Plumbing help

[ChaseBurke]

Hey everyone so in the video my main drain is really loud and and is putting a buch of air bubbles into the sump. I don't get how there is air when the part in the display is completely submerged. I put my hand over where it is dumping into the sump to try and get all the air out of the line but there is no way there is that much air in the line. Do i just need to extend the PVC further down into my sump?

 

[dbl]

I would start by extending it under the water further and see if it helps.

 

[WWIII]

Something isn't right? It's getting air from somewhere. Hard to tell in the video, but usually extending the pipe down further in the sump just makes it harder to purge the air in the pipe. Shouldn't be that much constant air though unless it's sucking it in from somewhere?

Maybe get a gate valve and try that? Or change the height of your standpipes?

 

[dbl]

In looking at the video again (and in the spirit of full disclosure - more carefully) it appears the drain (standpipe) in the overflow is not running at a full siphon or anywhere near it. It looks like it's trickling in to the down tube of the drain, thus full of air. Hard to tell from the short video. Is it noisy on top (at the drain section) also?

I'm not familiar with your tank but if you're getting a bunch of air in the drain, it's likely never going to be silent.

It does look like you have a valve on the drain line, so as mentioned above, you could try closing that a little or adjusting (lowering )your standpipe.

 

[WWIII]

Is there 3 drains? Full bean animal style? Or just 2? Ok, I looked again. If that white pipe with the elbow on it in the overflow is the main drain, then I would take that elbow off completely.

Just trying to piece together what's going on from the video.

 

[ChaseBurke]

full bean , it is completely silent at the top. I have tried it fully open and and almost all the way closed off. All the way open there are many bubbles and almost closed there are still a couple bubbles. Extend the pipe in my sump or shorten it? Also i closed the valve so i dont think it is sucking air through a loose fitting, otherwise when the valve is closed it would leak? if its sucking that much air.

 

[ChaseBurke]

Think it could be by my FMM i have on that line sucking air somehow?

 

[WWIII]

full bean , it is completely silent at the top. I have tried it fully open and and almost all the way closed off. All the way open there are many bubbles and almost closed there are still a couple bubbles. Extend the pipe in my sump or shorten it? Also i closed the valve so i dont think it is sucking air through a loose fitting, otherwise when the valve is closed it would leak? if its sucking that much air.

I just don't think making the pipe longer or shorter in the sump currently will make all that much difference honestly. That's a ton of bubbles. Is there an elbow on the top of the main siphon drain? I would take that off if there is and see if that helps. If it's completely under water I'm just not sure where that many bubbles is coming from?

 

[WWIII]

Think it could be by my FMM i have on that line sucking air somehow?

That's a possibility? I'm not really sure how it wouldn't leak water though like you said. I dunno, we need some more eyes on this thing.

Edit - there's nothing making a bunch of bubbles in your overflow is there?

 

[dbl]

I agree extending the pipe under water a little more may not help, but it's worth a try. I know I personally had to take mine down about 6 inches to make it silent. So it may be worth a try and it should be easy enough, even with a coupler and short piece of pvc just to see if it helps.

I'll tag the #reefsquad here to see if we can get some other ideas.

 

[Amoo]

cut a piece of RODI tubing about 6" long and stick it about half way down the main return. You'll have to play with it a little bit to get it just right, but once you find the right height on the tubing, it will quiet that thing right up.

 

[ChaseBurke]

I will try and mess with it tonight when i get off work. Yeah Night shift... But yeah it has a T with an elbow coming out one side and a run of pvc to suck up detritus on the bottom of the overflow. http://www.innovative-marine.com/nuvo-aquarium/manuals/NUVO_INT_Manual.pdf
it should be easy to try some different length pipes going into the sump. thanks for the input guys.

 

[ChaseBurke]

@Amoo leaving the rodi line in water or air?

 

[Amoo]

Stick the tubing into the return pipe itself. This suctions out air from the pipe via the tube and will help quiet down the return.

 

[Idoc]

Is your main siphon line the black line that appears to be entering the overflow closest to the camera at the beginning of the video? If so, the top of it looks like there are slits in the top black piece which would be sucking air! If that's not the pipe...possibly not cuz the video is difficult to understand...might want to remake it and point out which line is actually your full siphon line...and then also show it completely underthe stand from the tank bulkhead to the sump.

Either way, you have a leak at one of your connections.... probably at valve. I had a leak (tiny crack in the gate valve) that sucked a lot of air into the pipe as the water descended.

 

[Amoo]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/amoos-pasture-60-gallon-shallow-reef.321966/page-2#post-4041522

 

[WWIII]

I would say getting rid of the T and anything attached, just leaving a completely open pipe for the main siphon would fix the problem. That may not be something you want to do however, I'm not familiar with the detritus picker upper deal, so you can try some other things (suggestions above) first and then cut all that off as a last resort if it's driving you nuts. In a perfect bean animal setup, there will be none, or very very few bubbles coming from the main siphon alone.

Good luck! Give us an update if you get it sorted or not.

 

[TheEngineer]

If you open the valve on that drain completely does it suck air at the surface in the overflow? Is your pump running at full speed?

 

[ChaseBurke]

Sorry not following and my last post didn't make sense. Cut about 6" stick one end in return and do i leave the other end of the Rodi tubing in air or under water?

 

[Amoo]

Sorry not following and my last post didn't make sense. Cut about 6" stick one end in return and do i leave the other end of the Rodi tubing in air or under water?

leave it in the air. You don't have enough water flow to develop a full siphon from what it looks like in your picture, because of this air is getting in the line and you're hearing that. The tube helps suck the air out and gets rid of the noise. So bottom into the tube a few inches in, top into the air.