60g cube durso help
 

Hey everyone I recently came across a deal on a 60g cube with stand, sump, skimmer, and pump that i couldn't pass up. It is a marineland rimless RR with a corner overflow. After some research I have found that it is a durso overflow and that almost no one uses them. Is there a way I can still use the stock plumping and avoid replumbing everything or is it necessary to convert it to a herbie?

I feel like almost no one uses them is a big exaggeration and probably most people use them as that's how most non custom tanks come.

I was hoping they weren't as archaic and useless as a lot of the forums portray. It just seems every time I google plumbing advice on it, it's just people saying to switch it out.

The purpose of switching to a herbie style drain is to get your setup to near silence. Silence is possible with a durso style drain as well with fine tuning. It is very easy to convert a system to a herbie style drain if that is what you are wanting to do.

Does your tank have 3 drilled holes or 2? for a herbie you will need a main drain to be submerged roughly 6" under the overflow and an emergency drain to be just at the overflow. This will create a siphon and a "trickle" over into the emergency drain. In your sump, the drain pipes will be submerged as well (this is where the silent factor comes into play)

You can create silence with durso's as well. less angles and turns so there are less air pockets, lowering the drain pipe so it is submerged etc. lots of ways of doing it. I recommend reading around on here.

But like mentioned, LOTS of people run durso and there is absolutely noting wrong with a durso drain. you will be beating a dead horse asking for the best method for your overflow. You will have your bean animal fans, closed loop system fans, duros fans, stand pipe fans, herbie fans and more.

Well I think you could easily switch to Herbie if you don't mind either having an over the top return or drilling a new return in your tank. Either way have your drain pipes terminate at least an inch under the sumps water level and that should help with a lot of noise.

The main reason people switch it out is due to noise. But if you set it up correctly, there is virtually no noise. It is an easy and convenient way to plumb an overflow. If you have more space and can drill additional holes, then go for it. Otherwise, there is nothing wrong with it.

Between all my various tanks, I have 7 Durso drains. I've never used anything else, and I really can't think of a reason to switch. For the DT in the living room, the skimmer makes way more noise than the drains. It is all in the tuning them. Will you get a huge amount of flow through them? Nope, but it really isn't needed anyway.

My 60 cube uses a durso and it is near silent. The skimmer pump makes way more noise. I did trade out the top portion of the stock drain for a tee and elbow

I have a Marineland RR tank and a quiet durso. As others have stated, it just depends on the setup. Plumbing and return flow can be contributing factors. To eliminate water splashing in the overflow, I also put the return jets right near the water line and removed the dedicated siphon break on the return elbow. The skimmer makes more noise than anything else.

30g cube with durso. very silent so long as your return pump isn't too fast. 5x-10x turnover should be fine. dead silent if you put filter sock.

You only have to be careful about potential flooding with dursos. Make sure the drain pvc / flex tubing is a straight shot down to sump. also maybe put a strainer at the top of the drain in case a snail clogs it or something.

So what does everyone do about potential flooding? Just regular preventative maintenance and monitoring?

Also my tank only has two holes drilled and I've read that marineland tempers their ranks after drilling so drilling a third is no dice.

You could always bring the return up the back and over the top leaving the 2 drilled holes for a herbie setup.

But as others have said, there's nothing wrong with a durso and they can be made pretty silent. You just have to keep an eye on the downpipe so nothing clogs it up and causes a flood.

Would using a filter sock and braided vinyl tubing help with the noise of the durso?

Yes but your drain is probably terminated too high above the sumps water level if you need a filter sock just for the purpose of noise. If you drain terminates under the water level then there shouldn't be any surface agitation to create noise.