Overlfow making a ton of noise!!!

[crister13]

I found them online at a place called grainger which has a store 7.5 miles from my house. Hopefully I can get there tomorrow. One last question. Does the Sealant ring thing go on the inside of the tank or the outside? I would assume inside just wondering though.

 

[coffeetwitch]

correct, the seal goes on the inside of the tank.

 

[crister13]

How do I tell what size the other bulkhead is eithough taking it out? I had a spare of the other. I think it's 1". Thanks do much for the help so far. How much do I tighten it??? I don't want to crack the glass.

 

[coffeetwitch]

i personally cant tell you how to tell. hopefully someone else can chime in.

like i said earlier, the common sizes are 1" for your drain and 3/4" for your return. if you take your spare one in they can help you determine that size. do you know if its the same sized bulkhead for your whole tank? like can you hold it up to the ones currently installed and see if the outside diameter of the spare is the same as the rest of them?

to install, just go hand tight and maybe half a turn more with some pliers. make sure the seal is flat on the inside of the aquarium with no kinks. you may be able to see the seal squish some. to me thats tight enough. if you get any leaks, slowly tighten until it stops. but i doubt you will get any.

 

[Keithhjs]

If the bulkhead in your picture is the same on your tank now, take it with you to grainger & match up the OD (outside diameter) of the make (external) threads. If you are still unsure weather it is 1" or 3/4" after that due to them possibly having the same OD (which I doubt they are) get the 1" and a couple 1" x 3/4" bushings just in case, then you are coveted either way. Also, you can adapt to the bulkheads you already have but it would most likely be easier to put in new ones. There are fittings however that would allow you to go from hose barb (as pictured as the bulkhead you have now) to either MIP or FIP ( male iron pipe / female iron pipe). You then would add a MIP or FIP x slip adapter. I strongly suggest you go the new bulkhead route tho. Also note that just because I used iron pipe in the mip/FIP description that only refers to style and not material, i.e. PVC not steel for this application.

I meant male threads not make threads in the beginning, dang auto correct!

 

[crister13]

Thank you. I know the bulkheads for the return are 3/4" so I'm assuming the others are 1" because they are def bigger. Right???

 

[Keithhjs]

I would think so. I doubt you have metric ones and finding bulkheads in 1/8" sizes is uncommon. I would think on a 150 your overflows would be drilled to accommodate a one inch. If you could post a pic of the underside of the tank with a tape measure beside the adapter I could most likely positive id the size/type for you.

 

[crister13]

Well im positive one is 3/4" as it says it on the spare of the exact same size. Ill try to take a pic afterwards. The small one is 3/4" for comparison.

 

[crister13]

Here. Remember the smaller one is 3/4". Best pic I could get sorry.

 

[Keithhjs]

Ya if the smaller (return) is 3/4" then I would have to say that the other (drain overflow) is a 1". If you decide to run the new lines hardpiped I would suggest adding a union for disassembly/maintenance later. Personally I use a truunion ball valve for that & throttling ability. Also, if you are planning on hardpiping the return line keep in mind pump noise (vibration) level could increase, so keeping a section of tubing off the pump then transitioning to rigid PVC will help with that.

 

[ccCapt]

I may have missed it, but what do you think you will accomplish by changing from flexible lines to solid PVC?

 

[crister13]

I want to be able to add valves and things and I just like the look alot more. My mom gets scared about the flex tubing "falling out" of the sump because it is just resting in there. I want ball valves on the return and eat overflow so I can adjust how much watercress out of which. Thanks for the help so far!!!! And would it increase noise a lot???

 

[Keithhjs]

My pump is a lifeguard quietone 4000 and when I hardpiped it it was so loud you could hear it three rooms away with doors closed. I tried many vibration dampening solutions & nothing minimized it. I had lifeguard send me a replacement pump and that did not help at all. Finally the owner of lifeguard to me I was most likely getting too much vibration from the the hard PVC. He advised I ran a section of it in flexible line to reduce vibration noise. I ran about 8" of vinyl off the pump and it cleared up the noise drastically.

 

[crister13]

Actually I was just thinking of this. Right now I already have PVC directly on the pump for a fitting and then vinyl so vibration shouldn't be too different right? I have about 6" of PVC now.

 

[crister13]

Ok, the place had them but they were $20 a piece which I think is ridiculous. Is there any way I can mod mine????

 

[ccCapt]

You can get valves to fit on flexible tubing, and I would never put a valve on a drain line.

 

[Keithhjs]

Lol I have valves everywhere. Being a plumber I have a deep appreciation for valves. Why would you never put one on a drain? Makes zero sense to me.

 

[Keithhjs]

Ok, the place had them but they were $20 a piece which I think is ridiculous. Is there any way I can mod mine????

You cab get bulkheads (tank adapters) at most aquarium supply stores and online try these:
Marinedepot.com
Aquariumguys.com
And I got mine here:http://www.truvuaquariums.com/sc40bufi.html

 

[ccCapt]

Lol I have valves everywhere. Being a plumber I have a deep appreciation for valves. Why would you never put one on a drain? Makes zero sense to me.

Think about it.
Would you put a shut off valve on the drain line on a sink? And if not....why? And if you should, do you normally install them?

 

[Keithhjs]

Drain for a sink would not get a valve. Not unless it had constant flow and could not be interrupted and required servicing. However many drain lines, from such applications as storage tanks and whatnot will. All depends on the drain. In an aquarium, such as mine, I have dual overflows and one side is considerably louder than the other. With valves on both drain lines it allows me to throttle down the louder side to quiet it and still get flow. Furthermore, I had an anemone decide it wanted to campout on the side of an overflow box. Started getting sucked in & I couldn't remove it without damaging it's foot. With valves installed, I was able to stop flow on that side and allow the anemone to right itself and then move (due to change in current), all while still minting flow through a sump. Sorry crister if thread got jacked.