Return line issue

[RyanCSGO]

Hi all. I just finished the set up of my cube. Added sand, rock and water. I notices my plumbing is really loud and when i went to look i noticed theres a hole in the crease of the elbow on the return line (up top where the flow nozzles are) not sure why its there but it sprays water down into the returm and is obnoxious. Is it fine to plug it?

 

[mcarroll]

It might be what prevents the return plumbing from draining your tank when the main pump stops.

There is still probably a fix - but can you post a good picture?

 

[sc8kv123]

The hole might be there to prevent back siphoning from the return down to the sump.

 

[RyanCSGO]

I see. Makes sense. Unfortunetly i cant get a picture of it. That side of the tank is closer to the wall and the hole is on the bottom side of the elbow. My other thought was to wedge some sponge type material underneath so it doesnt directly his the water so loudly.

 

[jsker]

As @mcarroll stated a picture would help. With out a picture I would suggest adding a backflow valve the pug the whole the there will be no siphoning

 

[mcarroll]

Is it possible that the water level is lower than it's supposed to be? Regardless, is there a way just to raise the water level in the drain box a bit more so that hole is submerged? Or at least almost submerged?

 

[Fin]

The siphon break should really be just below the surface, so it won't do that. If your sump will hold all of the water that will siphon back through the returns when the power is off, then the siphon break is not necessary. But, if you think the sump would overflow when the power goes off, then you can plug that hole and drill another one just below the surface of the water.

 

[RyanCSGO]

I tried to get the best photo I could without dropping my phone in the tank.
With the height of the drain pipe it appears to be the right level.

Another thing I should note is my return pump is has a max rating of 900gph with the amount of plumbing it's feeding.

 

[RyanCSGO]

Side question. The breather hole on my drain pipe is small. I read on here to drill a swcond hole to reduce the gurgle noise. Is this true? I just want to be sure before i start it

 

[mcarroll]

Gurgling probably means too much flow.....if you Google how to stop the gurgling you'll find everything under the sun - second holes, different gurgle stoppers, etc. What you have already is supposed to work, right? ;)

Not only that, but a gravity drain is supposed to be pretty dead-silent without any help at all.

Measure the flow coming from your drain or return line (whatever is easiest). As long as you're getting two to four times your displays volume in GPH, you're fine - and most likely your drain is very quiet. More than 4x is a waste in most cases - and causes some problems, including noise!

 

[bklynreef123]

The hole is there to break the siphon back to the sump as stated above. I had the same setup and wanted to stop the noise. I was able to glue a piece of rigid airline tubing into the hole and attach a small piece of airline to it and divert that under the water line. This works great. Whatever you do make sure to check that your modifications will not result in a sump overflow in the case of a power interruption.

 

[RyanCSGO]

Its a 60 gallon cube. The return pump is capable of 900gph. With the return line length it should be running at about 530 - 580 gph. Ill put in a valve to be able to adjust and see of that fixes anything first before doi g a perm. Mod

Thanks for the help and info!!!!