Ira Posted September 7, 2006 Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 Stupid durso has decided, for no apparent reason, that it doesn't want to keep a constant water level. I just noticed it yesterday, don't know how long before that it started, doubt it was more than a few days. I haven't changed a thing in that time. It happily drains away then for no reason that I can see it seems to lose the partial siphon and almost totally stop draining water into the sump. It's not sucking the water too low in the overflow box and sucking air in that I can see. :roll: I've spent ages adjusting it. Can't get it stable. ONly change I've made in the last few weeks is I drilled a few more holes in the DIY spraybar I have on the return pump. That obviously should have increased the flow a bit, but even slowing the flow back down doesn't seem to make a difference. Stupid PVC tube, WORK RIGHT D*#$IT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 7, 2006 Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 Uh Oh ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted September 7, 2006 Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 if u drilled holes in the spray bar the tank turnover must have increased?? so maybe the airhole in the Durso needs to be slightly bigger??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie extreme Posted September 7, 2006 Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 so maybe the airhole in the Durso needs to be slightly bigger??? bigger? or smaller? heck just get a full syphon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted September 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 if u drilled holes in the spray bar the tank turnover must have increased?? so maybe the airhole in the Durso needs to be slightly bigger??? I've adjusted it so it's flowing more air and it still surges. I've adjusted it for less air and it still surges. I've turned the valve on the outlet of the pump down so it's pumping similar or less than it was before and it still surges. I've even cleared everything out from around the bottom of the overflow pipe in the sump thinking maybe for some reason it was restricting the overflow a little and causing the problem. Nope didn't change anything. I'm just about to try taping around the lid on top of the standpipe in case for some reason it's developed an intermittent air leak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted September 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 bigger? or smaller? heck just get a full syphon. Seriously considering it... Or maybe a hybrid with just a valve at the base of the overflow pipe in the sump and seal everything up at the top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Or maybe a hybrid with just a valve at the base of the overflow pipe in the sump i have this set up at the moment, very very little noise, but it is hard to tune, and when i do a water change i have to retune it. works good though, i have a cap over the top of my standpipe to prevent anything from getting in there and blocking it, a saftey standpipe would be good for peice of mind, but i havnt had any issues with it blocking and even if it did block it would only put around 2 ltrs of water over the top of my tank. give it a go, its not expensive to try and you can allways go back to the dorso. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KP Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 I have a eheim 1260 return with about 2400 L/h, I found the 25mm valve the best (easiest to control). IME if the water level in the sump changes due to evaporation or water changes then the level in the overflow weir will change. But with water level controller it stays dead level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 No comment... Sorry couldn't resist. changing to FS is no big deal. Just need a valve and a standpipe cover. You'll need to lower the height of the standpipe as the durso will be too high for the FS to work it's auto tuning magic. (just replace it with a straight pipe, or you can even remove it completely depending on your sump capacity) Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted September 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 *Sits and scratches head* I put everything back the way it was before I started fiddling with it because it was surging...Now it's working fine... Sometimes it pisses me off when things work correctly... :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Stupid durso has decided, for no apparent reason,... Only change I've made in the last few weeks is I drilled a few more holes in the DIY spraybar I have on the return pump. I put everything back the way it was before I started fiddling with it because it was surging...Now it's working fine... ok im sure more than one of us is confused. did you put the holes back in the spray bar? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Now it's working fine... No comment... Sorry couldn't resist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 you can't pretend it didn't happen though wasp ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 No comment... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KP Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Interesting place, Christchurch. I must come and see for myself..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Oh, I thought it was "Random pictures of people as sheep Friday". Don't worry, Christchurch isn't that "interesting". :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 from the durso web site "Flushing Effect: A commonly reported problem when first installing standpipes is what I call a flushing effect. The water level in the chamber bounces up and down at a slow steady cyclic pattern. This is different than the issue above where the water level stays to low. This issues typically is not caused by the size of the air-hole in the end cap. The flushing effect is almost always caused by back pressure in the drain line. Typically the back pressure has two main causes: Drain pipes in the sump being submerged below the water surface to far. Ideally you just want the drain pipes submerged about an inch or two. Just enough to reduce the splashing noise in the sump. Any loops or dips in the drain lines if using flexible tubing. If using hard PVC pipe for the drain lines make sure they always have a slope to them, don't make them perfectly horizontal or perfectly vertical. The flushing effect works like this: Back pressure in the standpipe prevents air in the pipe from exiting the drain line. Instead of exiting the drain line, the air bubbles try to rise in the pipe slowing the rate at which the pipes drain. The water level in the chamber then rises. The increase in the chamber water level adds pressure to help clear the air from the pipe. Once enough water pressure exists in the chamber to overcome the back pressure, the air is literally is "burped" out of the drain line which crates a sudden rush of water. This is displayed as a rapid drop in the overflow chamber water level. This cycle then repeats itself over and over as the back pressure builds and gets purged. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 In terms of my durso i can say i have never had a problem. Here is another method you might want to try. Hofer Gurgle Buster's http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=b617e20df4f7ee5970a1050092ffd13b&postid=8101778#post8101778 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted September 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 ok im sure more than one of us is confused. did you put the holes back in the spray bar? :lol: No, didn't plug the holes. But there was no problem for well over a week after I drilled the extra holes in the spray bar(Which I'm considering plugging up anyway as it seems to have dropped the flow velocity...Nah, can't be bothered) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Wow, that gurgle buster looks like the gears, better than a durso OR a standpipe! ( Runs and hides! ) Seems like it's 1/2 way between a durso and a standpipe. Anyhow it's so good I've cut and pasted from Reefs link Quote "After all this time..I finally got my overflows to run completely silent. After tinkering with the Durso's for the past 5 months trying to get them to shut up and stop gurgling..I yanked all four of them out and replaced them with the four Hofer Gurgle Buster's I made but never used. Man..these things work great..I don't know why I never tried these before. Within 10 minutes..I have these adjusted to run completely silent....how easy was that..geez.... I wanted to post a link to the Hofer Gurgle Buster construction page, but for some reason, it has been down for a couple weeks..will post it when it comes back up... Here is a pic of one of them I constructed.....very simple (and cheap) to make btw..... Quiet operation...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Kyle and Chimera - What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trinity Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 looks like a great idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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