Air in my drain hose? Help

[codeblue48]

I just set up my new aqueon 65 gallon tank with built in overflow. I am using the supplied bulkheads and have hosing for both the drain and return lines going into my sump. The problem I am having is with the drain hose. There is a lot of air in it or something. This results in an uneven stream of water that drains into my sump, which in turn is creating a lot of noise (the gf is going crazy :eek1:) I have run the system for over 24hrs and the air hasn't passed through (if in fact it is trapped air that is causing this). The return line on the other hand is preforming flawlessly. You can't even tell water is travelling through it.

Is it possible that my return pump is simply not pushing enough water, thus resulting in low flow through my drain line? I should note that the drain line is larger in diameter than my return line is. I did it this way because the tank is designed with different sized bulkheads in the overflow (so I had no other choice). The pump I have is a mag drive 7. Thanks for any help you can give me.

[NBE1]

Tell her it's not my fault :wavehand:

[WayOfTheReef]

Youtube Durso stand pipe, you can make your own, it will silence the drain.
If you already glued the pipe pieces together, you can also drill a hole big enough to snugly insert an airline hose tubing to create a vent just like the one in the durso. Drill a small enough hole right on top of the 90 degree elbow piece of the overflow pipe (the first elbow that points the pipe downward from the overflow). Insert an airline hose in the hole, make sure it's a few inches long to prevent water from splashing out. the hole creates an air vent for the air to escape, like the durso, to silence the noise.

[codeblue48]

thanks for the help, but I already have a similar setup. The megaflow from aqueon is just like the durso standpipe. The problem I am having is down below my tank. The water in my drain hose that empties into my sump is full of air and gurgles constantly as it exists. It creates lots of turbulence and air bubbles in my sump.

[gnasher]

If I understand the problem correctly, it seems like the bubbles are getting trapped in the line because the flow isn't fast enough to drag them through it. The flow rate through both lines is dictated by the pump, which is fine and doesn't need to be changed. The actual speed of the water traveling through it though is also affected by the diameter of the hose. A smaller diameter will result in a faster water speed for a given flow rate.

Now there may be a better solution to this, but what I did with a similar problem was to use an adapter with the drain line to decrease its diameter about six inches below the overflow. With this setup, water pours silently from the overflow into the wide hose, but completely fills (no bubbles) the top of the adapter. From there, the same flow rate drags any detritus/air because it's faster, and there's nothing but water in the line.

If you decide to do this, the new smaller drain diameter you choose will still have to be larger than the return line diameter because the only thing driving flow through it is gravity, so you'll still need less resistance. This worked for me, but may not be an appropriate solution for your tank. For reference, my return pump is about 90 Gph with a 3/8" diameter line, and I switched from a 1" diameter return hose to 1/2".

[sandwi54]

thanks for the help, but I already have a similar setup. The megaflow from aqueon is just like the durso standpipe. The problem I am having is down below my tank. The water in my drain hose that empties into my sump is full of air and gurgles constantly as it exists. It creates lots of turbulence and air bubbles in my sump.

i'm not quite sure what the problem is. water is pulled by gravity from the overflow along with air in the durso standpipe, and drops straight down by four to five feet. the velocity of the water rushing into the sump is sure going to generate noise and bubbles, which come from the air being pulled into the standpipe. that's normal operation.

one thing you can do to reduce the turbulence is to have the drain pipes sit 1" below the sump water surface. this prevents the drain water from splashing onto the sump water causing noise. another thing to do is to have a filter sock on the drain line. this will reduce the gurgling noise but you will have to change the sock every 3-4 days to prevent nitrate issue.