Megaflow and sump. Noise prob.

[MAXreefer]

This my first tank with sump setup and my question may sound stupid to some pros here.

I have a tank with a built-in overflow box.
I am using the Megaflow overflowkit. I installed it properly but I have a terrible noise and bubble problem in the first chamber of the sump.

The drainpipe has a little hole on the side (I understood this was for safety if there is a failure in the system)
There is also on top a little hole (air intake) which sucks air. This stays always over the water level in the overflow box no matter how low or high I adjust the pipe.
Now the air getting sucked in gets down to the sump of course and produces the noise and bubbles.

What could be wrong here?

Michael

[MC Lighting]

well the hole on top of the u-tube is supposed to be above the water level I have found that if I mess with mine I can find a point where it does not gurggle quite as much...

[MJAnderson]

Michael,

Try to do a search for megaflow and noise. There are literally dozens of approaches to making this quieter.

The top hole is supposed to be above water. Air has to get into the system somehow. Balancing how much air vs. how much water you're trying to push through it is what you're looking for if oyu don't want to modify. What kind of return pump are you using?

[NewSchool04]

have you tried to raise or lower your pipe? It's adjustable and usually fiddling with it for 5 minutes or so you can find the sweet spot.

[prugs]

The amount of noise in the sump depends on the size of the return pump. There are many way to quiet down the sump, but we need to know the return pump size.

[MAXreefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10473151#post10473151 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by prugs
The amount of noise in the sump depends on the size of the return pump. There are many way to quiet down the sump, but we need to know the return pump size.

Thank you for all the quick replies.

The return pump is a Turbo-Sea 1090 (1090 GPH).

NewSchool04:
If I lower the adjustable drainpipe the water level in the overflow box goes down also accordingly. Is that ok? or should the water level in the box not be all the way up at the same level at the tank water?

Michael

[hndakd]

doesnt really matter you just want to move the pipe until you get to a satisfactory noise level. Do you have any bends or sags in your drain pipe? I have noticed that the straighter and more level my drain pipe is the less flushing and gurgling i get.

[hllywd]

It should be lower, the surface scum won't be collected if it's not.

Is you drain pipe submerged?

Hmmmm..... also how many over flows? 1 Mega Flow is rated for 600gph if Im not mistaken. If you only have one you may be pushing it too hard and need to throttle the pump back with a ball valve on the output side....

Tim

[NewSchool04]

I like the water to fall about an inch to cut down the water fall sound but you can have it at any level that you choose.

Is the noise coming from the overflow or in your sump? Is the water level in the overflow going up and down?

I've always had good luck with building my drain pipe underneath the tank with two 90 elbows. A straight line from the bulkead, 90 elbo then another straight line then 90 elbo into the sump.

[MAXreefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10473546#post10473546 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hllywd
It should be lower, the surface scum won't be collected if it's not.

Is you drain pipe submerged?

Hmmmm..... also how many over flows? 1 Mega Flow is rated for 600gph if Im not mistaken. If you only have one you may be pushing it too hard and need to throttle the pump back with a ball valve on the output side....

Tim

- The drain pipe is submerged. Only the top part with the air intake is above the water.

- True 1 Mega Flow is rated for 600 GPH.
But the instructions on the pump says that the flow rate at 4 feet would be 835 GPH. The return in my setup is about 5 feet.

Michael

[MAXreefer]

Here is a picture to illustrate the intake to the sump.
Perhaps this might help?

http://web.mac.com/michaeldekort/iWeb/Site/Library_files/Return1.jpg

[hllywd]

Guess I should have specified the drain pipe in the sump...

I assume that ball valve is normally open? If not that's a recipe for disaster...

The "S trap" in the in the flexible hose probably has something to do with the noise, maybe try rigid PVC in it's place. Ditch the valve and use a couple of 45s to get there.

The actual flow you're getting from your pump may be contributing to that problem if the Mega Flow is close to or over it's limit. For example if you were only flowing 100 gph it would probably be dead silent. If you had a ball valve on the return side of the pump you could try this, at some point it will quiet down. That's why you need to modify your drain to get a less restrictive outflow.

A friend of mine has a wide open Mag 9 as a return on a single Mega Flow and its quiet with a similar flow at 4' or 5', his drain is rigid PVC though...

HTH
Tim

[MAXreefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10473816#post10473816 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hllywd
Guess I should have specified the drain pipe in the sump...

I assume that ball valve is normally open? If not that's a recipe for disaster...

The "S trap" in the in the flexible hose probably has something to do with the noise, maybe try rigid PVC in it's place. Ditch the valve and use a couple of 45s to get there.

The actual flow you're getting from your pump may be contributing to that problem if the Mega Flow is close to or over it's limit. For example if you were only flowing 100 gph it would probably be dead silent. If you had a ball valve on the return side of the pump you could try this, at some point it will quiet down. That's why you need to modify your drain to get a less restrictive outflow.

A friend of mine has a wide open Mag 9 as a return on a single Mega Flow and its quiet with a similar flow at 4' or 5', his drain is rigid PVC though...

HTH
Tim

Thanks for the info.
YES. The valve is normally open. I have 2 valves. One on the Drainpipe and one on the return pump. Closed both overnight as I wanted to shut down the system because of the noise.

I will go to the hardware store now and get some PVC pipes and elbows to get rid of the "S" tubing.

Michael

[MJAnderson]

Also, just because you can push flow through a system doesn't mean you should.

You don't mention the size of the tank of the size of the sump. Many people (myself included) only run about 3x the size of the sump through my returns. So my 72g gets about 250gph of return. Many reasons for this, but mainly noise, bubbles and why waste the electricty of using a 1100gph pump when you're only getting 830gph out of it. Also your skimmer can't process 830gph of flow, so why push it through the sytem. Some people like all that flow and consider it part of their tank flow.

I have about a 1" difference between my tank level and the level in my overflow. Also, make sure that ball valve is wide open! Restricting an overflow is bad.

[MAXreefer]

Here is another pic with the mod I did. Wanted to see first if it improves the noise problem so this is not the final plumbing I want but just a "trial".

I have a valve also behind the return pump and I closed this half way to reduce the flow going back to the tank.

Result:
Much less noise now but of course much less flow also in the sump.
What do you guys think?

Michael

http://web.mac.com/michaeldekort/iWeb/Site/Library_files/Return2.jpg

[hllywd]

Looks great! Definately more professional!
How did that affect the noise at full flow?

Tim

[MAXreefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10474925#post10474925 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hllywd
Looks great! Definately more professional!
How did that affect the noise at full flow?

Tim

Thank you Tim.

If I run the pump full flow the water just shoots into the sump like crazy producing quite some bubbles.
I guess the pump is just to strong on full flow for the sump as MJAnderson mentioned in an earlier post.

Michael

[hllywd]

Look at the drain pipe AGA uses in the Mega Flow sumps. It's a 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" PVC pipe with slots cut into it and a cap on the end if I remember right to soften/quiet the flow, or so it looks to me , dunno if that's their intent or not. Maybe something like that would help.

Tim