new sump question...it's really loud.

[mvogel2]

Ok so i just got my 125 filled with RO water and i finally get my sump setup, I got a used overhang prefilter with the U tube. Then i cut up my own PVC pipe down so the water would flow directly into my 15 gallon sump. Then i just took a rio 2100 and hooked flexi tube to it as my return. The final part of the return is one of those pipes that are designed to fit around the lip of your tank (usually come with wet/drys)
I was basically trying to model after my wet/dry system...
Here's the problem, i started it up today and it seemed to be working fine. But it was loud, I've heard other complain about the PVC pipe being loud, but this sounded really really loud...it just didn't sound right. So i stopped everything until i can make sure that it's just loud and there is nothing else i can do about it...
anyone else have this problem.
thanks in advance

 

[escape2thewater]

I just set up my 120gal yesturday. It has a 16gal sump and 16 gal fuge plumbed in too. My sump is REALLY, REALLY LOUD too! Most of mine is from the water draining into the sump from the overflow though. I have all pvc plumbing except for the overflow drain pipe, so it may not be from your pvc. I know im not much help, but thats my .02
KH

 

[mvogel2]

thanks...makes me feel better i'm not the only one... i started to play with it some more... it looks like it's working but it sounds like a bath tub draining... my wet/dry isn't this loud, but it had a smaller overflow.... hopefully someone will post here and give us some help....
later

 

[reefnut]

Take a look in the DIY forum... There is a post by Kip on stand pipes. I think it will help you.

 

[shanev]

There is really three places that noise can come from in a sump/fuge setup.
1. The overflow- This has 2 different possiblities to make a lot of noise. 1. Waterfall sound- the water falling and splashing into the overflow box, 2. gurguling - Water being silent then sounds like a toilet flushing then silent again and repeats. Both of these can be solved with a standpipe. You should be able to search for many posts to find out how to make one. Two major versions durso and stockman.
2. water coming into sump.- This is where I had a problem. The water and air coming into the sump. The best suggestion I can give is to play around with where you have the pipe entering the sump. Try it above the surface, below the surface, at the surface. I got mine the quietest by putting a 90 elbow that has about a 1/4 inch of the elbow above the surface and put a filter sock a=on the elbow. It took me about 8 hours of playing with to come up with a combination that worked good.
Another thing is you could just have too much flow through your setup, you could install a ball valve on your return line to throttle the pump back some.
3. Pump vibration - if your pvc touches the tank stand you can get a oud hum. Some people place the pump on a piece of filter floss, I zip tied some airline tubing around mine.
Hope that helps!

 

[shep]

whats loud, water coming in going out, sound like the pump or a dishwasher drain or what?

 

[robofish]

Mine is loud where the overflow drain is... It has recently gotten loud and not sure why. Can I add an additional sponge filter in there to soften the water fall sound?

 

[mvogel2]

it's loud in the overflow, the waterfall part....where the water from the U tube fills up and flows into the area that has the drain and prefilter sponge... it's a constant draining noise. I fulled around with the sponge and it got a little quiter, maybe i need a bigger sponge.
I am using 1'' pvc pipe, maybe the pipes too big???
i'm about to look into this standing pipe, no idea what it is...yet.
thanks

 

[shanev]

You will love a standpipe. It really does make a huge difference, no waterfall sound, no toilet flushing sound. It is really easy to build and under 10.00 in cost and you will have left over PVC for other projects.

 

[mvogel2]

yeah i just did a search on them... i think i got the general idea. Just a pipe with some holes, does it quiet it down just because it's slowing the waterflow?

 

[shanev]

It doesnt slow the watrerflow at all, what it does is 2 things.
1. It raises the waterlevel in the overflow so that the water falling sound goes away as water doesnt fall as far.
2. It puts the water linlet under water which eleminates the air sucking noise.

 

[krux]

here is my standpipe that fits into my overflow box. go to google and search for "durso" or "stockman" followed by "standpipe" and you will get a lot of links about how they work and how to make them.
durso is designed to go in a in tank overflow, while the stockman is designed to be more compact to fir into a hang on overflow. you can of course use either of them for the other application, but that is how it usually works out.

 

[stillfrodo]

My sump is loud due to the vibration of the pump on the sump tank. Everything else is pretty quiet.

 

[escape2thewater]

I just built a stockmen style standpipe tonight - wow, what a diffrence! I just dont understand why nobody manufactures a standpipe like that?? Not that I would buy one now but it just seems kind of odd IMHO.....anyway another thanks is owed to this forum, the best source of info I have found! Heres how mine came out.
Thanks again,
Kyle

 

[escape2thewater]

I was able to use my prefilter too, I just had to cut an inch off the bottom so it wouldnt impede water flow. Also made an acrylic lid to quite things down even more!

 

[krowleey]

nice work!