my new durso overflow noise canceller

[csarkar001]

a lot has been written already on this topic but i'll pile on here regardless.

my new 125 gal fish-only tank is still under construction. i finally turned on the sump pump. the good news was that the plumbing looks ok.

however, the noise from the overflow was loud. so after doing some research on this forum, i decided to construct at Durso overflow. i got the plans here.

this was my first attempt:



and here is a shot from the top of the tank looking down:



this eliminated about 1/2 of the noise but i realized that i had built the standpipe too short. by raising the height at which the water enters the durso, the height from which the water falls from the teeth of the overflow into the overflow chamber is reduced, lessening the noise. here is the final design:



the top of the Durso is now at the same level as the teeth from the overflow.

instead of replacing the entire pipe with a larger section to raise the height, i added a coupling and a small extension. the coupling is only glued at the bottom. am thinking this will make it a bit easier to replace the top section should i want to make further height adjustments down the road.

i also installed a more conventional overflow at a slightly higher height than the Durso, just as a backup in case the Durso clogs. but it appears the Durso can handle the full load from my Little Giant by itself.



i had to raise the height of this standpipe when i raised the height of the Durso. the idea is that this backup is never in use.

if anyone has any suggestions for improvement, please reply.

overall, having been out of the hobby for the past few years, this thing has been the biggest positive surprise on my return thus far. i cannot believe Mr. Durso is giving away his secrets for free.

[stevereef]

csarkar001 - I'll be working on the same project for my 120g. I'm removing all the bio ball and will be setting up a durso standpipe. Thanks for sharing all the photos and your trial and error testing. I have a few follow up questions I was hoping you could field.

Q1) Is your stand pipe a bit larger in diameter size?
Q2) At the top of your T connection, you've cap the pipe but there is no air hole, is the air hole crucial?

Q3) Is there much noise from your durso stand pipe setup?