Noisy Overflow

[jamesm]

My wife is complaining about how noisy my reef tank is. I have a 75 gallon rimless deep Blue tank. The noise is coming from the water going in the overflow. The water in the overflow rises then goes back down as if it is breathing. This causes the water to rush in once the water reaches its lower level which creates the water noise. I have drilled out the breather hole a little lareger which resulted in instead of a water noise it turned into a suction noise. Should I drill the hole out a little larger? I'm not sure if that is what I should do? Once the hole is drilled I cannot go back. Be nice if there was a little valve where I could control the amount of air going in. Any help here would be appreciated.

 

[Canadian-reef]

I had a similar problem. Drilled a small 1/4"-5/16" hole in the top of my down pipe. Stuck in a short length of air line tubing with a valve on top. I also put a valve on my drain line so I could control the flow and didn't get the toilet flushing effect. The only thing I hear now is the water falling over the overflow teeth. With the valve you can control how high to keep the water in the overflow compartment to eliminate a long water fall.

 

[happyhourhero]

Have you looked into making a Hofer Gurgle Buster? Super easy to build and less than $5.

 

[jamesm]

Have you looked into making a Hofer Gurgle Buster? Super easy to build and less than $5.

Never heard of a Hofer Gurgle Buster? How do you make one?

 

[happyhourhero]

The old links are not up anymore it seems. Google hofer gurgle buster and watch the youtubes or read the many threads about them. My overflow is silent because of it.

 

[Eckolancer]

I had a similar problem. Drilled a small 1/4"-5/16" hole in the top of my down pipe. Stuck in a short length of air line tubing with a valve on top. I also put a valve on my drain line so I could control the flow and didn't get the toilet flushing effect. The only thing I hear now is the water falling over the overflow teeth. With the valve you can control how high to keep the water in the overflow compartment to eliminate a long water fall.

Go with this option or if you can have 3 drains setup a herbie style drain. Quietest drain ever with fail safe.