Reducing Noise

[Eric Noa]

Hey guys I got a quick question. Just finished plumbing my 90 gallon and Im wondering how I can reduce the noise of the water going down and splashing into the sump/fuge. My tank has one drain and I have it split with a T and one end goes to the sump where the skimmer is and the other goes into the fuge. Both ends have ball valves and I did close them a little and it seem to reduce the noise but Im looking for a way to reduce it a little bit more but I don't want to close ball valve too much and then cause the tank to overflow.

 

[salt_for_brains]

Does it discharge under the water level in your sump? If not extend it below the water level. You can also add a "T" to the end of the discharge below the water level. You can try either or both without gluing anything to see if it helps. I wouldn't do anything with ball valves to restrict your flow back to the sump for the very reason you mentioned "risking overflow".

 

[Eric Noa]

Yes it does go under the water level. I'll try adding a T and see if that helps.... With both ball valves fully open when water is coming down it seems like it gets air or something because there are some big splashes and then it stops and then it happens again. With the ball valves close a little that doesn't happen but there still a lot of noise.

 

[salt_for_brains]

I had to cut a bunch of grooves in the pipe below the water line on a system I had once. It created more friction and also allowed water numerous exit points so it didn't chug in the bottom. A filter sock could also be an option if you want to use one of those.

 

[Eric Noa]

I had to cut a bunch of grooves in the pipe below the water line on a system I had once. It created more friction and also allowed water numerous exit points so it didn't chug in the bottom. A filter sock could also be an option if you want to use one of those.

I guess I'll have to give that a try because the pipe already has like 20 holes that I drilled and the bottom is cut on an angle so it doesn't sit flush.

 

[Steveg229]

What type of overflow are you using? Does it have a vent/hole at the top of the overflow pipe to allow air to escape?

 

[d2mini]

There is only so much you can do with a typical open channel style overflow.
If you had a second drain and could implement a Herbie style overflow where the main drain is a full siphon it would be completely quiet. But once you introduce air, and then more turbulence created by the T split, it's going to be somewhat noisy. Sounds to me like you are saying it's too much turbulence in the sump, not gurgling from the pipe.

Do you know how much flow you have going through your sump? 3-5x is plenty so if it's more you could try cutting it back even more. You might just have too much flow for your sump.

 

[Eric Noa]

What type of overflow are you using? Does it have a vent/hole at the top of the overflow pipe to allow air to escape?

The tank had a durso standpipe and yes it has vent holes.

There is only so much you can do with a typical open channel style overflow.
If you had a second drain and could implement a Herbie style overflow where the main drain is a full siphon it would be completely quiet. But once you introduce air, and then more turbulence created by the T split, it's going to be somewhat noisy. Sounds to me like you are saying it's too much turbulence in the sump, not gurgling from the pipe.

Do you know how much flow you have going through your sump? 3-5x is plenty so if it's more you could try cutting it back even more. You might just have too much flow for your sump.

The pipe was gurgling a little but not to much and then there was a lot of "turbulence" in the sump which was the reason for all the extra noise. What I did was just add a ball valve to my return pump and adjusted the flow going back into the tank which stopped the gurgling and turbulence. Theres still noise but a lot less than before. I know its not going to be silent like if I had a Herbie style overflow or a beananimals overflow but now I think is as quiet as its going to get.