Is my return too low from the water line.

[Casey Gore]

Hey guys. This is my first tank with an overflow. I got everything up and running. However you can hear alot of splashing from the water going into the overflow. I put my return pipes about 4 inches from the tank water line. Is that too low for the return. If i get new pvc and bump it up about 2 inches do u think the splashing will stop?

Im just trying to make things as silent as possible since its in my living room.

 

[JoshH]

What kind of overflow do you have? Honestly that is rather low for a return and it should be closer to the top of your water line but the height of the return line won't solve your issue with the noise. Can you post a picture of your overflow and your plumbing in that overflow? Usually if you want to stop the noise in your overflow you need to raise the plumbing in the overflow to decrease the drop over the weir which is causing the noise.

 

[ca1ore]

The depth of the return line will affect the amount of water that back siphons in the event of power loss, but it will have no bearing on the overflow.

 

[George81]

It took me a lot of tinkering to silence my over flow, and get it balanced with my return pump for silent operation. When I first set it up, it was LOUD. Are you using a durso?
I had to cover up the hole on top of the stand pipe with some masking tape, and I changed the ball valve to a needle valve which gives your more precise dialling. It’s going to take some patience to set your drain and return to match.
Also how big is your tank and sump? having your return line that low can siphon lots of water into your sump, unless your sump can handle that extra water you can have an overflow during a power loss. I keep mine about an 1” below the water line.

 

[Casey Gore]

Here is a pic of the overflow. It has two drains and two returns. The drains are about 4in from the teeth.

 

[cracker]

Is the water from the thank into the overflow dropping like a water flow ? If so consider making the drain pipes ( inside the overflow ) taller. the water from the tank should flow into the overflow box not drop. Hope that makes sense !

 

[Garia666]

Like cracker says

The right pipe is lower then the left one. It has an cover for debrie. If the right pipe get clogged the the left one Will prevent flowing over and it Will make a noise . So that I know thats the case.

If you have 2 pipes at the same hight that Will always be the case.

 

[laverda]

It is funny all the talk about durso, and the animals overflow. I just use 45 degree fittings at the top of my stand pipes and they are very quite. I am using 4 stand pipes in my over flow. The lowest one feeds my recirculating skimmer. It has a screeen at the top to keep stuff from possibly getting inside it. The next one feeds my left filter sock. The third one is slightly higher than the second feeds my second filter sock. This one typically has a pretty low flow. The 4 the one is the highest and does not have a fitting on the end at all. I want to hear it if it is being used for some reason. It takes a week or 2 for them to get a slime coating, but I can not hear them and my tank is 5’ from where I am sitting on a quite Sunday evening. The sump area on my tank is not even fully enclosed yet. The advantage of this set up is it is quite at low flow or with the flow cranked up and it is very simple.
In the OPs case it sounds like your drains need to be extended an inch or 2 below the water level in to your sump for one. Then it depends on what set up you have on how it to tune it to be quite. Your returns sound like a recipe for disaster as they are currently set up, unless you have a very large sump! If you turn off your return pump your tank will drain to the point your lowest return line sucks in enough air to brake the syphon. 4” is a lot of water. You can test it easily, but be ready to turn your return pump back on very quickly. If your return lines go over the top and down into the tank you can fix it by drilling some holes in the lines just below the waters surface. In most cases a 3/16” hole is a good choice. It has to be big enough to allow enough air in to brake the syphon quickly. You want to drill the holes on the underside typically so algae does not clog them quickly. They also need to be cleaned on a regular basis.

 

[laverda]

Here is a pic of the overflow. It has two drains and two returns. The drains are about 4in from the teeth.

Raise one of the drains higher than the other one. How high they are in the overflow and your flow rate will determine how much waterfall noise you have. Higher and lower flow being quieter. Since you only have 2 drains use the lower one as the main drain. Extend you main drain 1” below the water level in your sump. Adjust your return flow so all the flow can be handled by the lower drain. The higher one is no your emergancy drain. Leave that one so it splashes into the sump to alert you if the primary drain becomes blocked somehow. I would recommend a intake screen on both so the can not get snails or whatever in them.

 

[mikus]

I also just set up my first build. Running a bean style overflow with 2 90's and 1 emergency straight pipe. The main siphon being the lowest 90 w/ gate valve to dial in the siphon depending on flow rate. the 2nd 90 is set so the bottom of the upside down "u" shape is barely below the water level when the main is pulling a complete siphon. (water just barely draining into it) it took a little dialing in with the gate valve but is super quiet.