Search the Community

Greetings all, new member here and I need some help with a noisy overflow. Confessions up front: I didn't do enough research, trusted my LFS too much, and ended up with a beautiful undrilled 150 gallon tank and a stand with no side opening. Needless to say, setting up any sump was a bit of a task, but I managed with a small Trigger 26 fed from an eshopps PF-1200 HOB overflow. I have the overflow plumbed to the sump via 1" flex PVC, with one side going to the built-in sump drain and the other going to a Sock-It in what was supposed to be the skimmer section of the sump but is now just for the return and maybe for a small refugium in the future. The issue from the start has been noise. Doing some research I put together a pair of Stockman standpipes which individually work quite well. The problem is that with two of them sharing the overflow, it's almost impossible to get them to drain evenly and when they do not I get the flushing/surging effect complete with loud belches of bubbles into the sump and a nasty sucking sound from the overflow when the overflow's water line drops below the entry of one or the other. Not great for the living room where the tank is set up. Through trial and error and a great deal of luck I've managed to get everything mostly stable and now it just sounds like your standing at the beach (most of the time). I can live with that. However, it is incredibly finicky; it will go for a couple of days and then flush and slurp again. The water level in the sump will be steady and then it'll change when the overflow changes and drive my skimmer and ATO crazy. I can play with it and get it to behave again, but I as it is I can't leave it alone and I just don't want to have to keep fiddling with it. My wife recently asked why not a full siphon from the overflow tubes. I think the answer is that if the return pump stops, the overflow will drain until it breaks suction and then won't restart when the return pump comes back on, is that correct? Otherwise obviously it would be the "perfect" solution for a quiet system. Another option would be a return with a single, large pipe rather than two smaller ones, but I don't see any that are that big. My return is 1.25" diameter, so 2x1" is overkill, but 1" is smaller than I think I should go. Could I drill out a larger hole in a single drain overflow? Would that make sense? Again, I don't know enough to answer the question. I'd like to not have to throttle back the return pump too much (it's a Varios 6 set at about half speed right now) just for water flow and oxygenation. So, what do you all recommend? I know that if I could go back in time I'd have bought a drilled tank for one, but that's not a practical option at this point. What can I do with a HOB overflow for a 150 gallon tank that will be reasonably quiet? Thanks. John

Hello I am plumbing a remote sump to the storage area of my basement and have dry fit everything together. Was wanting to run it by you guys and make sure what I'm doing doesn't have any obvious flaws I'm missing or if someone had a better idea before I prime and glue. Using two 1.5" drains from DT, one drain goes to 40 gallon Breeder for a refugium which dumps into the 50 gallon stock tank and the other 1.5" drain goes right to the stock tank. Skimmer, calc reactor, heaters, apex probes, carbon reactor, and return pump will all be in the stock tank. The return pump is plumbed to a 1" return back to DT. I have also wired two dedicated 20 amp gfci outlets to the left of the sump tanks. Any thoughts are appreciated whether it's advice or something I may be doing wrong. Chris https://imgur.com/a/4r5Xh

All, I am new to INDMAS and semi-new to the hobby. Currently setting up a 10 gal sump for my 29 gal display. I am having a debat with myself on what to add to my sump in terms of LR, sand, mud, or nothing. I am loking at a 3 section sump (skimmer, sand/LR area, and return). I do not really see a huge benefit in a full fuge due to only have 10 gallons in my sump. However, I would like some LR, sand, or a combination of the 2 in the second stage of the sump. I only have about 1 inch of aggregate in the display. My thoughts are that i will be unable to grow sufficent anaerobic bacteria with only 1 inch of sand in the display, so I would like to get a DSB going in the sump without lighting. Any thoughts/suggestions on which direction I can go? I have not yet built my sump so I am quite flexible for the next week or so.

I have had a saltwater tank for several years now and decided to get a sump instead of the hob skimmer. I think the guy that set it up didn't do it properly so Looking for advise as to what goes where. He had the return line and skimmer in the same side, that didn't make sense to me. I am so frustrated with this that I am ready to go back to what I had. I can post pics. What I would really like is to find someone in Indy interested in looking at it and seeing what I need to have it done right. I didn't think I would even sleep last night after changing where the return pump was. I know absolutely nothing about sump systems. I could sure use some advise...thanks so much! Deb