Overflow Sump Flow

[Rscomia]

That may be why you are not getting much flow out of it Take a look at this http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f20/diy-pvc-overflow-153636.html

 

[Rscomia]

I think you need a pipe turned back up to

 

[mrbee2828]

I think it's basically the same design. In yours you have the water falling down inside a small pipe and then it goes back up and over. Mine just falls down inside a larger overflow style "box" and goes up and over the tank. What is your return pump rated at? I would think mine would drain more than yours because you have 2 small pipes feeding 1 equal sized pipe over the back. I have to small pipes feeding a much larger pip on the back.

 

[Rscomia]

My return pump is 1384 gallons a hour Im using inch and half pipe It actually increased the rate to add the second pipe that is turned up

 

[mrbee2828]

Interesting. Well let's see what the new pump does in a few days. My pump is doing probably a lot less that the 700 it says it's rated at

 

[Rscomia]

I would say mine is doing less than that because that is a freshwater rating not a saltwater rating which tends to be a little less

 

[Rscomia]

I did one out of .75 pvc in a freshwater using the same pump and the same method and made a spray bar like you have and had to take it off because it sounded like a shower running underneath my tank

 

[mrbee2828]

When the water level is a bit higher on the overflow teeth, the gurgling goes away. As for the sump portion, it's actually pretty quite but I have that homemade cover over it and an enclosed stand. I don't know... it's only been 3 days and this is my first "large" tank.

Honestly, I don't think I have a bad flow rate, I just thought it would be better. Even if it's running at 500gph, it's running 10x the tank volume or so. Thanks for helping out btw!

 

[Rscomia]

No problem. That's why I put the screens on the one in my picture it made the overflow quiet

 

[mrbee2828]

Does anyone know what type of pump this guy has here with the airline tubing that is pulling air out of the check valves?

DIY PVC overflow - YouTube

 

[carey]

Its an aqualifter pump. I have it on my overflow

 

[mrbee2828]

Sweet thanks! I have the overflow tubes hooked up to my powerhead but it doesn't seem to have much pull.

 

[mrbee2828]

I used my dremel with a drill bit to cut the grooves another 1/2" deeper today. I should get another 1.2gal in the sump if power were to fail. I also cut the refugium wall down about 1" as well. Cutting that gives me another 0.21gal space in the sump. Testing a power outage, the water is pretty close to the rim but everything seems good. I may trim it down another 1" though to make up for the added depth on the overflow teeth. I have to think on it. It's not pretty now but it's doing the job. I can tell that the new pump will make a flow difference for sure. It's too bad that it won't be here until the 20th.

I have had this going for a few hours now and having the deeper teeth makes 110% difference on the noise. The overflow is dead silent. You can hear the lower spray bar a bit from behind the stand so if I make a quick back for the stand I think it will reduce that as well.

 

[AquaRick]

Glad that you were able to reduce the noise on the overflow. Could you glue something to the inside of the stand walls to dampen and soak up the noise further? I'm thinking like eggcrate sponge? Used it in the past in the garage for band practice. Seemed to make a difference back in the day. I'll be doing the same once my stand comes a bit more along.

 

[mrbee2828]

Possibly, I'm not complaining... it's almost silent right now which is amazing. I think if I just did some super thin board across the back like the MDF entertainment stuff at target etc has it maybe be 100%. You definitely can't hear it through the stand. In fact, the thing making the most noise is the 550 powerhead I have near the surface and the air pump below! I'm wondering if newer air pumps are quieter than this old school one I have.

 

[AquaRick]

Whoa. Glad to hear things are so quiet. Let me know how things turn out with the new pump.

 

[scottayy]

My pumps, which are new, are pretty quiet. They can get noisy if they're vibrating against acrylic but for the most part it's just a solid light hum.

 

[mrbee2828]

ok I'm lost now. I have the new pump in the sump and it's of course crazy powerful. I've dialed the ball valve almost all the way down to prevent the sump being drained.

It appears that the flow still can't keep up. The problem appears to be bubbles in the overflow I think. Where are they coming from?!?!?!? They seem to be breaking 1 of the 2 siphons The drain can't keep up at all. I'm not sure why the bubbles are appearing at the bottom of the overflow. Is this normal??? No right? Is the water falling too low and causing bubbles in the "box" or is air being pulled from the primer pipe or something? Here is a video:

 

[David S]

I would try this setup without the spraybars to test it,the flow in the overflow should move any air bubbles all the way round to the sump + your return section is very small.turn everthing off and fill the dt tank until the sump water level is at the highest point you want it to go in a power cut,again do this without the spraybars.remember spraybars are normally pumped not gravity fed.

 

[mrbee2828]

ok I took off the spray bar end and after some additional tweaking I have the return all the way open and the intake seems to be matching. So my plan now is to just drill hug holes in the spray bar and try again or to hack the pipe in 1/2 and have is pour all over the filter pads. Thanks!

NOW... this thing is LOUD. It sounds like I'm at Niagara Falls with 400 toilets flushing. What can I do lol.