How to fix Sump, Air Bubbles, Splashing, turbulence ?

[jolliolli]

Hey Guys,

Set up my system last night and i have a few problems. sorry this is going to be a long post

so just to explain a bit, i have a 1" (25mm) bulkhead, my overflow at the moment has a 1" pipe that takes all the flow and makes my overflow fill almost full to the top. ( the water drops about 1 -2" )

Under my tank i have a 1" Double Union Ball value ( so i can removed the sump), 2x 90 deg elbows ( put together in the shap of an S) and then a straight bit of pipe. The elbows are used to off set the pipe so that it goes into the correct part of my sump.

My sump seems to be a simplistic design ? the water enters in one corner box ( about 10cm x 10cm), as the water fills up in this box is flows over a baffle and then back into the sump.

The overflow pipe from my bulk head goes about 8" into the water, and has about 4" gap from the bottom glass. As water enters the sump the water is very turbulent, and causes water to splash everywhere. I assume this is due to the air being sucked in at the top. So for the time being i have put a bit of a lid over this corner box so that water doesnt go everywhere.

My question is .

1. Im looking at either using a Durso, Aqua Silencer or Full Siphon, i dont have a 2nd overflow as a saftey so the full siphon method i guess introduces more risk.. for now ive used nothing. Will any of these effect/fix the turbulence in the sump? ( i assume full siphon will )

2. Is there a modification i can do the the pipe entering the sump so that it doest cause so many bubbles? Tee junctions or wye or something? should it be so far into the sump water, or less or more..

3. Should the piping under the cabinet be the same size as the overflow pipe or larger? eg should i use 32mm under the cabinet and 25MM bulkhead?

so any thoughts or pics or help on this would be awesome.

Thanks

[evilknieval69]

If you only have one hole then id do a durso. Full syphons are too risky if you dont have a back up pipe IMO. Dursos need to be bigger piping, then reduced down to the bulkhead size for them too work so if you used 32mm plumbing to make the durso, then got a 32mm-25mm reducer it would work great. It will quiet it down some, but with a durso you will never get it completely silent as air being sucked in will always make a slight noise.

As for when the water enters the sump, im not sure but i think that if you have the pipe just above the water level it will be quietest as the air will be able to mostly escape before it enters the water. Im not sure on it though, and ive never had a sump myself so this is all just from other peoples experiences and my reading

[camnbron]

Hi Jolliolli, I have picked out the bits of your post that I have suggestions for.. 'cept for #3,

Under my tank i have a 1" Double Union Ball value ( so i can removed the sump), 2x 90 deg elbows ( put together in the shap of an S) and then a straight bit of pipe. The elbows are used to off set the pipe so that it goes into the correct part of my sump.

Any way you could get away from 90 deg elbows, try to reduce the number of sharp bends as they are restrictions. Can you get 45 deg elbows?

1. Im looking at either using a Durso, Aqua Silencer or Full Siphon,... Will any of these effect/fix the turbulence in the sump? ( i assume full siphon will )

I don't think these will have an affect on the sump turbulance - from my understanding they are all methods of getting the water out of the display tank. They are all going to have similar flows to the sump so I don't think one will be better than the other at helping you there.

2. Is there a modification i can do the the pipe entering the sump so that it doest cause so many bubbles? Tee junctions or wye or something? should it be so far into the sump water, or less or more.

Try reducing the distance from the sumps water surface to around 2 inches. Also, I am trialing flexible hose with a tee at the end. The flexible hose has a more gradual bend which should reduce agitation. The tee is there to allow bubbles to vent at sump water surface Seems to be helping

3. Should the piping under the cabinet be the same size as the overflow pipe or larger? eg should i use 32mm under the cabinet and 25MM bulkhead?

Don't know I have used 1" for all my plumbing

[jolliolli]

Thanks for the reply i have some questions below

Under my tank i have a 1" Double Union Ball value ( so i can removed the sump), 2x 90 deg elbows ( put together in the shap of an S) and then a straight bit of pipe. The elbows are used to off set the pipe so that it goes into the correct part of my sump.

Any way you could get away from 90 deg elbows, try to reduce the number of sharp bends as they are restrictions. Can you get 45 deg elbows?

Would love to say yes, but ive used threaded hansen connectors for now which dont have 45 deg fittings, potentially i can change and use slip fittings with glue etc.

2. Is there a modification i can do the the pipe entering the sump so that it doest cause so many bubbles? Tee junctions or wye or something? should it be so far into the sump water, or less or more.

Try reducing the distance from the sumps water surface to around 2 inches. Also, I am trialing flexible hose with a tee at the end. The flexible hose has a more gradual bend which should reduce agitation. The tee is there to allow bubbles to vent at sump water surface Seems to be helping

Ok so if i understand you, i should reduce the length of the pipe so that its only 2" under water? The flexible hose might be a good option, the tee you have, its at the end of the hose and allows the water to exist from 2 sides? or have you put a tee at the suface of the sump water so that air can go out the side and water out the botton?. Any chance you have a picture to explain?

[camnbron]

Ok so if i understand you, i should reduce the length of the pipe so that its only 2" under water? The flexible hose might be a good option, the tee you have, its at the end of the hose and allows the water to exist from 2 sides? or have you put a tee at the suface of the sump water so that air can go out the side and water out the botton?. Any chance you have a picture to explain?

[jolliolli]

Looked at the reverse durso, and would like to use it, problem for me is lack of space in the sump to really set it up May need to look at making a new sump at some point so that i ca rearrange the design a bit.

Interested to know what you think about the flexible hose though, did you have any issues connecting it to the bulk head? did you need any special connectors?

Thanks

[camnbron]

Interested to know what you think about the flexible hose though, did you have any issues connecting it to the bulk head? did you need any special connectors?

You can get hansen fittings for connecting up the hose. If you have a look in my tankbuild in the salt water section, you can see how I have set my sump up like including fittings. My sump doesn't have baffles, just dividers with the gaps at the bottom, so isn't normal (and probably wrong!). One section was supposed to be a refugium but it all got modified to a point where it won't really work like that anymore.