Loud Wet Dry Gurgle Noises

[irenicus]

Hello, I finally convinced my girlfriend to get SW tank for our bedroom. I have an overflow box that was attached with a hole drilled in. I have a 75 gallon tank w/ a 20L sump. I have a Mag Drive 7 / Pondmaster 700 pump. I started it up and now there is the loud gurgle noise that goes every 15 seconds. It's driving us both nuts and if I can't fix it my bedroom aquarium will soon gurgle down the drain... Please Help

 

[slb243]

I know exactly what you are talking about. I think the gurgle noise is caused by an uneven flow and air and water "surging" down the overflow as it goes into the hole going to the drain hose to the sump. Is it an amiracle overflow box? They come with a cylinder-shaped prefilter spongue. A prefilter spongue, correctly arranged can sometimes correct the gurgling. Try lots of different arrangements with a prefilter spongue but you may not be able to get it quiet enough to keep in the bedroom.

 

[irenicus]

Its just a standard square overflow box that is about 6 inches in height, 6 in length, and 3 1/2 depth?. I don't mind water noise, but this is an obnoxious gurgle like when a tub is just about done draining. I'll try a prefilter sponge to see if that will help. THANX

 

[richard rendos]

If your return pump is running full open, put a ball valve inline between the pump and the tank. Adjust the ball valve until the noise stops. I had the same problem in my kitchen tank and the ball valve adjustment fixed it.

 

[broomer5]

I had to tinker with the drain hose(s) somewhat to silence my overflows.
If you have flexible drain hose(s) try to move them around - trying different positions, allowing the water to drain to the sump different ways.
Mine works best with the drain hose sort of on an incline, sloping down to the sump, as opposed to shooting straight down. The water runs down the slope of the drain hose, discharging at the suface of the sump water level, allowing air to escape up the hose and not gurgle in the overflow hole. In other words - the drain hose is not ever completely full - there's an air passage along the full length of the drain hose that is always open.
I also ran a 3-4 feet length of 3/8" vinyl airline tubing down the drain hose, from the top prefilter hole. I don't think this does too much, but it was cheap. It seems to allow the water to flow down along this length of tubing somewhat.
I discharge one of my drain hoses onto a sponge in the sump as well. Gotta clean it occassionally, but it helped too.
The other drain hose exits into a trickle plate.
I drain around 1200-1300 gph into a 14 sump on my 75 gallon tank.
Doing these things reduced the noise to a trickling sound - instead of the Niagra Falls effect I had at first.
If possible, you may want to try getting a longer drain hose, move your overflow to one end of tank, and scoot your wet/dry over to the other end under tank in the stand.
Or not - your choice

 

[irenicus]

Thank you so much for your help. I will try those suggestions out and give you all an update.

 

[irenicus]

I tried an overflow prefilter sponge when I got home from work and the gurgling is still present. My drainage tube is going straight down and then cuts at a 90 degree angle to the box w/ the bio balls, do you think this is the problem?

 

[broomer5]

Personally I think the 90 degree turn could be much of the problem.
Do you have hard piped PVC drain or flexible hose ?
I'd guess that if this tube is flexible and clear, you'll be able to see the water in this 90 degree turn backing up somewhat in the tubing.
It may raise a little, then drop, then raise a little and drop. Mine did just that until I got rid of the turns with a longer hose.
If you have PVC - may be time for a little piping project.
Up to you

 

[reeflooker]

I have heard that piece of airline tubing or regular tubing placed inside the drain tupe will reduce the noise. Also the noise might go away over time if you give it a chance.
good luck

 

[maryc137]

We had the gurgle sound from the drain hole in the overflow box. It drove us nuts! Then we tried cutting a square piece of the filter pad type stuff and laid in in the bottom of the overflow, covering the drain. We put a plastic grate over the hole so the filter couldn't go down in the hose. (Wouldn't that be a mess!!) Anyway, this works for us, and we just change the filter pad every couply weeks.

 

[joerdie]

i put some porcalin biomedia from my old canister into the overflow and the noise went away. i dont think it helps any but you might try it!!!

 

[glazer]

The gurgling is basically just TOO much water flow, it's sucking air and creating a vortex. (Um, if this has already been gone over,sorry, I just woke up and only two sips of coffee so far...lol I almost forget what question I was even responding too!)
I had the same prob with an overflow a couple of years back.... Uncle is a licensed plumber, so told him about the noise, he fixed it in like five minutes with about a dollar and a half worth of pvc parts... I didn't document it but found this link and it's virtually identical to my setup. Sooooo just wanted to let ya know, it does indeed work, beautifully so. HTH
<a href="http://home.att.net/~rstockman/overflow.htm" target="_blank">http://home.att.net/~rstockman/overflow.htm</a>