieter, but I came across a marineland at a price I couldn't turn down.



I added PVC to extend the sock pipes under water. Noise is now coming from the sump (lots of bubbling), and a waterfall sound from the top right only.

Pump is 2375 gph skimz L90 (I know.. but again, good price).

 

[Scooter.B]

It may just be me but, I'm unable to see the recent posted pics.
From the original pic, the sump water level looks high, over top of dividers

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

 

[Pntbll687]

Does it have a hole for an air tube at the top of the durso? The return pump might be too much for the durso, I believe marineland had them rated for around 700gph, so you would want around 1500gph from the return pump.

If you can add the air tubing to the top, do so. This will help draw air into the pipe and quiet down the flow a little. What can happen is the flow is too much for the durso, but not enough to cover the pipe and create a full siphon, so you get this "half siphon" which is very noisy.

Start with the air tubing, if that doesn't help then look towards the pump to try and adjust

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

It sounded somewhat quieter this morning (thankfully, since I was quoted saying "maybe it will be quieter in the morning). I extended the pipes a little bit more below the water line in the sump and that seemed to help a little bit, but there is still a lot of bubble sounding down there.

Does it have a hole for an air tube at the top of the durso?

Yes there is what looks to be an adjustable pipe at the top of each overflow.

One thing I did notice is that the pipe on the right was pulling in through a side hole in creating a noisy miniature vortex. I shoved some airline tubing in there (why not?) And that let the level get to the adjustable pipette at the top. This helped the noise there.

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

It still sounds like a washing machine under the tank and the waterfall sound in the overflows is annoying. There seems to be a purposeful hole in the pipe that is returning water to the display, as well as a little waterfall where the water is coming in. I guess I could put some sponge around this to ease up on the sprinkling sound.

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

 

[Pntbll687]

The one on the return line is an anti siphon hole. I plugged mine with silicone. Just make sure the returns in the display aren't too low

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

The one on the return line is an anti siphon hole. I plugged mine with silicone. Just make sure the returns in the display aren't too low

Good to know - makes sense. I adjusted my return sprays to just below the waterline and zip tied some filter floss around it for the time being. Waterfall sound is gone, and I am bordering on noise compliance! I will plug them & turn off the pump in a bit to make sure the sump can still hold the backflow.

I think once I shell & put doors on the stand I can silence the washing machine sound from the pipes going into the sump.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I ran same set up on my Marineland 180 until recently. It was gurgling no mater what I did.

I recently redid all my plumbing due to a leak and ran herbie. So much better. If you don’t meet noise ordinance levels, check it out.

 

[Pntbll687]

Good to know - makes sense. I adjusted my return sprays to just below the waterline and zip tied some filter floss around it for the time being. Waterfall sound is gone, and I am bordering on noise compliance! I will plug them & turn off the pump in a bit to make sure the sump can still hold the backflow.

I think once I shell & put doors on the stand I can silence the washing machine sound from the pipes going into the sump.

If you still aren't in compliance with sounds, check out some proofing insulation. Something like dynamat would work well.

Do your drains empty under the water line in the sump?

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

If you still aren't in compliance with sounds, check out some proofing insulation. Something like dynamat would work well.

Do your drains empty under the water line in the sump?

Great idea, I didn't think about insulating the lines. I think at least part of the turbulence might be due to the flex tube being ribbed.

The drains empty under the waterline, but I think they were a little bit too low which was causing the bigger air pockets to hit the bottom of the sump and reverberate. The floor of the stand is painted with pond liner and doesn't help the echo, so I added a piece of MDF underneath to dampen any excess vibration. I shortened the drains up a little and then added just a little bit of airline to break up some of the bigger air before it exited. Things sound much better today.

So much so that it brought to my attention how loud one of my other tanks is.

I caught a video this morning. The loud hum is the air pump on a different tank, so I may meet regulations by toning down some of my other setups in the room.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvb5KIhFf71/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=p9a666ib58gy

 

[_Alex_]

To me I would think a smaller return pump would help with a lot of this unless you have it dialed back and I didn’t see it in your plumbing. It seems your hanging right around the max flow the drains can handle. I would think a slightly smaller gph pump would quiet it a lot. Imo.

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

To me I would think a smaller return pump would help with a lot of this unless you have it dialed back and I didn’t see it in your plumbing. It seems your hanging right around the max flow the drains can handle. I would think a slightly smaller gph pump would quiet it a lot. Imo.

I have it dialed back slightly on the output **see next post, picture didn't attach**. My understanding is that I can dial it back on the output and not affect the pump, but I was weary about restricting it too much. Eventually I want to divert one of the returns into a separate display fuge, which would hopefully reduce the main display turnover (that and I bought it assuming that this tank would want 10x to 15x turn over like the rest of my tanks... live and learn).