Sound of water pouring through intake strainer is driving me nuts.

[Ellemarley]

The 'higher pitch' sound of water passing through the top level of the intake strainer in my corner flow and dripping/splashing down onto the lower water is making me nuts. It's difficult to sleep through. Is there anything I can put in the corner flow to soften the noise? Would a towel or sponge or something like that work? Should I rig a piece of acrylic to 'splash' the water onto first? Help!

[AZBigJohn]

How far does your water fall? Can you move your "drain" up so the water level is higher and it doesn't fall so far? In my current tank build, I changed my dual rear corner overflows to Durso style pipes, and that raised the water level significantly, which caused a dramatic drop in the sound of the waterfall effect.

[Ahanix]

How far does your water fall? Can you move your "drain" up so the water level is higher and it doesn't fall so far? In my current tank build, I changed my dual rear corner overflows to Durso style pipes, and that raised the water level significantly, which caused a dramatic drop in the sound of the waterfall effect.

+2, the cornerflo's I have heard have been dead silent to where the only thing you can hear is the humm of the return pump. I would adjust the pipe height like the previous poster said, I've seen acrylic covers also sold, but that won't help as much... Does the tank have a canopy on it?

[Ellemarley]

No canopy... I didn't build the tank and have no clue how to adjust the height of the pipe. Is it the pipe that has a 'downspout' looking piece at the top? Can I adjust it while the tank is cycling? Thank you!

[Cymonous]

We probably need a pic of the overflow. My best guess would be to add a pvc coupler with another piece of PVC to extend the height.

[Ellemarley]

Here it is...
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/lunger/Reef/5FB958D9-FE02-493B-B983-42B53AB0B9FA_zpsppt9q57g.jpg

The slotted black thing with the water trickling through is what makes the noise. I would think rising the water level would work, but then my tank underneath would get too high and if the power went out, would overfill.

[maddmaxx]

the slotted black thing is the actual overflow box. i have a small trickle sound also. only way i see eliminating that sound is by raising your pipes to raise the water level inside the overflow box...

[maddmaxx]

We probably need a pic of the overflow. My best guess would be to add a pvc coupler with another piece of PVC to extend the height.

+1 on the coupler to extend the pipe to raise it

[Ellemarley]

+1 on the coupler to extend the pipe to raise it

I know this sounds silly but... The pipe that faces downward at the top, right? Not the other pipe? How much would I raise it? Can I do this with my tank in mid cycle? Thank you so much, this forum is a lifesaver!

[maddmaxx]

yes the pipe on the left is what drains the water down to the sump. thats the pipe you need to raise to raise the water level inside the overflow box...yes you can do this while cycling. i would cut the power to the return pump. empty that overflow chamber, remove pipe, mod the pipe how you need it, reinstall and turn main pump back on...

[Ellemarley]

yes the pipe on the left is what drains the water down to the sump. thats the pipe you need to raise to raise the water level inside the overflow box...yes you can do this while cycling. i would cut the power to the return pump. empty that overflow chamber, remove pipe, mod the pipe how you need it, reinstall and turn main pump back on...

Thank you SO much! This makes sense. My husband just asked what a coupler was... we're like the blind leading the blind, here! :lmao:

[maddmaxx]

http://www.pvcfittingsonline.com/429-030-3-schedule-40-pvc-coupling.html?gclid=CJ6FtZmSjr4CFS8OOgodUw8ATg

obviously get the correct size needed for that piping...


also if you have an overflow on the other side of the tank, this will need to be done there also...

[Ellemarley]

http://www.pvcfittingsonline.com/429-030-3-schedule-40-pvc-coupling.html?gclid=CJ6FtZmSjr4CFS8OOgodUw8ATg

obviously get the correct size needed for that piping...


also if you have an overflow on the other side of the tank, this will need to be done there also...

I should've mentioned that *I* actually knew what a coupler was... Haha... But thank you regardless! Only one overflow in the one corner.

[enigma2u]

Until you get to modifying it, you could use filter pad (usually blue or white) behind the overflow slots with a length from too to water level the water will travel through the pad and into the water inside the overflow making it quieter.

[ahmed_iAM]

Here it is...
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/lunger/Reef/5FB958D9-FE02-493B-B983-42B53AB0B9FA_zpsppt9q57g.jpg

The slotted black thing with the water trickling through is what makes the noise. I would think rising the water level would work, but then my tank underneath would get too high and if the power went out, would overfill.

Wish I would've thought of that. Thanks for sharing.

[seventhz]

yes the pipe on the left is what drains the water down to the sump. thats the pipe you need to raise to raise the water level inside the overflow box...yes you can do this while cycling. i would cut the power to the return pump. empty that overflow chamber, remove pipe, mod the pipe how you need it, reinstall and turn main pump back on...


I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the overflow box is going to drain off the same volume of water when the return pump is off regardless of the height of the drain pipe. That is unless you raise it too much, which would cause the water level in the DT to be raised as well which would definitely result in a flooding sump. In my opinion, from the looks of it, I think a coupler would be too long to achieve the desired height. I agree with MaddMaxx, I would replace the entire drain pipe with one of a desired length as opposed to adding on with a coupler.

[fixmgood]

If you can just raise the water level in the tank

[dkeller_nc]

Umm - I'm afraid you've got something else going on here. Looking at your picture and knowing the size of those Coralife digital thermometers, it looks like the height of the water in your overflow box is within 2" of the water height in the tank.

You absolutely must have some amount of "drop" between the tank's water height and the height of the water in the overflow to ensure that you get a constant level in the tank.

My guess is that the noise is actually coming from the water draining down the overflow pipe (this will definitely be the case if you don't have a valve on the bottom of the overflow pipe/tube that goes into the sump. Or, you may have a return pump that's putting out way too much flow. Or both.

The first and easiest thing to do is valve down the output flow of your return pump. Also, realize that if this tank has just been filled with saltwater but doesn't have any organics in it yet (dead shrimp, live rock, etc...), then the overflows will be a lot louder than they will once everything gets coated with an organic film.

[mighties_keeper]

Maybe the problem is the size of the hole in the top of the durso, it maybe to small.

[maddmaxx]

Umm - I'm afraid you've got something else going on here. Looking at your picture and knowing the size of those Coralife digital thermometers, it looks like the height of the water in your overflow box is within 2" of the water height in the tank.

You absolutely must have some amount of "drop" between the tank's water height and the height of the water in the overflow to ensure that you get a constant level in the tank.

My guess is that the noise is actually coming from the water draining down the overflow pipe (this will definitely be the case if you don't have a valve on the bottom of the overflow pipe/tube that goes into the sump. Or, you may have a return pump that's putting out way too much flow. Or both.

The first and easiest thing to do is valve down the output flow of your return pump. Also, realize that if this tank has just been filled with saltwater but doesn't have any organics in it yet (dead shrimp, live rock, etc...), then the overflows will be a lot louder than they will once everything gets coated with an organic film.

the noise they are referring to is the noise of the water coming thru the over flow teeth and splashing down on the water thats in the overflow.

they can extend the pipe up and raise the water level inside the overflow box to quiet the noise down. this "drop" you speak of is the water dropping into the drain pipe. the level will be the same inside the display tank, and water will still flow down the drain. they could easily raise that pipe about and inch and it still drain fine and have no affect on the main display level...

[tufkab]

the noise they are referring to is the noise of the water coming thru the over flow teeth and splashing down on the water thats in the overflow.l...


That's what they THINK is making the sound. They are obviously brand new to this and obviously don't know much at all about drains and Durso pipes. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I didn't know either when I started out.

But keller is right. Anybody who has ever owned a Corner-flo/Durso setup will tell you that the water level in that picture is perfectly fine and there should be zero noise coming from the water going through the overflow teeth. The tank water level and the overflow water level are within an inch of each other. Raising the Durso any higher than what it is will basically halt any surface skimming at all and if you raised the Durso by one inch, it would be enough to raise the water level in the display.

Even if there is ANY sound at all coming from the water going through the overflow teeth, it's not like they would be able to hear it over the sound of the water draining through the Durso. That's like putting a mouse and an elephant in the same, silent room and trying to hear the mouse coughing while the elephant is farting :lol:

[Ellemarley]

Oh man, now I'm completely confused. I don't know what a durso is, Or how to put a valve on anything. Should I call the guy who set It up and have him adjust something? Or is this something I can accomplish myself once I understand what everyone's talking about?

One thing I've noticed is that the water level in the overflow sucks down about a half-inch every few seconds,t hen refills. Is that normal?

[stryx]

No, that is not OK. It should have a little hole on top. Like my setup, notice the small hole in the cap in the back pipe. The front is the emergency overflow.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/07/a8yvuruv.jpg

[Ellemarley]

Mine has a hole, the water goes to that level and then rises back up every few seconds. Not ok?

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/lunger/Reef/DF6F146D-0777-4D8A-83C1-6DDB4B04EA57_zps0qu3gp8r.jpg

[JMorris271]

May I ask what is the purpose of the emergency overflow. When would it become functional?

[Linkblaze]

May I ask what is the purpose of the emergency overflow. When would it become functional?

The obvious answer is so that if the main drain gets clogged there's a backup.

The more detailed answer includes the above answer, but look at the design of the Durso in the picture above that Stryx posted. Essentially, it obtains its drain silencing characteristics by obstructing the water flow in some manner. Eventually, something be it algae, snails, or just dumb luck is going to clog that restriction. So, you have a backup drain that is just a tad bit higher then the Durso drain that will kick in should the Durso clog and the water level in the overflow box begin to rise. As a bonus, that wide open emergency drain will make a ton of racket from all the air and water flowing down the pipe together, hopefully waking you up in the middle of the night to the impending plumbing disaster.

[todddye]

If the water level is getting to the top of the hole and then rising back up, your siphon is breaking which will cause a good bit of noise and then when the siphon starts again it will also make noise. I'm not an expert on corner overflows, but I think you may need a ball or gate valve on your drain line to slow it down to match the speed of your return pump.

I suspect that your drain line is flowing more than your return pump can handle, which is causing the level in your overflow to drop low enough to break the siphon.

[Stolireef]

Lets try to clear this up a bit.

First, a little basic terminology. The durso is the upside down U that sits on top of the drain. Rather than water simply spilling into the drain pipe, the water rises up through the upside down U and completely fills the pipe with water. The little hole at the top of the U allows sufficient air the the drain to allow for proper water movement. You can see the same concept on top of your house where your bathroom plumbing vents are located (these run directly from your sewer lines and look like small pipes sticking out of your roof).

Now for some questions:

1. What kind of pump are you using for your return (this is the pump that takes the water from your sump and pushes it back up to the tank).

2. Is the return pump 'hard plumbed' with PVC or does it sit in your sump connected with vinyl hose?

3. Does the noise you are hearing vary? What I'm looking for is the occasional flushing sound. If you are hearing that you need to dial back your pump (it's pushing more water than the drain can handle). I suspect this because you noted that the water level in the overflow seems to go up and down. This would be consistent with too much flow.

4. Does the bottom of your drain into the sump sit above the water or below?

5. Do you use a filter sock on your drain?

If you can answer the above questions, we can probably help you fix this pretty easily.

[Ellemarley]

I FIXED IT! :bounce3: ok,I kind of rigged it, but it's quiet! Turns out it WASN'T the water coming through the teeth making the noise, but water coming into the overflow around the power head/return pipe. Put a piece of filter pad around it, secured it with one of my daughter's plastic hair clips and voila, silence! Thanks everyone for your help and ideas!

[Ellemarley]

Once my kid goes to bed tonight, I'm going to go up and investigate this. This could definitely help with the flushing noise we have (different than the noise in the original post, not as bothersome, but definitely noise!)

Lets try to clear this up a bit.

First, a little basic terminology. The durso is the upside down U that sits on top of the drain. Rather than water simply spilling into the drain pipe, the water rises up through the upside down U and completely fills the pipe with water. The little hole at the top of the U allows sufficient air the the drain to allow for proper water movement. You can see the same concept on top of your house where your bathroom plumbing vents are located (these run directly from your sewer lines and look like small pipes sticking out of your roof).

Now for some questions:

1. What kind of pump are you using for your return (this is the pump that takes the water from your sump and pushes it back up to the tank).

2. Is the return pump 'hard plumbed' with PVC or does it sit in your sump connected with vinyl hose?

3. Does the noise you are hearing vary? What I'm looking for is the occasional flushing sound. If you are hearing that you need to dial back your pump (it's pushing more water than the drain can handle). I suspect this because you noted that the water level in the overflow seems to go up and down. This would be consistent with too much flow.

4. Does the bottom of your drain into the sump sit above the water or below?

5. Do you use a filter sock on your drain?

If you can answer the above questions, we can probably help you fix this pretty easily.

[Stolireef]

Can you post a picture of your fix. I'm not sure what you did. Are you saying you put a filter pad under the pipe that leaves the overflow and goes into the tank? I just want to make sure you're not going to cause yourself more problems.

[Ellemarley]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/lunger/Reef/81D20620-D5EC-41B7-B9B9-17544DF25DB9_zpsjeig0cv1.jpg

Taken through the lid. Crappy pic. Just a piece of blue pad wrapped around the return pipe!

[ca1ore]

If the 'noise' was coming from where you said it was, it may actually be water squirting out of the siphon break on the underneath of the top return elbow. You need to be careful not to obstruct this hole or you run the risk of a back siphon in the event of a power failure.

Also, the cycling of the drain pipe that you note may mean that you are pushing the drain too much and may need to ratchet back the main pump somewhat. In your photos, I see the holes in the side of the durso drain top, but there should also be an air vent hole on the very top as well.

[Ellemarley]

If the 'noise' was coming from where you said it was, it may actually be water squirting out of the siphon break on the underneath of the top return elbow. You need to be careful not to obstruct this hole or you run the risk of a back siphon in the event of a power failure.

Also, the cycling of the drain pipe that you note may mean that you are pushing the drain too much and may need to ratchet back the main pump somewhat. In your photos, I see the holes in the side of the durso drain top, but there should also be an air vent hole on the very top as well.

Yep there's a tiny vent hole at the top. My husbands going to look at the pump tomorrow and dial it back if possible. W e didn't set the tank up ourselves, so we feel a little clueless about the whole thing. So happy to have this forum!

[Ellemarley]

Lets try to clear this up a bit.

First, a little basic terminology. The durso is the upside down U that sits on top of the drain. Rather than water simply spilling into the drain pipe, the water rises up through the upside down U and completely fills the pipe with water. The little hole at the top of the U allows sufficient air the the drain to allow for proper water movement. You can see the same concept on top of your house where your bathroom plumbing vents are located (these run directly from your sewer lines and look like small pipes sticking out of your roof).

Now for some questions:

1. What kind of pump are you using for your return (this is the pump that takes the water from your sump and pushes it back up to the tank).
Not sure on the brand, box is in the garage. Husband thinks we can dial it back and will be doing so tomorrow. Can check in the am on the type.


2. Is the return pump 'hard plumbed' with PVC or does it sit in your sump connected with vinyl hose? Vinyl hose.

3. Does the noise you are hearing vary? What I'm looking for is the occasional flushing sound. If you are hearing that you need to dial back your pump (it's pushing more water than the drain can handle). I suspect this because you noted that the water level in the overflow seems to go up and down. This would be consistent with too much flow.
Yes, it is not a constant sound. It sounds like a rumbling, then a flush, then a rumbling again.

4. Does the bottom of your drain into the sump sit above the water or below? Above.

5. Do you use a filter sock on your drain? Yes, which lessons the noise. The guy said to keep it in there until we develop a slime coat.

If you can answer the above questions, we can probably help you fix this pretty easily.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me. Really really appreciate it.

[kaoscoder]

If your tank is the Marineland with the Corner-Flo overflow box, this youtube video shows how to use a cable tie to eliminate a lot of the noise coming from the hole in the return pipe:

Eliminate or reduce the sound / noise from the overflow of a MarineLand Corner-Flo Aquarium (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oek10DRQgt8)

I tried it and it really does work, for such a simple solution. And it doesn't block the hole, so no worries there.

[Stolireef]

Based on your responses, you definitely have too much flow for your drain to handle. Since you are plumbed with vinyl hose, you have a couple of options. Some pumps have adjustable intakes and if so, that will be your easiest route. Alternatively, you can install a ball or gate valve in line after the pump. You would need to buy a properly sized threaded ball valve and two screw in nipples. You'd screw in the nipples on each end of the ball valve, cut the vinyl return line and push the cut ends of the hose onto the nipple. Be sure to secure the hoses with strap ties (not the metal ones). You can then adjust the flow until the flushing noise stops and problem solved.

[Ellemarley]

Based on your responses, you definitely have too much flow for your drain to handle. Since you are plumbed with vinyl hose, you have a couple of options. Some pumps have adjustable intakes and if so, that will be your easiest route. Alternatively, you can install a ball or gate valve in line after the pump. You would need to buy a properly sized threaded ball valve and two screw in nipples. You'd screw in the nipples on each end of the ball valve, cut the vinyl return line and push the cut ends of the hose onto the nipple. Be sure to secure the hoses with strap ties (not the metal ones). You can then adjust the flow until the flushing noise stops and problem solved.

Again, you have been SO helpful. Thank you for taking the time to respond. This is the pump we have:
http://www.marineandreef.com/Aqueon_QuietFlow_Submersible_Pump_3000_AQ3000_p/res06621.htm

Goes from 397-793. Any idea what we should have it on for our tank?

[Stolireef]

I'd knock it back to about 50-60% of wide open. That should get rid of the flushing noise. Then, you can slowly dial it back up. When you start hearing the noise again, dial back down a little. The whole process will take you less than 5 minutes and it'll make a huge difference.

It's our pleasure to help especially when you have someone willing to listen.

[Ellemarley]

Well, here's our dilemma. When we put this tiny piece of tubing into the top of the durso, the whole system gets very quiet but flushes, even on the pumps LOWEST setting. Removing the tiny piece of pipe quits the flushing, but the whole thing gurgles loudly and constantly, even on the lowest setting. No clue what this all means, but that's where I am :)

[Stolireef]

You may want to consider swapping out the durso for a Maggie Muffler. It's not perfect but it might be helpful. See this...
http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/RH-OV20010.html

[scarpenter]

at the end of the day...as long as the amount of water draining out the tank is as same as the amount of water going in to the tank...it will be quiet

[alf1096]

Did not read all post but a herbie setup would be silent and you can control the water level in the chamber easy enough.

[inetmug]

No, that is not OK. It should have a little hole on top. Like my setup, notice the small hole in the cap in the back pipe. The front is the emergency overflow.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/07/a8yvuruv.jpg

How do you plumb that overflow, a separate bulkhead I assume?

[Stolireef]

How do you plumb that overflow, a separate bulkhead I assume?

Yup. You'd have to drill another hole in the bottom of the tank and install a new bulkhead. I can honestly say that I don't know too many reef keepers that have done this. It's a great idea but it's a major hassle.

[Lucky Lefty]

Stoli, thanks for the drain info you posted above. one of my drains was chirping or clicking, sounded like The Predator hunting. Turned back my ball valves leading to the returns and it went away, i just hope I'm not hurting my cycle because it's my only source of flow right now.

[Stolireef]

Stoli, thanks for the drain info you posted above. one of my drains was chirping or clicking, sounded like The Predator hunting. Turned back my ball valves leading to the returns and it went away, i just hope I'm not hurting my cycle because it's my only source of flow right now.

Your return should not be your source of circulation. Add power heads.