Sump gurgling issues

[rapoff]

Hello all! New here at reef 2 reef and just bought a 60 gallon cube with a 20 gallon sump. I do have minimal experience with reef tanks as I have a 25 AIO nano that’s been up for a year. I am expanding to a 60 gallon cube with a sump and I have no experience with sumps. The tank is top drilled for both intake and return. I am having issues with the sump as when I turn my pump speed up it gurgles and bubbles a lot down in the sump. What is the cause of this and how can I prevent this? Do I just need to run my pump at the lowest speed and use power heads to circulate the water? I did add some tubing for air intake thinking that it would mimic a durso drain but didn’t help much!
Thanks in advance for the advise!

 

[Mark Novack]

You can use the ball valve to slow the water and balance the drain speed to the pump but its MUCH easier and more consistent with a gate valve. It takes more fiddling with a ball valve than a gate valve.

 

[Ben.QLD2]

Make sure you keep a close eye on your drain inlet to ensure it never gets blocked. By the looks of that photo, you don't have an emergency drain.

 

[TheBear78]

As well as the above points it makes a big difference if the gurgling is coming from the drain area or return pump area. Typically, gurgling from an increased flow rate would indicate that the emergency drain is being used (which you don't appear to have) or the pump is sucking air due to running out of water.

 

[RocketEngineer]

I see several thing that are causing issues. The first is the drain hose is corrugated which means the water is going to tumble down the hose instead of flow smoothly. Replacing the drain pipe would be my first step.

Second, you may be pushing too much flow through the drain. You can adjust the rates by adding a valve to the outlet of the pump (which won’t hurt the pump) or if it’s adjustable, running it at a lower setting.

Third, if possible, consider replacing the screen with an overflow box. These provide surface skimming to remove gunk from the top of the water as well as minimizing the drain down when the pump turns off.

 

[nereefpat]

Hello all! New here at reef 2 reef and just bought a 60 gallon cube with a 20 gallon sump.

Welcome!

I am having issues with the sump as when I turn my pump speed up it gurgles and bubbles a lot down in the sump. What is the cause of this and how can I prevent this?

Gurgling means that too much water is going down the drain, causing air to be sucked down with it.

Do I just need to run my pump at the lowest speed and use power heads to circulate the water?

That's really the easiest solution. If you want to run higher flows through the sump quietly, you would have to change the plumbing.

Do NOT attempt to run a siphon by valving down the drain unless you add an extra emergency drain.