Help,my wife is complaining about the noise from my overflow

JoeJoesonoma

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I would build a basket outve light diffuser..and put a nice layer of filter floss in it. This should control the flow and limit it from crashing in the back.
 

Brew12

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I would build a basket outve light diffuser..and put a nice layer of filter floss in it. This should control the flow and limit it from crashing in the back.
I wouldn't do this because if the floss clogs it can overflow the tank.

Raising the standpipe should work fine imo.
 

Jenuvio

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Raise the water level..

Or create an awesome memory with her involving the noise so she falls in love with the sound! ;)
 

steallife904

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its 100% the water level in overflow is to low. Raising the standpipe in there (either raise it or build a new taller one) will fix it. I have 2 drains in my tank and they are maybe an inch below the overflow teeth.
 

Jax15

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If you try to lessen the angle of the fall from a straight 90 deg, it might help. Try getting a piece of plastic or acrylic the width of the overflow, and sort of lean it from below the weir to the bottom. Other than that.. lower return pump power will keep the water from shooting through the weir and help it hug the wall of the overflow = quieter. Or.. filter floss.

Last idea.. sometimes a powerhead may be causing water to suddenly shoot through the weir, especially if it's on a pulse and aimed towards the surface. You can try tinkering with the angle to make the drainage more consistent. Then it'll be easier to have it become background noise and not change pitch every few seconds.

Good luck.
 

Brew12

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Add a gate valve by restricting the flow it will raise the water level in weir so that there is no falling.
Unfortunately, this is not correct. You cannot use a gate valve to control water level in an overflow. It will only control the flow of water from the DT to the sump. If you throttle it closed to raise level, the tank will overflow or the sump will run dry, whichever happens first.
 

William Mumford

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Unfortunately, this is not correct. You cannot use a gate valve to control water level in an overflow. It will only control the flow of water from the DT to the sump. If you throttle it closed to raise level, the tank will overflow or the sump will run dry, whichever happens first.

Depending on the method you use I guess like durso, bean animal. but I can say for 100% fact that my tank is done like this and my tank has never done eaither of those 2 things. The flow from the sump to the display is done through the return pump.
 
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Brew12

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Depending on the method you use I guess but I can say for 100% fact that my tank is done like this and my tank has never done eaither of those 2 things.
You may have something else going on with your system or a very unusual overflow setup, but you can not use a valve to control water level on any standard overflow design.
 

William Mumford

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You may have something else going on with your system or a very unusual overflow setup, but you can not use a valve to control water level on any standard overflow design.

I'm going to say you are 100% wrong man. I can show you 10000000 tanks that have gate valves to control flow from display to sump.
 

Brew12

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I'm going to say you are 100% wrong man. I can show you 10000000 tanks that have gate valves to control flow from display to sump.
I agree that valves control flow from the display to the sump. They cannot control level in the overflow as you claim. That is controlled by the height of the standpipe in the overflow.
 

Pdash

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I agree that valves control flow from the display to the sump. They cannot control level in the overflow as you claim. That is controlled by the height of the standpipe in the overflow.
You can in Red Sea tanks.
 

Silver14SS

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Depending on the method you use I guess like durso, bean animal. but I can say for 100% fact that my tank is done like this and my tank has never done eaither of those 2 things. The flow from the sump to the display is done through the return pump.

How many drains do you have? If you have only one drain line, you may be able to match the drain rate to the return rate temporarily, but eventually it will fluctuate. When that happens, the drain will either exceed the return rate and will lower the water level in the overflow box to the drain pipe height, or the return will exceed the drain rate and the water level will rise until it overflows or goes into another pipe.

That's why all the systems have more than one drain :)
 

William Mumford

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I agree that valves control flow from the display to the sump. They cannot control level in the overflow as you claim. That is controlled by the height of the standpipe in the overflow.

If you lower flow it will hold back water the held back water will fill up the over flow my over flow is run like this I have a stand pipe an emergency and a slightly restricted pipe that is the main. I'm dumb as heck so it could be that as well.
 
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Brew12

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If you lower flow it will hold back water the held back water will fill up the over flow my over flow is run like this I have a stand pipe an emergency and a slightly restricted pipe that is the main. I'm dumb as hell so it could be that as well.
That is a bean animal drain. The height of the water in your overflow is set by the height of the standpipe on the trickle drain, which is the middle height of the 3 standpipes. The valve controls flow through the full siphon drain, or shortest standpipe. You set flow through this so it only a little extra water goes down the trickle drain.
 

William Mumford

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That is a bean animal drain. The height of the water in your overflow is set by the height of the standpipe on the trickle drain, which is the middle height of the 3 standpipes. The valve controls flow through the full siphon drain, or shortest standpipe. You set flow through this so it only a little extra water goes down the trickle drain.

Thank you so much for explaining. Sorry for telling you that you were wrong. So if he adds a taller stand pipe it will be a single stand pipe style. Because if it is wont it trade 1 sound for another the sucking of the stand pipe? I have heard if you add a small air line it breaks the siphon on the pipe but I have 0 experience in that.
 

Brew12

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Thank you so much for explaining. Sorry for telling you that you were wrong. So if he adds a taller stand pipe it will be a single stand pipe style. Because if it is wont it trade 1 sound for another the sucking of the stand pipe? I have heard if you add a small air line it breaks the siphon on the pipe but I have 0 experience in that.
It's ok, I'm really just trying to help and I'm glad you have a better understand now.

For a Durso drain where all the water flows down a single pipe, putting in a taller standpipe will raise the water level. The way a durso works is that the valve controls the air/water mix going down the pipe to control noise. It operates as a partial drain. If water rises for some reason and gets above the top of the U fitting, it becomes full siphon which allows much more water to pass. It acts like it's own emergency drain because of this.
 
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