Why is my output not stabilizing?

[JCOLE]

Hello everyone,

I moved in my 150 gallon over the weekend. Made 175 gallons of saltwater and finally had it up and running. After turning on the pumps I am having a hard time getting my overflow to stabilize. This only happens when I start to turn up the return flow. Once reduced then it stops. Any suggestions?


Here is a shot from my sump. I had 12" return tubes in the water. I removed them thinking that might be the cause and it still didn't fix it.

 

[Mjrenz]

It looks to me like you may need a hole in the top of the overflow to let air in, it's siphoning until a little air is let in from the hole in the side

 

[JCOLE]

It looks to me like you may need a hole in the top of the overflow to let air in, it's siphoning until a little air is let in from the hole in the side

It is the Marineland kit. It has a hole on top with a tube in it. Wonder if it is not getting enough air?

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I have a Marineland 180. I first set it up with durso like yours. What happens is the water and air build up in the pipe until the water eventually pushes out the exit and burbs so to speak. That is why your level in the overflow goes up and down. Kinda like if you have ever poured in a lot of water into a toilet, eventually it will flush on its own.
I never got them tuned in correct, when you turn up the pump it overloads the pipe so to speak, when you slow it down it has a more gentile flow

You have dual drains and dual returns? You can set up a herbie style.

 

[JCOLE]

I have a Marineland 180. I first set it up with durso like yours. What happens is the water and air build up in the pipe until the water eventually pushes out the exit and burbs so to speak. That is why your level in the overflow goes up and down. Kinda like if you have ever poured in a lot of water into a toilet, eventually it will flush on its own.
I never got them tuned in correct, when you turn up the pump it overloads the pipe so to speak, when you slow it down it has a more gentile flow

You have dual drains and dual returns? You can set up a herbie style.

Yes I do. I have dual. I am still recovering from this weekend. My back is killing me from all the under cabinet pipe work. I cant even think about changing it...lol

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Yes I do. I have dual. I am still recovering from this weekend. My back is killing me from all the under cabinet pipe work. I cant even think about changing it...lol

I hear that. I redid my plumbing last month, could barely get up after I finished.

A few thing you can do. You can slow down the return pump somewhat. With the dual drains you should still have a fair amount of turn over. If you do that I would dial up the flow in the tank to compensate.

I found a few vids online where people tuned the overflows to get rid of the noise. Google noisy durso. There were a few things I found to help me silence them somewhat. I never got a 100z constant water line in the overflows but close and noise did go down but never completely lost that burb effect

 

[dadnjesse]

I found with the Durso if you adapt the drain from 1" to 1 1/2 with a 3 way tee I use a 45 degree and about 3" on the top of the tee with a cap, I gives the pipe some air before it goes into the sump. That's the only way mine would work and mine is almost silent it's in my bedroom.

 

[dadnjesse]

Like this

 

[JCOLE]

I hear that. I redid my plumbing last month, could barely get up after I finished.

A few thing you can do. You can slow down the return pump somewhat. With the dual drains you should still have a fair amount of turn over. If you do that I would dial up the flow in the tank to compensate.

I found a few vids online where people tuned the overflows to get rid of the noise. Google noisy durso. There were a few things I found to help me silence them somewhat. I never got a 100z constant water line in the overflows but close and noise did go down but never completely lost that burb effect

Noise isnt that bad. I just didn't have a decent amount of return flow for a 150. I bumped it up last night and played with it. It seems to be holding steady for now. The only thing is my sump is started to have small shakes from all the flow in the sump.

Do you think it would be best to keep the return flow to a minimum and add more power heads?

 

[JCOLE]

I found with the Durso if you adapt the drain from 1" to 1 1/2 with a 3 way tee I use a 45 degree and about 3" on the top of the tee with a cap, I gives the pipe some air before it goes into the sump. That's the only way mine would work and mine is almost silent it's in my bedroom.

Thank you. If I cannot figure this out then I will give this a try.

 

[JCOLE]

Like this

Is that top cap removable?

 

[DarthSimon]

Is your drain in the sump above or below the water line?

 

[MikeW9788]

I'm going to follow this thread, my dursos are finicky on my marineland 180, much noisier then my previous single durso marinelands

 

[dadnjesse]

Is that top cap removable?

Yes. Also my drain used to surge until I did this.

 

[Foothill Corals]

It looks to me like you may need a hole in the top of the overflow to let air in, it's siphoning until a little air is let in from the hole in the side

I agree with this. The vent hole needs to be higher up and out of the water at all times.


I would consider converting it over to a Herbie style drain since you have dual overflows.