Quiet overflow for single drain

[jsanchez]

Hello All!

I'm setting up a Advanced Acrylics 24x24x8 (20 gallon) frag tank and It only has a single 1" drain hole. Is their a way I can set the overflow up to be quiet?
Beananimal and herbie methods use multiple drains to achieve dead silence but drilling another whole isn't a option. I know I can run a 1" pvc going about 5.5"
up and that will help eliminate the splashing sound but it won't get rid of the gurgle noise. And from my understanding Durso pips are not reliable and can cause t
anks to overflow if clogged? Any help would be appreciated. Return pump will be a either a sicce 1.5 (357gph) or mag drive 3 (350gph) with the pump being 5'1" from return bulkhead.

 

[LostInTheDark]

I cap the pipe with a pvc "T", drilling a hole in the top and insert a 1/4" air tube to break the siphon noise. I've done this since the '70's and never had a problem. Its very simple and cost nothing. A rarity in this overpriced and complicated hobby.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I'm not sure why you think a durso would cause a flood....especially in a frag tank. Here is all it takes to make your own durso.





You also need to drill a small hole in the top of the end cap.





And finally, you'll have to play with making sure it is at the right depth of water. You can easily do that by including a coupling fitting where one side in not glued up. Have varous lengths of pipe to replace that one end of the durso to see which one works best. Hope that makes sense.




Now the only negative I can see with having a durso with a sawtooth overflow is that you're not skimming off the surface of the water.

 

[jsanchez]

Do durso standpipes need to be "primed" when power goes out? Or does gravity flow it to the sump? Is there a over flow method I could use that would give positive surface skimming?
Is the pic above kinda like what you mentioned LostInTheDark minus the street elbow? It doesn't need to be dead silent as it won't be in a bed room but quieter is never bad.

 

[maroun.c]

No need for priming a durso. And if the air vent is or the hole is covered by rising water it turns into a full syphon.

 

[jsanchez]

From what I've read I thought 1" durso pipes where useless and didn't silence the overflow much. Would that be due to too much flow? I'd only be running about 3-4x turnover rate.

 

[LostInTheDark]

Is the pic above kinda like what you mentioned @LostInTheDark minus the street elbow? It doesn't need to be dead silent as it won't be in a bed room but quieter is never bad.

If you turn the "T" 90 degrees so the 2 ends let the water in at the surface that would be it. It allows for surface skimming. The 1/4" air tube breaks any siphon making it virtually silent. You need to play with the tube to get the right depth. Only maintenance is to clear the calcium buildup at the end of the air hose every few months.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Try the Stockman standpipe with a small piece of airline tubing stuck down the drilled hole so it quiets the air intake. Much quieter than the original Durso and extremely reliable.

 

[jsanchez]

I just saw the vid from mad hatter reefs on YouTube showing the stockman and I really liked it. But sadly it also doesn't seem to provide and surface skimming. The display section of the tank should be getting surfaced skimmed via my overflow box but the water in the overflow won't be surface skimmer at all. Not sure how big of a draw back that is.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Why do you think it won't skim the surface? A 1" standpipe is capable of 960 GPH if matched with a similar sized return pump which provides all sorts of skimming. I use a single 1" Stockman in an an offset center overflow in a 60" x 18" x23" 100G mixed reef that is 13 years old and never had a problem with surface scum. Everything is eventually drawn to the overflow or if not point the return or a powerhead at the surface to agitate things and break it up so it gets skimmed out.

 

[Calmbeast]

I was about build a durso until I just saw the same vid on the Stockman. I like the idea. Did you build it the same way, AZ?

 

[jsanchez]

I guess I failed to realize that once the water flows into the overflow it gets mixed and swirled up so the surface scum would still get mixed in the water back there.

 

[AZDesertRat]

You make your standpipe a little shorter than the overflow box is tall so it drops over and mixes before going down the standpipe. It is even easy to use what landscapers call a telescope so you can adjust the height a couple of inches up or down to fine tune it.

Its been so long, all the pictures I have of my standpipe construction are stored on CD's somewhere, that was several digital cameras and computers ago. I need to dig them up though as a couple reefers are interested in my stand and canopy construction, sump build and my fan placement in the canopy to keep things cool.

 

[jsanchez]

Well a durso stand pipe is a complete no go. The fittings are way to large for my tank so I'm going to have to try the Stockman when my sump is done.

 

[bitzerjd]

That was my experience....I could never get the Durso design to be quiet.

I went with a simple standpipe with a strainer at the top. I control the flow with a simple gate valve. Super quiet. The sump/tank is setup that if it would clog there is not enough water in the sump to overflow the tank.

It has been running this way for 12 years.....no issues.

From what I've read I thought 1" durso pipes where useless and didn't silence the overflow much. Would that be due to too much flow? I'd only be running about 3-4x turnover rate.

 

[Be102]

I cap the pipe with a pvc "T", drilling a hole in the top and insert a 1/4" air tube to break the siphon noise. I've done this since the '70's and never had a problem. Its very simple and cost nothing. A rarity in this overpriced and complicated hobby.

Do you have a picture of your setup?

 

[theMeat]

Diy stockman standpipe is the way to go

How many gallons in display?
What return pump?

 

[Cbones1979]

I cap the pipe with a pvc "T", drilling a hole in the top and insert a 1/4" air tube to break the siphon noise. I've done this since the '70's and never had a problem. Its very simple and cost nothing. A rarity in this overpriced and complicated hobby.

Can you show this in a picture?