Gurgling sound in Sump

[afilter]

OK about two weeks ago I cleaned out the sump for the first time since setting it up last fall. Now I am getting air down the stand pipe/drain hose which makes a loud gurgling sound in the sump. The drain hose is submerged due to the sump design.

I have tried raising and lowering the stand pipe with no luck. :?

It is an all glass mega flow system with the mega flow pumbing. It did this for a short time when I first set it up, but quickly quieted down. I was hoping that would be the case this time with no luck.

Getting very frustrated.

Any thoughts?

 

[ColdFish]

Hmm, I have the same setup as you know, and adjusting the standpipe height quieted mine down. My drain hose is submerged also, but not all that deep. I plumbed with PVC up to the point where I put a 90-degree elbow directly over where I wanted it in the sump, then went down from there with just a piece of press-fit flex hose. I'm maybe 1-2" down into the water.

My first thought is maybe some back pressure from having the drain too deep in the sump, but I'm far from an expert on this kind of stuff. When I split the drain to also feed my fuge, that was making noise also, but I cut that pipe more shallow and that also stopped.

Not sure why your problem would have just started after a cleaning though. Doesn't seem to make sense.

 

[ryguy]

I agree with coldfish. Sounds like a backpressure problem. I would modify it so you have no more than 1.5" of pipe under water in the sump.

 

[afilter]

The challenge I have is the sump is designed for the water to enter from the bottom flow up through bio media, filter pads and carbon and then spill over into the next compartment.

It worked before.

I did play with the hose last night to include removing it from water, but air is still coming down the drain.

I was able to reposition it so the bubbles no longer make the gurgling sound coming up through the filtration media. It is acceptable for now, but there is still air coming out.

Just wondering if anyone else ever had this issue or if there is a trick to adjusting the stand pipe.

TIA,

 

[ryguy]

I had the same problem and it drove me nuts.... I spent way too much time adjusting the height of the stand pipe and the amount of air it was drawing. Then I read that the backpressure could be the cause so I cut the pipe into the sump so it was just below the surface and that made all the difference in the world. Then again, I remember another guy having the same problem, but my solution didn't work for him though.

I lose sleep over this type of stuff. I'm still constantly adjusting to try and optimize it. I have it much quieter with no gurgling, but still a ton of bubbles are being produced in the first section of my sump.

I have resorted to bioballs in the first chamber to defuse the bubbles....it works, but I worry about them crashing my system eventually....
LOL.... my intention wasn't to hijack your thread when I started writing but now I realize I got questions.....sorry.


How long would you let them sit before taking them out to clean them?
How would you go about cleaning the bioballs?

my sump then goes through a fuge and then into its final chamber. Between the fuge and the last chamber, is an over-and-under baffle with a few bioballs and some filter floss. Its purpose is to keep the macros out of the main tank and diffuse remnant microbubbles.

It's not the ideal setup, but it's all I can think of that seems to do the trick. My only worry is the longterm effect of the bioballs, even if they aren't being intentionally used for filtration. Thoughts?

 

[afilter]

Well, I cleaned my bio balls at the 6 month mark just by removing them and then rinsing in used SW. That is what brought about the current situation.

For now the gurgling is gone, but still getting bubbles. Back pressure may be an issue, but it was not doing it before. i do not want to shorten the drain hose as the design of my sump depends on the hose going to the bottom.

 

[ryguy]

you washed your balls in used SW?

 

[afilter]

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!

Nice and sparking clean...your terrible!

 

[ryguy]

Come to think of it.....I am terrible!

 

[ColdFish]

I use one of those filter socks in my sump intake. No bioballs or anything inside, but just there as rough pre-filter and bubbletrap. It does a pretty good job at trapping uneaten food, and works great on the bubbles. It also lets me know when it's time to pull it out and clean it. As it starts to get clogged, the water level inside that bag rises. This puts my drain line deeper into the water and my overflow gurgles. Giving the bag a good rinse always returns everything back to normal and the overflow quiets down right away.

My setup has the drain line from the tank tee'd with one side (and most of the flow) going into the filter bag. The other leg of the drain line passes through a ball valve to my fuge which is connected by a couple of bulkheads and some PVC to the return chamber in the sump. The sump compartment with the filter sock also has my skimmer in it. The filter sock is also the main reason that I used the press-fit flex hose going down into the sump, rather than just using PVC. I can just pull the flex hose out of the elbow and set it aside when I need to pull the filter sock for cleaning. HTH

Not much help here to you afilter, but thought it might give ryguy some ideas. The filter socks work pretty effectively at getting rid of microbubbles, but also need regular cleaning to avoid problems.

 

[ColdFish]

Oh, and I never need to clean my balls

 

[afilter]

Still......ROTFLMAO!!!

ColdFish, you should get some and try it....really quite relaxing.