Flushing sound...

[JammyBirch]

I have a 25gallon Perfecto cube from marine land, man this thing is loud.

The tank is back drilled, the drain is a durst style I think. Basically it's a PVC 90 down facing with a hole drilled in it at the top and a small vent tube. Does anyone have any experience with these types of drains? I'm a total noob, have the drain on a ball valve to restrict flow and it helps a little but it still flushes like a toilet...HELP!!!

[myram]

http://www.dursostandpipes.com/frequently-asked-questions/78-flushing-effect-why-does-the-water-level-go-up-and-down

[ca1ore]

Flushing sound is either an over-taxed durso drain, a clogged air vent on said durso drain or all your disposable cash going down the money-pit that is your reef tank ..... The first thing is to makes sure the vent tube is not clogged with salt creep, second you may have to restrict your pump a bit .... cannot help with the third as I have the same problem.

[Pife]

Flushing sound is either an over-taxed durso drain, a clogged air vent on said durso drain or all your disposable cash going down the money-pit that is your reef tank ..... The first thing is to makes sure the vent tube is not clogged with salt creep, second you may have to restrict your pump a bit .... cannot help with the third as I have the same problem.

So true!

[Jandawil]

Mine did that at first. Best thing I ever did as far as plumbing was replace the 90 degree bend on your drain with a capped T (drilled for air tube). Cap is just dry-fit and not glued for easy access for maintenance.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f71/jandawil/Aquarium/cbc2b4ff1b717550498c667c0ab42244.jpg (http://s45.photobucket.com/user/jandawil/media/Aquarium/cbc2b4ff1b717550498c667c0ab42244.jpg.html)

[JammyBirch]

Ok so here is what I have learned and what I have done to get a very quiet sounding tank...

I decreased the flow and started to play with balancing the drain ball valves vs. the return flow rate. Basically to my surprise I needed to keep blocking off more and more drain flow to allow the water level to be increased in the stand pipe. Once I figured that out I increased the flow of the return and balanced it again...

WOW!!! It is so nice right now...I checked the safety of this method by turning the return pump up all of the way and it went back to flushing but did not overflow...which I don't understand...

[TigeBell]

That would be normal. Your pump isn't returning any water to the main tank hence the water will eventually stop. Just make sure your sump can handle the water volume that will go down the stand pipe.

[JammyBirch]

That would be normal. Your pump isn't returning any water to the main tank hence the water will eventually stop. Just make sure your sump can handle the water volume that will go down the stand pipe.

Yup I have tested it several times in order to simulate power outage...and make some marks for max fill height...very cool though to have a quiet tank.

[JammyBirch]

How worried should I be about clogging of the drain...that would cause a flood...

[phillrodrigo]

If your gonna slow the drain with a valve I would highly recommend drilling another hole and putting a backup drain that sits a tad higher than the water level. I will put my tank against almost anyones with noise. Closing the valve can eventually make it overflow. I used to do the same and here and there had a overflow since I closed it to much. Now I dont even worry about it since I added the back up

[JammyBirch]

If your gonna slow the drain with a valve I would highly recommend drilling another hole and putting a backup drain that sits a tad higher than the water level. I will put my tank against almost anyones with noise. Closing the valve can eventually make it overflow. I used to do the same and here and there had a overflow since I closed it to much. Now I dont even worry about it since I added the back up

I dont have that option...25g with no more room..

[sneeyatch]

If it were me - I would just re-do the drain and remove the valve. My golden rule is never restrict the drain, always restrict the return.

As for how worried about it clogging - I've personally have never heard of it before with a valve on the drain, I'm sure it's happened to someone out there. I don't take the chance and encourage others to do the same.

[JammyBirch]

If it were me - I would just re-do the drain and remove the valve. My golden rule is never restrict the drain, always restrict the return.

As for how worried about it clogging - I've personally have never heard of it before with a valve on the drain, I'm sure it's happened to someone out there. I don't take the chance and encourage others to do the same.

Can't do it man...the tank sounds like a toilet flushing every ten seconds...

This has been a great learning experience for my 90...that I have to drill, 5 holes now...2 drains, 2 returns and an emergency drain.

I hope this doesn't over flow at some point, I'm not sure it's possible...the sump can hold all of the drained water and the stand pipe...and if I close the drains completely the tank can hold the water from the pump chamber.

Would love to say I designed it that way but I got lucky it worked out like that.