Sump/drainage noise

[TxJeff71]

Good evening folks. Struggling with a lot of noise in my sump. I have a durso standpipe, and two holes drilled into my internal overflow. One for the drain, one for the return. Ever since I turned everything on, I have tried to get rid of the crashing water noise from the sump. I replaced the 3 foot flexible tube with an extra piece of vinyl tubing I have lying around, but it's still very noisy. Right now most of it seems to be coming from the single drain into the sump. The pipe extends about an inch below the water line. My Sicce return pump is currently on the lowest setting. Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can address this?

 

[allof fish]

Good evening folks. Struggling with a lot of noise in my sump. I have a durso standpipe, and two holes drilled into my internal overflow. One for the drain, one for the return. Ever since I turned everything on, I have tried to get rid of the crashing water noise from the sump. I replaced the 3 foot flexible tube with an extra piece of vinyl tubing I have lying around, but it's still very noisy. Right now most of it seems to be coming from the single drain into the sump. The pipe extends about an inch below the water line. My Sicce return pump is currently on the lowest setting. Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can address this?

If your pump is on the lowest setting I would suggest either get a smaller pump or re plumb it and add a gate valve so you can adjust. I have a valve on my drain and I adjusted it to my liking

 

[dank.reefer]

You need to slow down the drain and speed up the return pump

 

[TxJeff71]

You need to slow down the drain and speed up the return pump

In order to slow down the drain, would I have to install a gate valve?

 

[dank.reefer]

You need to slow down the drain and speed up the return pump

In order to slow down the drain, would I have to install a gate valve?

If you want to control it then yes. If you just want to choke it down you could use a smaller pipe. The goal is to get the drain under full siphon, as in no air going down the tube. If there is air going down the pipe it will gurgle and churn the water once it gets to the sump.

 

[dank.reefer]

You could also try a maggie muffler. They work ok but no where near as good as a gate valve.

 

[dank.reefer]

Depending on how soft the hose is in your image you could put a hose clamp around it and squeeze it down until the hose is small enough. Also If you speed up your return pump the water will stand taller over the drain keeping the air out. Here is another one of my drains I can use to more clearly show what is going on.

 

[exnisstech]

I've never been able to tune an overflow without a valve on the drain pipe. Even with an adjustable DC pump I need a valve. TBH i don't know that I've seen a system without some type of valve to control the flow of the drain.

 

[TxJeff71]

I've never been able to tune an overflow without a valve on the drain pipe. Even with an adjustable DC pump I need a valve. TBH i don't know that I've seen a system without some type of valve to control the flow of the drain.

My only concern with a gate valve, since I only have a single durso standpipe, is the possibility of that being clogged and causing an overflow. Although I guess that's a possibility with having the single drain, regardless of if I have a gate valve or not. Would a ball valve be any better of an option?

 

[exnisstech]

EDIT: I forget when I ran hob overflows using single drains they had no valve. That was quite a while ago and my memory isn't too great. All the ones with gate valves had an E drain also. There are some tricks to get single drains quieter but mine were never silent. I was able to get them quieter by reducing the flow from the return. I used gate valves on the return lines because I was running a large external AC return pump and would have overflowed the tank running wide open.

---

I'm a fan of gate valves for adjusting but many use ball valves. There's always a risk with a single drain. Best you can really do is try and make it impossible for snails or small fish to to get in. You could try a smaller pump first. I've had very good luck with jebao DCP return pumps. They've been reliable, quiet and cheap enough I buy two so I have a back up if needed. No Wi-Fi on the ones I run but the controller does everything I need a return pump to do. You could try one from Amazon and return it if it doesn't work out I suppose.

 

[dank.reefer]

My only concern with a gate valve, since I only have a single durso standpipe, is the possibility of that being clogged and causing an overflow. Although I guess that's a possibility with having the single drain, regardless of if I have a gate valve or not. Would a ball valve be any better of an option?

It is nearly impossible to get a ball valve just right. If you look at the video I posted of the gate valve you will will see just a half turn is the difference between gurgling and not. That is probable like 1/32" of movement of the gate.

Really if you only have a single drain the gurgling noise is a saftey. If the gurgling goes silent you are about to flood. IMO Silence is not good on a single drain system.

 

[UncommonSense]

I would NOT recommend putting any form of valve on Durso (single drain) plumbing! It’s a recipe for a wet floor!!

There are a few alternatives, such as fine-tuning your durso standpipe, and its air inlet system… alternatively, I’ve heard good things about a product called a “Maggie muffler”!

 

[dank.reefer]

I have a single drain durso style drain on the reef in my living room. After listening to it for 4 years or so it is actually quite soothing. At first it is off putting because I was so accustomed to all of the fancy silent drained systems around. Now that I have been listening to it for a few years it is actually a pleasant white noise. A slight trickle and a low pitched mild gurgling rumble. I am getting g ready to shut that tank down and I am a little nervous about not having the noise there.....LOL

 

[Freenow54]

I would NOT recommend putting any form of valve on Durso (single drain) plumbing! It’s a recipe for a wet floor!!

There are a few alternatives, such as fine-tuning your durso standpipe, and its air inlet system… alternatively, I’ve heard good things about a product called a “Maggie muffler”!

 

[Freenow54]

As per UncommonSense. He suggested that I just put the pipe deeper under water . I tried to use a sponge to break up the bubbles . I slowed the flow down so much that my Tank was over flowing. I do not nor it is never recommended to add a valve on a main drain . I still use the sponge but far away from the outlet with the pipe deeper. It is much quieter. Also can you put an acrylic cover over the area?

 

[mfinn]

Years ago, the durso was pretty popular on single drain hole tanks. So it was always a struggle to quiet the drain down while creating flow in the tank with the return pump ( mind set back then).
A couple things that helped in my early tanks was to first slow the return pump down to about 3 times the tank volume. It's not an exact science, just guess. Slower return flow, less pump noise, less water noise.
Then lower the drain tube down near the sump ( almost, but not touching ) bottom. Then here is the strange part, install a pvc tee on the end of the drain tube. The water has more pathway to exist the drain and quieting the bubbling down. Not a perfect solution, but it seemed to help in my situation.
Back then there were only ac pumps so a valve on the return was usually needed. But never on a single drain.
Some people get away with it, but I would prefer to eliminate possible points of failure.

 

[Freenow54]

Years ago, the durso was pretty popular on single drain hole tanks. So it was always a struggle to quiet the drain down while creating flow in the tank with the return pump ( mind set back then).
A couple things that helped in my early tanks was to first slow the return pump down to about 3 times the tank volume. It's not an exact science, just guess. Slower return flow, less pump noise, less water noise.
Then lower the drain tube down near the sump ( almost, but not touching ) bottom. Then here is the strange part, install a pvc tee on the end of the drain tube. The water has more pathway to exist the drain and quieting the bubbling down. Not a perfect solution, but it seemed to help in my situation.
Back then there were only ac pumps so a valve on the return was usually needed. But never on a single drain.
Some people get away with it, but I would prefer to eliminate possible points of failure.

I can imagine having to use an AC Pump. Maybe that is the reason Bean Animal drain systems came to be . I am going to try the T idea

 

[mfinn]

I can imagine having to use an AC Pump. Maybe that is the reason Bean Animal drain systems came to be . I am going to try the T idea

If I remember correctly you to mess with the tee to get the right orientation of outflow on both sides.

 

[exnisstech]

I have a single drain durso style drain on the reef in my living room. After listening to it for 4 years or so it is actually quite soothing. At first it is off putting because I was so accustomed to all of the fancy silent drained systems around. Now that I have been listening to it for a few years it is actually a pleasant white noise. A slight trickle and a low pitched mild gurgling rumble. I am getting g ready to shut that tank down and I am a little nervous about not having the noise there.....LOL

Years ago I ran a 180 in the living room with two single drain hob overflows. I didn't realize how loud they were until I changed tanks. Funny things is now I can sit through a movie and not have to pee every 30 minutes lol.

PS. I had forgotten about running single drain hob overflows with no valve.

 

[Dburr1014]

Good evening folks. Struggling with a lot of noise in my sump. I have a durso standpipe, and two holes drilled into my internal overflow. One for the drain, one for the return. Ever since I turned everything on, I have tried to get rid of the crashing water noise from the sump. I replaced the 3 foot flexible tube with an extra piece of vinyl tubing I have lying around, but it's still very noisy. Right now most of it seems to be coming from the single drain into the sump. The pipe extends about an inch below the water line. My Sicce return pump is currently on the lowest setting. Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can address this?

Sounds like you need more air to enter at the top. Drill a bigger hole and it will stop gurgling.