Help! Sump gurgling

[Robert_Popa_918]

Hello! After running a small 20 gallon long reef aquarium with a hob filter for the last couple years, I decided to give a larger tank with a sump a try. I’ve set up a 50 gallon breeder, drilled 4 holes into it, and done all of the work to it. Now that the tank is near completion and I have begun filing and cycling it, I’ve noticed some serious flaws in my design. First I didn’t use any types of overflow designs such as the Herbie or durso. I just have 2 1 inch bulkheads into the side of the aquarium along with a narrow overflow box to cover them. I now have extremely loud gurgling noises coming from the aquarium to deal with. My return pump has to run at the lowest possible setting just to keep the gurgling from being loud enough to cause me headaches. Since this tank is in my bedroom, it makes it difficult to sleep. I would appreciate any advice on how to fix this. I really hope that I don’t have to take apart my current plumbing system. Thank you

 

[KrisReef]

Earplugs and melatonin are your best options in this situation.
Otherwise you will probably need to replumb the overflow pipes and even then the noise is not guaranteed to go away.

From the pictures I can not hear where the noise is coming from but I would guess that the sound is from the water being sucked down into the pipes?
The narrow width of the overflow makes adding 90’s on the intake difficult or impossible. A carefully constructed section of vinyl flex tube might be fashioned to reduce noise at the overflow but how and what is going to be up to you to fiddle around with and see if you can quite Niagara with obstacles. Even half plugging one side to cause most of the water to flow through the other side may provide some relief.

If the noise is from the sump then putting a sock on the bottom can reduce the water noises.
Otherwise having a tank is like living by the railroad, you can get used to it eventually.
Glub-glub! My reef is in the garage but I went through a similar process to make the garage quite enough to have a conversation in beside the tank. Now if it gets noisy I look to see what is going wrong.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Where the Elbows are at the back of the Aquarium, Replace them with Tee’s come up with a short piece of pipe, and a Cap on the Pipe. Drill Progressively Larger holes in the caps till you silence the noise. Also do you have pictures of your drains at the Sump? You may need Vent Risers there too. Another trick you can do is Drill around a 1/4” Hole in the Side of the Cap and through the Pipe, twist the Cap too adjust the size of the air vent, to tune. I don’t what kind of strainer you have in the Tank, but Lifegard has some flat ones that are very quiet as far as the Sucking sounds.

 

[Robert_Popa_918]

Earplugs and melatonin are your best options in this situation.
Otherwise you will probably need to replumb the overflow pipes and even then the noise is not guaranteed to go away.

From the pictures I can not hear where the noise is coming from but I would guess that the sound is from the water being sucked down into the pipes?
The narrow width of the overflow makes adding 90’s on the intake difficult or impossible. A carefully constructed section of vinyl flex tube might be fashioned to reduce noise at the overflow but how and what is going to be up to you to fiddle around with and see if you can quite Niagara with obstacles. Even half plugging one side to cause most of the water to flow through the other side may provide some relief.

If the noise is from the sump then putting a sock on the bottom can reduce the water noises.
Otherwise having a tank is like living by the railroad, you can get used to it eventually.
Glub-glub! My reef is in the garage but I went through a similar process to make the garage quite enough to have a conversation in beside the tank. Now if it gets noisy I look to see what is going wrong.

Unfortunately I think I probably think I’m going have to replace the overflow box. I forgot to mention this but the overflow on the right is actually an emergency drain. I have it shut off with a valve and it’ll only get turned on in case the first one clogs. Water only drains into the left bulkhead. The loud gurgling sounds are actually coming from the overflow box. The water rises and falls which causes lots of gurgling and bubbles from the bulkheads. I tried adding an air hose inside the pipe to release some of that trapped oxygen but it didn’t help. Also unfortunately the valve on the primary flow which leads to a filter sock is stuck in the fully open position. I’m worried somehow pvc cement got to it while I was plumbing it because it won’t budge. I’ve ran into so many problems with my first build. I thought about maybe drilling a hole at the top of the 90 degree angle pipe and inserting a piece of air tubing? But then again I’m worried about what if the water comes out of that hole… or if it’ll even fix the problem at all. Usually people who use that method use a T with a cap on the end. I’ve never seen someone do it with a 90 degree angle

 

[RocketEngineer]

1) That stand is really not safe. It looks like the only thing holding up the tank are the screws. It really needs legs between the top and bottom frames.

2) I would drain the tank and install a larger overflow box. Then I would add an elbow into the box, a GATE (not ball, gate) valve to the drain line without the elbow and use the gate valve to tweek the drains to be silent. This would make it a Herbie configuration.

 

[Dom]

Unfortunately I think I probably think I’m going have to replace the overflow box. I forgot to mention this but the overflow on the right is actually an emergency drain. I have it shut off with a valve and it’ll only get turned on in case the first one clogs. Water only drains into the left bulkhead. The loud gurgling sounds are actually coming from the overflow box. The water rises and falls which causes lots of gurgling and bubbles from the bulkheads. I tried adding an air hose inside the pipe to release some of that trapped oxygen but it didn’t help. Also unfortunately the valve on the primary flow which leads to a filter sock is stuck in the fully open position. I’m worried somehow pvc cement got to it while I was plumbing it because it won’t budge. I’ve ran into so many problems with my first build. I thought about maybe drilling a hole at the top of the 90 degree angle pipe and inserting a piece of air tubing? But then again I’m worried about what if the water comes out of that hole… or if it’ll even fix the problem at all. Usually people who use that method use a T with a cap on the end. I’ve never seen someone do it with a 90 degree angle

You could try something like this:

Retrofit Overflow Box with Backing - CPR Aquatics

An overflow box is a great way to keep the water level at a constant in your saltwater aquarium as well as increase the rate at which surface water, and the film and dust with it, is removed. CPR Aquatics are high quality, black acrylic and built in the USA. Install by using a bulkhead. Bulkhead...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Then you could build a Durso inside:

 

[Robert_Popa_918]

Where the Elbows are at the back of the Aquarium, Replace them with Tee’s come up with a short piece of pipe, and a Cap on the Pipe. Drill Progressively Larger holes in the caps till you silence the noise. Also do you have pictures of your drains at the Sump? You may need Vent Risers there too. Another trick you can do is Drill around a 1/4” Hole in the Side of the Cap and through the Pipe, twist the Cap to adjust the size of the air vent, to tune. I don’t what kind of strainer you have in the Tank, but Lifegard has some flat ones that are very quiet as far as the Sucking sounds.

There’s currently no strainers on the pipes but I did plan on purchasing some in the future. Thank you for recommending the lifeguard ones. The issue with replacing the back with a T and cap is that the whole area has been already cemented in place. I would need to cut it out and purchase new bulkheads at well. Do you have any idea if I could drill a hole in the top of the 90 degree and insert a piece of airline tubing there? Or will that cause water to come out of the top? I’ve never seen anyone do it. I’ve included some pictures of the sump. The water level is higher then where I would like it but unfortunately my return pump has to be at the lowest setting possible just to keep the gurgling noise from being deafening.

 

[Dom]

There’s currently no strainers on the pipes but I did plan on purchasing some in the future. Thank you for recommending the lifeguard ones. The issue with replacing the back with a T and cap is that the whole area has been already cemented in place. I would need to cut it out and purchase new bulkheads at well. Do you have any idea if I could drill a hole in the top of the 90 degree and insert a piece of airline tubing there? Or will that cause water to come out of the top? I’ve never seen anyone do it. I’ve included some pictures of the sump. The water level is higher then where I would like it but unfortunately my return pump has to be at the lowest setting possible just to keep the gurgling noise from being deafening.

I'm seeing plumbing with a lot of turns and angles. This definitely contributes to the noise as the water is very turbulent as it travels through the plumbing.

You might consider using soft tubing from your overflow into the sump. The smooth, gradual turns will help quiet things.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello! After running a small 20 gallon long reef aquarium with a hob filter for the last couple years, I decided to give a larger tank with a sump a try. I’ve set up a 50 gallon breeder, drilled 4 holes into it, and done all of the work to it. Now that the tank is near completion and I have begun filing and cycling it, I’ve noticed some serious flaws in my design. First I didn’t use any types of overflow designs such as the Herbie or durso. I just have 2 1 inch bulkheads into the side of the aquarium along with a narrow overflow box to cover them. I now have extremely loud gurgling noises coming from the aquarium to deal with. My return pump has to run at the lowest possible setting just to keep the gurgling from being loud enough to cause me headaches. Since this tank is in my bedroom, it makes it difficult to sleep. I would appreciate any advice on how to fix this. I really hope that I don’t have to take apart my current plumbing system. Thank you

View attachment 3105006 View attachment 3105007 View attachment 3105008 View attachment 3105009

water is well below the overflow openings. Return pump may be pumping the water faster than the water is coming in. Slow down the pump flow a little and water level should rise and equalize the incoming water with the pump output

 

[Robert_Popa_918]

1) That stand is really not safe. It looks like the only thing holding up the tank are the screws. It really needs legs between the top and bottom frames.

2) I would drain the tank and install a larger overflow box. Then I would add an elbow into the box, a GATE (not ball, gate) valve to the drain line without the elbow and use the gate valve to tweek the drains to be silent. This would make it a Herbie configuration.

Thank you for the advice. I wasn’t aware that the stand wasn’t safe. This aquarium is 50 gallons so I figured with the rocks and water and everything it would be about 600 pounds. On a YouTube video I once saw someone say how a single vertical 2x4 could hold 800 pounds. So I designed the stand to have 1 vertical 2x4 at each corner of the tank. The bracing itself has all been attached using heavy duty 3 inch screws. I genuinely hope I built it strong enough, I’m not sure this was my first time building one. My goal was to avoid any kind of center bracing at the bottom because I wanted to have as much access to the sump as possible. Down the road I was planning on attaching panels using magnets to cover up the bare wood and give it a more modern look. As for the overflow box I agree with you. I think I’m unfortunately going to have to replace it with a wider one. I was hoping to get away with having a sleek, narrow overflow box because I liked the clean look. But unfortunately I’ll most likely have to get a bulkier one. I’m willing to do it though because it’s very important to me to have a tank that’s as quiet as possible. It’s in my bedroom.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I choke my main drain a little until water trickles in the secondary drain (which is wide open). Third drain stays wide open in case of emergency.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Yes, you Could drill the Elbows and Super Glue Lee’s 1/4” Rigid Tubing in. Also There is 3/8” Clear PVC Tubing available on Amazon.

 

[Robert_Popa_918]

You could try something like this:

Retrofit Overflow Box with Backing - CPR Aquatics

An overflow box is a great way to keep the water level at a constant in your saltwater aquarium as well as increase the rate at which surface water, and the film and dust with it, is removed. CPR Aquatics are high quality, black acrylic and built in the USA. Install by using a bulkhead. Bulkhead...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Then you could build a Durso inside:
View attachment 3105231

I’m thinking I will definitely go with that option or something similar. Only thing is it comes with backing. Since I already have 2 drilled holes I’m not sure how I'm gonna get the bulkheads through it. I’ll indeed have to get a wider overflow box. I was hoping I could get away with a clean slim look but unfortunately not

 

[Robert_Popa_918]

water is well below the overflow openings. Return pump may be pumping the water faster than the water is coming in. Slow down the pump flow a little and water level should rise and equalize the incoming water with the pump output

Unfortunately I’m already running my return pump at the lowest setting possible. I have close to no flow coming into the aquarium at this point. There’s almost no pressure behind the return bulkheads

 

[Robert_Popa_918]

I choke my main drain a little until water trickles in the secondary drain (which is wide open). Third drain stays wide open in case of emergency.

That’s very interesting. After reading through everyone else’s designs I’ve realized that I really didn’t put enough thought into my design. I have no idea how important overflow styles actually are. This was my first time experiencing a loud reef tank. I was expecting hearing water trickle down the pipes but never this gurgling noises. It’s honestly deafening it’s so loud

 

[Robert_Popa_918]

Yes, you Could drill the Elbows and Super Glue Lee’s 1/4” Rigid Tubing in. Also There is 3/8” Clear PVC Tubing available on Amazon.

I could definitely do that! Do you think that would solve the gurgling issue and it would keep me from having to swap out the overflow box and other larger modifications? This would be the easiest fix of all the advice I was given. I believe that this noise is air trapped in the siphon every time the water level in the overflow box goes up and down. That’s why I have a feeling that drilling into the top of the 90 degree angle would give the piping An escape for the air. The only issue is are we sure water won’t just leak out the top? I know most people use the T and cap method and I’m assuming it’s because they’ve already tried this method and it didn’t work out.

 

[KrisReef]

I could definitely do that! Do you think that would solve the gurgling issue and it would keep me from having to swap out the overflow box and other larger modifications? This would be the easiest fix of all the advice I was given. I believe that this noise is air trapped in the siphon every time the water level in the overflow box goes up and down. That’s why I have a feeling that drilling into the top of the 90 degree angle would give the piping An escape for the air. The only issue is are we sure water won’t just leak out the top? I know most people use the T and cap method and I’m assuming it’s because they’ve already tried this method and it didn’t work out.

Try this first, if you seal the tubing it should not leak.

Edit: also if you have to replace the overflow box you could rebuild the box adding acrylic to make it larger to fit internal pipes for the rebuild. Acrylic is easy to work with and adding some extra depth might look sketchy but if it doesn’t leak and stops noise then you can work on a new project replacement and be confident that the resolution will work for you.

 

[Robert_Popa_918]

Try this first, if you seal the tubing it should not leak.

Edit: also if you have to replace the overflow box you could rebuild the box adding acrylic to make it larger to fit internal pipes for the rebuild. Acrylic is easy to work with and adding some extra depth might look sketchy but if it doesn’t leak and stops noise then you can work on a new project replacement and be confident that the resolution will work for you.

So randomly I decided to try something and I slightly opened up the second value which was supposed to be for emergencies only. Now out of nowhere the aquarium is completely quiet. I’m very confused why this is but it completely got rid of the loud gurgling. I’m able to run the return pump on its max setting and it quite literally is near silent. Only issue is I don’t have the emergency drain running to any sort of filter sock, it was designed just as an emergency drain but the noise is now gone! I didn’t believe it was possible to achieve a quiet system with using a specific overflow method but somehow it now works.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

You will definitely have to Glue at the Elbow as it will leak, and Salt Track. You don’t want to Glue the Cap, so you can clean it and the Riser pipe. Pictures are of my Air Vents at my Sumps.

 

[Reefering1]

All good advice above. add 2x4 next to your vertical posts of the stand- between to and bottom framing.(most important). Doesn't matter how quiet you make the drain if it all collapses to the floor.
Maybe you have your return pump too low and its not allowing the drain to go full siphon and maintain the water level above the bulkhead(hard to tell in pics) if I turn my pump way down the overflow drains make a obnoxious amount of noise