Loud overflow help! PLEASE.

[kcochran0010]

Hello everyone. So I purchased a tank someone had already pre drilled. I tried measuring the box I had from glass holes and was going to use it. But the previous owner drilled it too high for that to be possible. So I set the tank up and did not know how loud the gurgle / slurping noise would be in the overflow. How do I quiet this thing down? ANY HELP APPRECIATED !!

 

[MagisterDamask]

You need something to break the siphon.

 

[kcochran0010]

You need something to break the siphon.

So should I drill a hole in the top of that 90?

 

[MagisterDamask]

I almost wonder if you could drill a hole in the top of the 90* elbow thats in the bottom picture and tap 1/8" NPT pipe threads into it and put a male thread to push connect fitting on it and run a 1/4" push connect line up and put a push connect valve on it but it would need to be higher that the water line and I would even run it over to the tank, just in case. I wouldn't submerge it but at least have it to where if water did run up in it, it would just go right back in the tank.

 

[cracker]

For the short term Maybe try sticking a length of air tubing right down the drain. As far down as Ya can. Others will give You better info

 

[kcochran0010]

I know what the push connect is. And the line. Don't know what you mean exactly about tapping pipe threads in. Sorry. Wish I was more knowledgeable.

 

[MagisterDamask]

So should I drill a hole in the top of that 90?

Yes but you have to do what I said in the above reply, you have to be above the water line, and the valve would allow you some control

 

[MagisterDamask]

The best scenario would be to redo the existing set up, and do a beananimal style overflow with a longer overflow for better surface skimming. You could use the existing overflow with the 90 turned up as your emergency drain. Beananimals set up is finicky to dial in the first time but once you get it, it is dead silent and you have some safety redundancy.

 

[kcochran0010]

Yes but you have to do what I said in the above reply, you have to be above the water line, and the valve would allow you some control

So drill the hole. Buy the tap. Make the threads. Connect the push fitting with airline and a little air valve controller at the end ?

 

[MagisterDamask]

http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx

 

[MagisterDamask]

So drill the hole. Buy the tap. Make the threads. Connect the push fitting with airline and a little air valve controller at the end ?

Drill, tap to 1/8" NPT, get a 1/8" male - 1/4" push-connect threaded adapter, put some quality made teflon tape sealant on the threads, install the fitting, run 1/4" push-connect tubing up maybe 3"-4" then install a 1/4" push-connect ball valve on the end. The you can, if you want to, put a piece of the 1/4" tubing in the other side of the ball valve and run it to the tank but don't submerge it just in case.

 

[MagisterDamask]

I think the 1/8" tap requires an 11/32" drill bit. I would double check though, it should be etched in the side of the tap.

 

[Jdodds]

I run one of the glass holes kits on my 125. This was the first tank I'd ever drilled and plumbed, but I'd used some ideas based on some automotive applications in regards to flow. Any glued joints were tapered on the insides to cut the shoulder off the pipe in order to reduce turbulence, bends were gradual and carefully angled downward on the return, etc.

I tried the elbows with holes for a siphon break, but found them to be noisy as heck no matter what I did. I finally just purged the air once the system was running and found it to be nearly silent.

The only issue with that is there's a careful balance to how much water is moving out vs back into the tank. I think it took around 3 hours to fine tune it, but I've only had to make adjustments maybe 5 times over the last year. Its not had any issues, even after a number of brief power outages, and will usually bleed itself afterwards.

The only noise I have at the moment is from my sump not having a filter sock installed. With a sock, you can't hear anything from the tank while standing about 10-12 feet away. Here's a quick clip to give you an idea.

 

[TheLadyCrash]

For the short term Maybe try sticking a length of air tubing right down the drain. As far down as Ya can. Others will give You better info

This for the near term until you have a good solid plan in place. It will keep you from going insane.

 

[bobman]

You need to drill a hole on that 90 and stick some airtubing down it to burp it. once you get the air out and the syphon broke it will be quiet not silent but really quiet.

 

[MagisterDamask]

I run one of the glass holes kits on my 125. This was the first tank I'd ever drilled and plumbed, but I'd used some ideas based on some automotive applications in regards to flow. Any glued joints were tapered on the insides to cut the shoulder off the pipe in order to reduce turbulence, bends were gradual and carefully angled downward on the return, etc.

I tried the elbows with holes for a siphon break, but found them to be noisy as heck no matter what I did. I finally just purged the air once the system was running and found it to be nearly silent.

The only issue with that is there's a careful balance to how much water is moving out vs back into the tank. I think it took around 3 hours to fine tune it, but I've only had to make adjustments maybe 5 times over the last year. Its not had any issues, even after a number of brief power outages, and will usually bleed itself afterwards.

The only noise I have at the moment is from my sump not having a filter sock installed. With a sock, you can't hear anything from the tank while standing about 10-12 feet away. Here's a quick clip to give you an idea.

True enough but you have more than one drain to your sump from what I could tell in your video, he has only one and the elbow inside the tank is turned up towards the water surface.

 

[Jdodds]

True enough but you have more than one drain to your sump from what I could tell in your video, he has only one and the elbow inside the tank is turned up towards the water surface.

Yeah. After getting it running, I feel like a single pipe would have been easier to manage. Both of those valves are only open by about 25%. Makes bleeding the air from them much harder. I've been wanting to experiment with a single pipe ran the same way on a 36g bowfront that I've had sitting around since last year to make any improvements to the design.
Another thing that I think helped was keeping the valve horizontal or at least a downward angle like I have now. Got all kinds of noise when they were vertical and finally just scrapped the whole thing.

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

Turn the inside upside down and drill a small hole in the top of the elbow. Experiment with hole size. Tough call though. Should have created a beanie animal on the outside of the tank. Can you still get at the outside back?

 

[kcochran0010]

Thanks everyone for the input and help. This is what I ended up doing and it helped on sound and flow a ton!