Noisy overflow

dmcor · 01-30-2006, 01:06 AM

Any ideas to quiet the water in the overflow. I am using a few bio balls but am concerned about they trapping detritus. Any alternate ideas?

I am new at this and have 14 kids - big family project.

Dan

asilefx · 01-30-2006, 03:51 AM

What's mostly causing the noise in the overflow, Pump, Skimmer? My noise was being caused by my skimmer, there are many ways to fix that.
Long piece of netting hanging from the skimmer to the water worked for me.

If it's actually from the water flowing into the sump there are some ways of dealing with it. Is your tank drilled?, tube from tank to sump. If so make sure the tube doesn't hang lower than the water in the sump, it can cause extra air and cause some noise.

Blade_Runner · 01-30-2006, 10:00 AM

14 Kids!
And you can hear anything?!
And have time for a marine tank?!

You would have to haul me off to the loony bin.

rickzter · 01-30-2006, 01:43 PM

haha Blade, that's what I said too! "14 kids!" I'm pretty sure he's reffering to the fish in the aquarium... are you?

Is the noise a gurggling gurgling type of noise? I solved it by shorting out the piece of PVC I placed on it to slow the water down in the sump. If it's too high, the water will want to go in all at once and temporarily clogged it with too much water and raise the level, then suddenly drop and cause the gurggling. Either that, or your using a long hose from the OF and the SUMP like mentioned.

kb.bear · 01-30-2006, 02:02 PM

alot of time you can solve noise by adding a peice of airline to the top of the overflow down tube. the airline should stick in to the down tube about 3"
this allows the downward motion of the water to suck air, it will no matter what, without gurggling

mmakay · 01-30-2006, 03:01 PM

You mention using bio-balls to quiet the problem ... how far is the water falling? Is the noise that of water falling a large distance before being "collected" by the standpipe? You are using a standpipe, right?

Photos are always helpful. Seeing the issue makes diagnosis much simpler.

kb.bear · 01-30-2006, 09:22 PM

I have never had long time luck with bio balls the Idea is to break up the air into little bubbles as it passes into the stand pipe, I used too advocate them about a year ago, but in the long run they only worked well on one of my tanks and only for several weeks. Now I really like the air line and have use it on several tanks

dmcor · 02-03-2006, 01:15 AM

Wow. Lots of advice. I am a bit confused. Got an overflow at the top of the water level. Water falls into a box (inside the tank) with a hole in the bottom connected to a 1" hose that goes to the sump which overflows into a refugium. The sump and refugium are not too noisy. The noise is from the water overflowing into the overflow -column where there is enough water wating to drain that it splashes and makes noise like a toilet. The guy at the pet shop said to put in some bio balls - that breaks up the water and does in fact make it quite a bit quieter. I just read that bio balls in the overflow will collect waste and exacerbat nitrate problems. How do you guys keep the water spilling over the overflow into the column that eventually drains into the sump quiet? (With 14 kids - no joke 14 - any peace I can get is valuable. Someone asked about a stand pipe. I do not think I have a stand pipe. Just a drain in the bottom of the overflow box.

Thanks for the help.

Dan

Jason McKenzie · 02-03-2006, 07:58 AM

So it's the overflow water dropping to the botton of the tank that is causeing the noise?

Try biulding a Derso overflow. It's really easy and cheap here is a Linkhttp://www.dursostandpipes.com/

Diver_1298 · 02-03-2006, 01:43 PM

A perfect response to a nasty noise. Kudos to Jason

Jim