My DIY freshwater twin sump setup.. The noise !!

syzsounds

Hello everyone

This is my first post on a fishy forum so please bare with me

I have bought recently an ebay unfinished tank project, Its a 5 ft x 2ft x 2ft and its never been used until now. It has a single drilled hole for a overflow in the back right corner that drains into a 3ft tank below.
I thought it would be better if i posted some piccys...









The noise is maddening !
Where the black PVC pipe enters the first sump the bubbles and general gurgling noise is very very loud.
How can i stop this noise ?
This is my first big tank and they are going to house malawi cichlids ... Overkill .. maybe ... fun .. Definately !

bearwithfish

welcome to TFK!!!!!!! this is going to be a great project...

ok so if i am reading the question correctly the water flows into the overflow and down the tube with little to no noise (is this correct? if not we can start there) but whenthe water enters the sump itself you are hearing the splash and such and it s kinda like a water fall sound only not so relaxing in your house right? if so there are a few options to address the noise depending on what you want the sump to accomplish.... let me give a few examples....

you could add a longer pipe so that the water outlet is below the water level in the sump. this would kill the sound but also not create a tone of oxygen exchange (simple fix not really bad but not great either)

you could add a enclosed bio-tower this is a bit more complex and will certainly be a great DIY (easy i swear but time consuming like 30 minutes or so LOL) if built right the water will fall into a drip tray and then over some bio media (scrubbies or bio-balls what have you) and the bottom is submerged and the sound is greatly reduced.. the benefit is added bio filtration, quieter running, and added airation to your water.... (all good in my book)

another option would be to do away with the sump and add 1-2 canister filters.... i am not such a big fan of this option as i love sumps!!!!!!

syzsounds

Hi thanks for answering
The water going down the overflow isn't noisy at all ( No flushing toilets just yet) its the bit where it goes into the sump, The pipe is already under the waterline and is bubbling and gurgling away like crazy.
I think its sucking air in from the overflow or that the water is hitting all the bends and getting churned up at the bottom.

The first sump is full of alfagrog ..and the cube on the left is a trickle filter split off from the return pump.

Whats this bio-tower you speak of ?
I hope its cheap as if i spend any more money on the tank and not the fish i have a feeling my voice my get slightly higher ( Her in doors doesn't care how anything works ... Just the cost and is it "Pretty")

I have semi drained the sump and the tank for tonight .. i may even re-pipe it yet ... Ideas would be gratefully received.

zof

This looks really good! makes me kind of envious!

I don't know alot about sump setups but let me throw an idea at you, how about just raising the black pipe above the sump water line and add an angled splash plate that the water falls on and rolls off into the water. I think the reason you are getting so much noise is simply the fact of the distance the water has to free fall and build up speed, so a splash plate would slow the water down before it hits the other water and make less noise. Another idea would be to add more bends in the pipe before it hits the water to slow it down that way.

Edit;

I just had an easier idea, throw some of those rocks or something else to break the water flow up in that black pipe and cap it with a drain cover, this should have the same effect as a biotower as far as slowing down the water before it hits the water line.

bearwithfish

zof you have a great idea and its much faster and cheaper than my idea!!!! try this first

if you still want the bio-tower idea i can show yo some ideas that you can make for around $10. or less if you have some of the materials around the house....

syzsounds

Thanks Guys .. I'll try the rock thing first as its the easiest and cheapest ( i have another 25 kilo sack of it !)
If it slows the flow down to much then the pump will drain the second chamber of the sump ... so will see how it goes ...
I should tell you now that the pump is rated at 3900 LPH and shifts some water !

I'll post back later with results.
Thanks again.

syzsounds

Didn't work ... it slowed the flow down to much and the pump started draining the sump

What i forgot to say was that the overflow is 2 inchs wide .. the tank connector drops that down to an inch and a half .. then it goes back into 2 inch into the sump.

I think that's the problem ..

syzsounds

Little video to show what i mean, Sometimes its just easier with pictures and videos.

zof

I think you are partially right on there, you are squeezing all that water through that small of an opening then it will increase in speed, now you can try and go with my 2nd idea of bending the larger pipe in the bottom to slow it down but I think the kicker here is you just have too much flow for too small of openings, it'll cost money but I'd go with a smaller pump. Unless of course you really really want all that flow. Just for the other americans out there 3900l/h = 1032 g/h, maybe someone else can elaborate on how much flow this is for a tank this size and fish.

BrandonJ

The pipe is definitely the problem, when it gather to a solid line of liquid at the inch and a half, and then opens back up into the 2 inch, it creates a rain effect and therefore will give you splashing at the bottom of the line where it enters the water. Couple of cheap solutions to try would be, install a 2inch ball valve (PVC) and throttle it a little bit, or cut the 2inch pipe off 12 inches before it gets to your sump and reduce it down to inch and a half again.