How does your DT terminate in the sump?

Rockyreef · Sep 7, 2018

Hi everyone, new to saltwater and sumps. I've just about got all my plumbing done on my first tank but my question is, HOW do you guys drop the water into the sump?
First I tried terminating the drain pipe underwater in my sump tank but that caused surging and gurgling in my overflow. I think the back pressure made a weird cycle between draining and siphoning.
Then I shortened the drain pipe above water line...no more siphoning but now I hear a constant waterfall.
How do I quiet this down???
My overflow and standpipe isn't even that loud, it's just the dang pipe in the sump.

DeniseAndy · Sep 7, 2018

Many do not use socks, but they will help with that noise. Throw a sock on the overflow pipe. However if you are running triton, you do not do this. May have to play with the height of the pipe a bit to find the happy place, same as tuning in the return pump to the overflow.
I run mine under the water line, but also have socks. Of course mine is in my basement and tank on main level, but I do not get any crashing sounds when I am down there.

Good luck. This hobby is a lot of tweeking and one person's tweek may not work for your specific situation.

Rockyreef · Sep 7, 2018

Thanks for your reply.
When you say you run your pipe under the water, are you deep or just below the surface?
I was trying to avoid a filter sock.

chipmunkofdoom2 · Sep 7, 2018

The further underwater the pipe is, the more pressure is needed to force water out. So this will cause the gurgling or backup that you mention. The output of the pipe should be just below the surface of the water in your sump, maybe by a fraction of an inch or so.

appleton71 · Sep 7, 2018

chipmunkofdoom2 said:
The further underwater the pipe is, the more pressure is needed to force water out. So this will cause the gurgling or backup that you mention. The output of the pipe should be just below the surface of the water in your sump, maybe by a fraction of an inch or so.

Agreed. Mine are about 1" below the water's surface and it's dead silent. I don't run any filter socks at the moment.