Waterbox 230 overflow noise

[SaltwaterScotty]

I just got this aquarium and filled it today. Everything is great. The sump looks great. BUT, the overflow is noisier than it should be - Waterbox says it should be "whisper quiet" when dialed in correctly. I've adjusted pump output, messed with the valve for hours. It's very hard to dial in. It's for this reason I left Red Sea. Anyway, do you experts think it will settle after a "break in" period? Is there something else I should do? I'm back in the hoddy after leaving a few years. Thank you, and sorry if this has been addressed - I didn't anything specific to my tank.

Scott

 

[Jimbo662]

You would want to set your return pump to the amount of turn over you desire. Then slowly adjust the drain valve a fraction of a turn at at time and wait about 30 min. I think most people keep the water level in the overflow about half an inch from the top of the emergency drain. This prevents the waterfall noise from when the level is too low.

 

[LgTas]

My waterbox 220.6 was noisy when first setup. I tried everything to dial it in but in the end it just needed time to break in and get that bio film.

 

[jimfish98]

It can take a day or two to dial it in. Get your pump to speed and give it 10 minutes to stabalize. Look into the overflow box and if the water is flowing into the emergency drain, open the main drain a little and wait 10 minutes to see where it is at. If its still going over, open it up more and repeat the process until its an inch or so below the emergency drain. If your first look shows any portion of the main drain out of the water, close the drain a little, wait 10 minutes and then reassess.

Question to ask too is how much water are you pushing through there? Curious if when you look in the over flow how forcefully water is flowing into the overflow from the main display and if that is a source of noise as well.

 

[SaltwaterScotty]

It can take a day or two to dial it in. Get your pump to speed and give it 10 minutes to stabalize. Look into the overflow box and if the water is flowing into the emergency drain, open the main drain a little and wait 10 minutes to see where it is at. If its still going over, open it up more and repeat the process until its an inch or so below the emergency drain. If your first look shows any portion of the main drain out of the water, close the drain a little, wait 10 minutes and then reassess.

Question to ask too is how much water are you pushing through there? Curious if when you look in the over flow how forcefully water is flowing into the overflow from the main display and if that is a source of noise as well.

Well I had my sump pump at about 80%. Another poster said to take it down to 50% and do just as you said - adjust the dial and wait a bit. It's not forcefully going into the overflow at all. I'm waiting now and it is quieter but not enough. I'll keep messing with it over the next few days. I would think eventually I could increase my pump speed/output when this resolves and adjust again? I appreciate your response. The tank is awesome, otherwise.

 

[MrJGP]

Well I had my sump pump at about 80%. Another poster said to take it down to 50% and do just as you said - adjust the dial and wait a bit. It's not forcefully going into the overflow at all. I'm waiting now and it is quieter but not enough. I'll keep messing with it over the next few days. I would think eventually I could increase my pump speed/output when this resolves and adjust again? I appreciate your response. The tank is awesome, otherwise.

did you ever find the sweet spot?

 

[SaltwaterScotty]

did you ever find the sweet spot?

I ended up adding about an inch or less of pipe to the overflow so I could lessen the sound from the weir by bringing up the level of water in the downpipe without it going down the overflow. Because the output piping goes right over the overflow there is not much room to work with. It lessened the noise, but not to a "whisper" like waterbox says. I have it tuned in just as waterbox suggested. I guess it sounds like if you had a table fountain in your home but a bit louder. It's tolerable but definitely not as quiet as I'd like, or it should be. I might still work on it. It's frustrating because this is why I got rid of my RedSea. It is way to finicky to try and tune in just right. Unacceptable for a 10k+ setup.

 

[SaltwaterScotty]

did you ever find the sweet sAlso, I have my return pump at about 50%. I'd like to increase it as well, but I'm afraid it'll screw things up. IDK. I might play around with it more today.

 

[arcangelreef]

This is a very common complaint with these tanks. I believe the Waterbox overflow is very poorly designed.
I’ve had the same battles with mine.
I ended up raising the emergency drain, cause IMO it is way too low. It helped a lot but it still needs constant adjusting to maintain silence. It’s beyond frustrating.

I’ve found running as low as possible flow through your sump, keeps the water level lower in the tank so you don’t get water falling so far into the overflow box. Also having your wavemakers on a constant speed and not variable, like a reef crest setting, so there isn’t a variable amount of water entering the overflow.
These things have helped a lot.

 

[SaltwaterScotty]

This is a very common complaint with these tanks. I believe the Waterbox overflow is very poorly designed.
I’ve had the same battles with mine.
I ended up raising the emergency drain, cause IMO it is way too low. It helped a lot but it still needs constant adjusting to maintain silence. It’s beyond frustrating.

I’ve found running as low as possible flow through your sump, keeps the water level lower in the tank so you don’t get water falling so far into the overflow box. Also having your wavemakers on a constant speed and not variable, like a reef crest setting, so there isn’t a variable amount of water entering the overflow.
These things have helped a lot.

Mine has now quieted down. I added piping to the emergency drain as well so the waterfall into the overflow box was not as far. My return pump runs at about 60%.