How can i quiet a noisy overflow?

[Bthomas]

Hi, im trying to set up my first tank. Did a plumbing test today and everything seems ok but one of the two overflows is gurgling alot and is really loud. Also have a lot of noise and large bubbles in the sump from the drain pipe.
How can i fix these 2 issues?
Attaching some pics of the setup..

 

[Mandelstam]

I'm no plumbing expert but it looks like you are having the two drain pipes join to one before reaching the sump? That could be a problem. If you separate them you could tune them into a Herbie style overflow that's silent. But they need to be separate all the way then as one is going to be a full siphon.

 

[Bthomas]

Yeah they do join before reaching the sump. I hate to hear that i really didnt want to have to cut out all the plumbing and redo

 

[Bthomas]

Anyone else have any experience with this? Im more concerned with quieting the gurgling of the standpipe

 

[theMeat]

Definitely separate the drain pipes.
You could convert your durso to a stockman standpipe which will help a bit. If it were me I’d drill a third smaller hole for a 3/4 return in each overflow, and use the two bigger holes you have now for Herbie style. It will be silent.

 

[Bthomas]

Is seperating the drain pipes really the only way to get this quiet? Ive already redone this plumbing twice i really dont want to cut it out and do it again lol

I have found that if i cover one hole on the pipe with my finger it quiets it but i dont know if blocking this hole is ok or what i could block it with permanently. Id like to be able to understand what is causing this noise and why blocking that hole fixes it lol pic to show the hole im talking about.
Also there is another hole around the other side of the pipe so 3 total

 

[Cully]

You can try drilling or boring out the top hole to allow more air in. That can tame the gurgle on durso style returns.

As others have said “herbie” or “beananimal” type plumbing is pretty darn silent. That’d be my choice. Might be painful now, but long term, money in the bank!

 

[theMeat]

Is seperating the drain pipes really the only way to get this quiet? Ive already redone this plumbing twice i really dont want to cut it out and do it again lol

I have found that if i cover one hole on the pipe with my finger it quiets it but i dont know if blocking this hole is ok or what i could block it with permanently. Id like to be able to understand what is causing this noise and why blocking that hole fixes it lol pic to show the hole im talking about.
Also there is another hole around the other side of the pipe so 3 total

It’s not a must to separate the pipes, especially if it’s a full siphon. But that depends on how much water you need to flow through the drain which is only forced by gravity.
In that 1” pipe you can expect around 800 gph max. That’s because you have air and water going down the same pipe. In your case you can only have 400 gph per pipe because they’re joined.
That same 1” pipe if fully submerged (full siphon) can do 11-1200 gph because there’s no air going down with the water. The air and water going down the same pipe is what’s making the noise/gurgling as well.
You can have a durso run quiet if you only do about half, or less, of what the pipe’s max is, but in most cases that doesn’t give enough gph going through sump and can lead to bigger annoyances than noise. And it will never be as quiet as a herbie or bean animal.
Bean animal or herbie is silent because almost all water goes down one pipe that is full siphon, controlled by valve adjustment, and there’s another pipe that does a touch of water and the air. Bean animal is the same, but with an extra emergency standby/back up pipe. Either choice will be very quiet and virtually no bubbles make it down to sump

 

[CindyKz]

Looks like you have the same brand tank I do. Mine gurgled a bit too. Playing with my return pump fixed mine- I think I had to slow the return a bit.

In any case, don't cover that hole. I'll be darned if I can remember the purpose of it but it has one and IIRC it's some sort of important safety feature, a siphon break to keep it from back priming or something like that. I read about it when I was trying to figure my issues out. It might be in the directions.

Good luck!

 

[Bthomas]

I just cant understand why one overflow is gurgling while the other isnt..
Im not looking for it to be completely silent but right now its very loud.
I do have the output on the return turned down a bit with a ball valve because it was emptying the sump too quickly.. i doubt that has anything to do with this issue but thought it was worth a mention

 

[Bthomas]

If i were to just seperate the drain pipes would that definately quiet the gurgle? Without having to convert it to herbie style (im not fully understanding that method)

 

[theMeat]

You want between 3-6 times the display tank volume going through sump per hour. That’s much more important that the noise.

The air will take the path of least resistance. Because the two pipes are joined, one pipe is offering less resistance.

As for Will separating the pipes quiet things....
How big is tank?
What return pump are you running?

 

[Scott.h]

Cut a piece of 3/4" styrofoam to cap the top. Just let it lay covering it.

 

[Bthomas]

As for Will separating the pipes quiet things....
How big is tank?
What return pump are you running?

Tank is 150 gallons
Return pump sicce syncra 4.0

 

[theMeat]

That pump at 5-6 feet of head height is giving you about 550-600 gph. Which, if you don’t restrict the flow with the valve as you are doing now, is in the range of recommend 3-6x display tank volume per hour. That would put around 300 gph down each overflow so yes. If you separate the two drains it should run pretty quiet

 

[Bthomas]

That pump at 5-6 feet of head height is giving you about 550-600 gph. Which, if you don’t restrict the flow with the valve as you are doing now, is in the range of recommend 3-6x display tank volume per hour. That would put around 300 gph down each overflow so yes. If you separate the two drains it should run pretty quiet

Ok thanks alot. I guess ill rework the drain pipes

 

[acro-ed]

The gurgling is trapped air. I had a similar setup to this several years ago. I was able to quiet it by using a “4 way” of 1.5” instead of a 1” “T” where the two drains join. The “top” of the “4 way” was a few inches of pipe going up with a cap that had a hole drilled in it. The larger diameter pipe where they joined coupled with the “air release” made it far quieter.

-Ed

 

[Bthomas]

Hey guys, so i redid my drain pipes and seperated them into 2 seperate pipes and that has quieted the gurgling that was coming from the overflow.

But i still have alot of bubbles in the sump.. all seem to be coming from the drain with the long horizontal pipe but im not sure how else i can route that.

And now i also have an issue with the return pump pumping too fast and draining the return section. Is it ok to restrict flow from the return with the ball valve? Its a sicce syncra 4.0 pump

 

[michaelgrusell]

Boca vent

 

[theMeat]

You could have the drains run into a sock, or foam, or a bucket. They will still be going down but will float to top and not make it into other sections or skimmer intake.

We did the math. That pump with that head should be perfect for your tank size. There’s no was that pump is putting up more than the two drains can handle. Add water if need be, it will level off.

Make sure the weir on the overflows are clean