loud drain with lots of bubbles

warr40 · 03-10-2007, 09:45 AM

hey everyone,

I just set up my 20g H and everything is great beside my drain is loud and i get alot of bubbles threw it. for the set-up i have a overflow in the tank and a hole in the back glass where i have an external durso with and airline tube air vent.

can any1 help me out?

thanx in advanced

Ocelot199 · 03-10-2007, 11:33 AM

Do you have a pic of your overflow? I'd be easier to help if we can see what you're describing.

warr40 · 03-10-2007, 01:11 PM

custom overflow

street elbow facing down w/ gaurd for the drain

external dusro with air outlet

**Seahorsedreams** · 03-10-2007, 02:51 PM

How far does the water have to fall when it goes over the overflow.

warr40 · 03-10-2007, 06:20 PM

3 inches or so

STL Reefer · 03-10-2007, 08:05 PM

Is the elbo inside the overflow box fixed (ie glued) in place? If not does anyone think that it is possible to use additional elbos to build a mini durso inside the box space permitting of course. I've never tried such a thing but I think it might work.

STL Reefer · 03-10-2007, 08:11 PM

the mini durso would be used to help raise the water level enough to reduce the noise.

wildeone · 03-10-2007, 09:19 PM

Can you control the flow of your return pump, i.e. do you have a valve on the return line to slow it? I think you need to find the sweet spot flow wise (may take a while) so the overflow level stabilizes. Also, I turned my overflow line parallel but just below my waterline in my sump and put a tee on the end. So the water goes down when it reaches the end and any bubble go up to the surface of the sump. That really quieted it down. Checkout the first few pages of my journal for some photos.

warr40 · 03-10-2007, 09:55 PM

i dont think i can fit a mini durso b/c that elbow is a street 90* and its touching the overflow

warr40 · 03-10-2007, 10:07 PM

"wildone" i dont understand what your explaining on your thread i'm not sure what to look at

so in theory if i raise the water level in the overflow it would reduce the air in the drain?

also should i worry about that air hole with the tube coming out on the durso?

wildeone · 03-11-2007, 01:54 PM

What I was trying to explain was in effect two things. First, I think if you put a valve on your return line, to regulate the flow back into you main tank from your sump, you can better control the dursos.

In my system I did something you SHOULD NOT do, which is regulate the overflows back to the sump. As you see in the photo, the valves on the overflow lines regulate my water so I don't have the flushing effect, and I can stabilize my overflow levels. The problem with this is, I am leaving myself open to having my system overflow if my overflow lines get plugged. I was not as worried about this as I have two overflows and my sump is small enough that my pump will cavitate (pull air) before my display overflows.

Secondly, look at the photo above, and notice the left overflow line turns intot he sum and then turn paralell with the water and I have a turned up Tee. When I added that configuration, the tee really quieted the sump down and eliminated my bubbles. The bubbles were eliminated so well that I have since removed my baffles in the sump which typically are used to eliminate microbubbles.

Hope this helps...

warr40 · 03-11-2007, 05:19 PM

o0o i understand but my drain starts PVC then goes to flex at the bottom so i guees i'll have to work something out