"bubbling" from the drain

[etc]

I just noticed today that my tank sounded like a bubbling cauldron, I don't think it was this bad before.

It looks like my drain from my overflow has a lot of air being trapped as well...does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do to stop this? It is in my master bedroom and I can't sleep with the racket its causing.

 

[kthomas]

hey ETC,

I had the same thing.

Here is how I fixed it:
- removed the snail cover from my drain
- increased the flow from my sump (return)

It also depends on your drain plumbing. How is it set up? I have a 90 degree elbow on my PVC

 

[etc]

@kthomas wrote:

My return hasn't change whatsoever, and should be sufficient I think...

I don't have a snail cover on my drain really.

I have a durso...I tried messing with it a little bit, but still no go

 

[EStuben]

I had the same problem, but an end cap with 3 tiny holes fixed my problem. I had to make a few end caps to see which one worked and sounded the best. Have you been to the website dursostandpipes.com? It helped me.

 

[etc]

@EStuben wrote:

I actually have an aftermarket, ready-made durso standpipe that I utilize. It seems like the noise level is going down slowly, so maybe once everything "reslimes" the bubbling noise will go down.

I also did some research and saw there was another solution called the stockman...does anyone have any experience with those?

 

[melev]

If a Durso is made correctly, it'll be silent. Stockman is just another way. As is the Hofer Gurgle Buster (google it).

You said it needed to reslime. Why? Is this new plumbing? Is the vent hole in the cap clear of any obstructions? Is this a freshwater test, or a saltwater situation? How long has it been running?

 

[fejus]

Oh man I gotta build one of these!

Thanks for that info!

-Paul

 

[etc]

@Marc wrote:

No, it isn't new plumbing, but I was messing with the plumbing and shifting things around. The vent hole at the top is completely clear, in fact I closed the top and it just made an air sucking noise...everything seems to be quieting down now...my pumps are still insanely noisy however.

It is a saltwater tank, in its current state it has been running for 6-8 months I think. God time flies in this hobby doesn't it?

 

[psteeleb]

regardless of controlling the airflow via a durso or other design if you have areas that create turbulance in your drain piping you can still get gurgling caused by water backing up and blocking the air flow.

be it our aquarium drains, household drains or major storm drains, they all should have some basic design elements that help prevent turbulent or blockage potentials. With this in mind does your drain have:

any horizontal runs? if so, they should slope.

tee fittings? if so, they should be drain tees or y's

elbows? if so, they should be drain elbows that provide long radius sweeps or as a min a couple 45's

all of these things will not only help smoth the flow but will greatly reduce the gurgling sound by reducing the turbitiy in the drain system

I know some people use flex, but I recomend against it for drains if you have any horizontal runs due to the sags you will get. Flex is fine for returns and drains when they are mostly vertical

good luck and keep us posted

 

[fejus]

I am going to try to make one of the Hofer Gurgle Busters this week/weekend ill let ya know how it turns out Etc!

 

[etc]

@psteeleb wrote:

I have flex, and I am sure it does sag a little bit. Should I force it vertical, and cut off slack?

It seems that the gurgling gets worse when I feed...it happens almost right away. I throw in a small frozen chunk of mysis, and immediately the gurgling gets louder. Does anyone have a good explanation for this?

 

[psteeleb]

@etc wrote:

only if the hoizontal runs have sags - especially if they sag so much they go up-hill

no idea on the food - but I turn off my pump when I feed. I suspect you may be running the pipe so full of water or with little air space that the food just complicates the air flow - totally a guess

 

[etc]

@psteeleb wrote:

only if the hoizontal runs have sags - especially if they sag so much they go up-hill

no idea on the food - but I turn off my pump when I feed. I suspect you may be running the pipe so full of water or with little air space that the food just complicates the air flow - totally a guess"]

I wouldn't think the food goes through the overflow, it is consumed within 5-10 seconds. It also happens when I drop some nori in there...and it definitely isn't going down the overflow...

 

[psteeleb]

it's probably doing something to break up surface tension. Again, if the air space is real small in the pipe, I can see how it would cause some additional noise. May go away over time as it slimes up more and things grow inside the pipes

 

[etc]

@psteeleb wrote:

What are you referring to when you say that air space is real small...how might I increase that air space?

 

[ms71171]

Man! I'm glad somene asked this. I have quite a bit of microbubbles created from the turbulence on my downpipe.

Mentioning having no tees on your down pipes may be my problem.

My downtube is 1.5" pipe straight down from the drain ending into a 90 degree elbow feeding a Tee open on one end above sump level and the other turned down into the sump.

So, smoothing out all of these 90's will help it seems. Do I have to have a vent on the sump end of the drain? Like I have now with the open end of the tee?

 

[melev]

Adding anything to your tank (food, dosing, ro/di water) will change the surface tension of the water. Your skimmer will react and your drains will make some louder noise until that product is absorbed or removed. This is entirely normal.

You can create a reverse durso on the drain right as it goes into the sump. The water falls straight down into an elbow that feeds into a Tee. Air vents up out of the tee (you might need a short 6" riser on the Tee), and water pours quietly out the bottom of the Tee into the sump.

The end of the drain, either directly in the sump or out of the Tee, should only be submerged 1" max.

 

[etc]

@Marc wrote:

That is a great idea. I wonder how I would implement that since I don't have bullheads, and I have a flexible drain tube...any suggestions?

 

[psteeleb]

I'll have to post a drawing later, mean time I'm looking on the web

here is something - not the best but I can talk to it

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you can see the horizontal drain has air moving up and water moving down. when horizontal runs are to flat the water is slowed filling up the pipe creating air pockets The air pocket repeats itself and gurgles as it escapes up. If the slope is too much the flow can go to fast causing the same thing. Vertical runs are different but still require a vent on top.

now in our tanks, the durso helps regulate the air water mix and fine tunes the speed both the air and water move. In a system that doesn't gurgle you are alowing the air to flow up and out without creating pockets. Vertical pipes that water travels very fast in usually are not a problem but we have small drains so the velocity will tend to will push the trapped air all the way down and they also gurgle when the air escapes. For the vertical runs we need to help break up the air bubles as they exit to cut down splashing and the bubling noise and again we can fine tune with the durso.

 

[melev]

What size tubing are you using now? And is it staying perfectly round, or is it beginning to kink a little?

I used to use that type on my 29g, and I ended up wrapping the tubing with the foam insulation stuff that keeps plumbing warm in the winter just to keep light from penetrating it. Otherwise algae would grow on the inside, slowing flow as it obstructed the water's path.

Can we see a current picture of the plumbing?