Overflow box

[steveohish]

Hi, my names Steve I have a 55 gallon tank with sump and a drilled tank with a Eshopp overflow box and 1 inch pvc, everything is 1 inch except my return pump it’s 3/4 into 1 inch just started cycling it I’m having some noise problems with my overflow box where the water is starting the syphon inside the tank I was able to fix the noise in the drain part but I’m getting a gurgling and my water level is just a touch low I’m pretty sure that has to do with flow, I put a clean sponge into the overflow just like a pre filter and it did help with noise and level but it start to come up a little to high guess it was not enough flow I don’t think I’m crazy about a sponge in the tank seems like it could be an issue at some point, am I missing something or is there a trick to it?

 

[pluikens]

Do you have a gate valve on the return plumbing? A gate valve is typically used on the full siphon plumbing from the overflow to sump to maintain a full siphon without flowing too quickly that the overflow gurgles.

 

[steveohish]

I have two ball valves on the return line should I play around with that? Do you think my return flow is two strong?

 

[pluikens]

Which Eshopps overflow do you have? How many pipes come out of the box to the sump? If two pipes, then one is typically your emergency with no valves, the primary would have a gate valve for fine tuning. You would adjust this so the water level stays constant in the box when the return pump is on. do you have a picture of your box plumbed?

 

[steveohish]

It’s an Eclipse M 800gph it has 2 lines both leaving the box from the bottom and the one is just an emergency line so that is not in use I have a small piece of PVC coming up out of the emergency one a little higher the the primary in the box but I put valves and unions on as much as I can to make my life easier I don’t have a picture of it sorry, but I do already have a ball valve in both lines coming out of the overflow for maintenance and stuff and 2 ball valve on the return, is there a huge difference in gate and ball valves?

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Ball valves do tend to make more noise than a gate valve will. Another issue with ball valves is they can get bumped and then the flow gets changed. One of the biggest sources of noise in the drain system is not having a valve right at the sump. What you are looking for is the waterline to be just at the edge of the emergency overflow so the primary drain is completely submerged. This is accomplished by adjusting the primary drain valve so the entire drain line is full of water so it cannot make any gurgling noise. If something happens and the primary drain gets clogged the water will rise in the overflow box and overtop the emergency line. With no valve on this line it will make all sorts of noise and alert you that there is an issue with the primary line. One other thing to look at is how high above the waterline is the primary drain opening up at. If you have all the rest set correctly but you have an air gap between your drain pipe and the water line in the sump, you will have another source of noise. The best thing is to extend the primary drain line after the valve to where it sits just below the waterline in the primary sump chamber. By setting all this up correctly you will have virtually no sound coming from your system.

 

[1WildBill]

This is probably the easiest fix for a noisy overflow.

 

[steveohish]

Cool thanks everyone I appreciate all the advice

 

[count krunk]

an easy way to silence an overflow is to install a durso on the main drain.

 

[steveohish]

Cool thanks, how can I bring the the water level up?

 

[pluikens]

That's where your valve comes in. You can try using your ball valve to show down the flow through the main drain, basically to match the the flow up from your return. It will be easier to dial it in with a gate valve which is closer to 20 turns from open to close rather than 1/4 turn for a ball valve. You'll want the water level above your primary drain but below the emergency.

 

[steveohish]

Can I put a sponge in the inside of the overflow box to slow the syphon down or is that not a good idea

 

[pluikens]

I wouldn't suggest it. Yes, it would slow down the flow but it's also going to vary in how much it slows it down as it clogs up. Can you try to find an equilibrium with your ball valve? I've never tried it as I always had a gate valve on the drain. I only use ball valves for simple on/off operations.

 

[steveohish]

I’ll look into that, if I can’t find it I’ll put some gate valves in, thanks

 

[Water Dog]

Check out this video and how this person has set up and tuned his Eclipse M overflow.

 

[steveohish]

Thanks for the video, watching it I’m realizing that the guy who drilled the hole for me drilled it a little low that’s why my water level in my tank is a little low, I kinda realized that when I put it in but I didn’t think it was going to make a difference, any tricks that anyone can recommend I was thing of getting a piece of acrylic cutting it down to size and mounting it on the tank side of the overflow, what do you guys think?

 

[Water Dog]

The Eclipse overflow boxes are known to have very deeply cut teeth. Your solution of adding a piece of acrylic to shorten the weir teeth will definitely help to raise the water level in your display tank.

 

[steveohish]

Cool thanks

 

[FishPedagogue]

Ball valves do tend to make more noise than a gate valve will. Another issue with ball valves is they can get bumped and then the flow gets changed. One of the biggest sources of noise in the drain system is not having a valve right at the sump. What you are looking for is the waterline to be just at the edge of the emergency overflow so the primary drain is completely submerged. This is accomplished by adjusting the primary drain valve so the entire drain line is full of water so it cannot make any gurgling noise. If something happens and the primary drain gets clogged the water will rise in the overflow box and overtop the emergency line. With no valve on this line it will make all sorts of noise and alert you that there is an issue with the primary line. One other thing to look at is how high above the waterline is the primary drain opening up at. If you have all the rest set correctly but you have an air gap between your drain pipe and the water line in the sump, you will have another source of noise. The best thing is to extend the primary drain line after the valve to where it sits just below the waterline in the primary sump chamber. By setting all this up correctly you will have virtually no sound coming from your system.

This answer is spot on. I'm new to reefing and getting the flow just right takes a little patience.