Made an incredibly stupid herbie mistake

[DownByTheRiver]

Hi, I think neglected to realize that the siphon part of the herbie setup is predicated on the bottom of the drain being underwater at the sump. Is this correct? In my quest to have the most girlfriend-friendly least amount of noise tank, I think I overlooked a very basic requirement...I'm a dummy, and just realized this. Questions:

A. What will happen if I just dump the drains into the filter and then sump as shown? Just noise?

B. Can I build a small box 3" or so in height out of acrylic to hold water above the filter element that I can run the drains into? This will put the drains underwater, and I can retain the sump system I have, but am unsure on sizing the holes/balancing flow etc. to drain the water onto the filter media. I think this may be hard to make work.

125 gallon tank, only filled halfway because it's for a turtle. 3/4 (main) and 1 inch (tall standpipe) bulkheads in both corners, returns over the back of the tank.

Thank you!

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Looks like you have a wet/dry filter there for your turtles?

It's been a while since I ran a wet/dry, but when running that drip plate should fill up about an inch or so, and then your drain pipe outlets will be underwater.

But the water then drips through that plate and trickles down over the bioballs, so I'm not sure a wet/dry will ever be truly silent.

I'm sure there are other members here that have used those filters and could offer more advice.

Good luck!

 

[Troylee]

It doesn’t have to be submerged in the sump… as you mentioned it will just create noise and splashing if it’s not like 1” under the waterline in the sump. It still works fine but will be a tad noisy! You could build the box like you mentioned but it wouldn’t stay submerged as the tank is running cause it’s on top of the waterline in the sump…

 

[Troylee]

If noise becomes an issue the easy fix would be put a baffle in your sump and partition off a section for your drains to come in and have it overflow into the bioballs and then you’re golden..

 

[DownByTheRiver]

^^^That's a slick idea, thank you! I should have everything set up this weekend after being out of town this week, so I'll see how it goes and report back with any problems.

Thank you everyone for the replies!