Durso overflow have mind of its own ? I think so...

F

Flamenco-t

Well,

I have been battling to eliminate gurgling noise in my calfo style overflow. I have tried everything that I possibly can, and some ways I get them to work for a day and it keep doing it again...

Setup:

75 AGA with Calfo Style Overflow
Two 1" PVC Bulkhead with Durso Standpipe, both have air valve on top to adjust air intake
One drain is teed off to feed my skimmer and excess goes to the sump (drain hose sits 1/2" below the water level in the sump)
Other drain is teed off to run on phosban reactor and excess goe sto the sump (drain hose sits 1/2" below water level)

Return pump, Ocean Runner 2500 at about 400 GPH with head loss

Problem:

Gurgling gurgling gurgling noises

I have tried to adjust both air valve, didn't work

Leave one valve wide open and adjust the other one, works for one day and stop working

Leave both open, didn't work

Is my return pump too powerful for the dursos to handle ? I'd figured two 1" durso should be able to handle at least 600-800 gph

The biggest problem will obviously the noise, the tank is in my bedroom and I haven;t been able to sleep in my bed for 3 weeks...

Secondly, the water level inside the skimmer fluctuate with the fluctuation of water level inside the overflow box.

Any ideas ? I am so frustrated I am willinig to break the whole damn thing down and get rid of it..

stan
 
Stan,

My immediate suggestion would be its not your flow, those two should handle it. What I will suggest is a bigger inlet though. Even though your holes are big enough for a 1" your elbows appear to be smaller than that. Perhaps change them out for the thin large pvc and elbow with a hole on top of the elbow. I can't see if those are there because they are black. Also if your bulkheads are screw ins, try slip in varieties for a time and instead of having them 90 up and down, angle them slightly like at 80 degs.
 
I'd like to see the outside section please.

And keep in mind that brand new plumbing will make noise and produce microbubbles for up to 14 days. By then everything will have slimed over and it'll run quietly.
 
I'd also like to see the outside setup. Specifically, what kind of airvalves you are using. I never got valves to work. Replace it with 1/4" rigid tubing and adjust the tubing up and down until the gurgling is gone. The tubing does have to go down into the water though. Too high it gurgles, too low it flushes.
 
I'd also like to know about the size of the pipe inside the tank. It's supposed to be larger than the diameter of the bulkhead.

Here is a quote from the "Build Your Own" section from www.dursostandpipes.com:

With 1 inch and smaller bulkheads the standpipe PVC diameter needs to be larger than the bulkhead to work correctly. I get a lot of e-mail questions on why this is. Honestly, I'm not sure. Typically if you use 1 inch PVC pipe on a 1 inch bulkhead you get poor results. (Some exceptions with smaller low flow tanks.) Take my word on it and use 1¼ inch PVC pipe. For large tanks with 1.5 inch bulkheads and large return pumps however, there does not seem to be any need to oversize the standpipe for larger bulkheads. Larger bulkheads can use PVC pipe & fittings that match the size of the bulkhead. (I consider tanks in the 350 gallon and up good candidates for 1.5 inch bulkheads).
 
The piping is a thin wall 1" PVC.

I'll try to turn the elbow and see if by having it facing other direction than down will quiet down the overflow.

I am not using an air tubing, just the air valve as pictured. With my 2 other tanks, I am able to get the overflow to work to where the water level in the overflow is right at 3/4 the height of the overflow box.

I have great surface skimming out of it and it's high enough to where it doesn't gurgle ad flush.

stan
 
What size is the hole itself? 5/16"? If it is, just remove the plastic valves and give the plumbing time to slime over. It'll quite down in a week or so.
 
No, the hole is a tad larger than 3/16". If I take the air valve off, the water level inside the overflow box will be the same level as the display tank. If that is the case what's the point of having a surface skimming overflow ? WOuldn't that kind of defeating the purpose ? Not too mention at that level, there won't be enough flow of water going into my skimmer out of one of the dursos ( I have a ball valve open all the way to the skimmer feed)


stan
 
I'm afraid I would have either made the walls of the overflow box taller or put the drains down lower. IMO With the short gap you have between the two you are very limited in the tuning of your durso.
 
Exactly. You could put black acrylic walls inside the box to raise it higher. It sounds like you are trying to dial in the perfect suction, rather than letting gravity work this out for you.
 
Marc,

Do you have any black acrylic piece ? Can I buy some from you ? I wouldn't mind having a taller wall and have higher level in the display.

stan
 
Yes I do. I just got a half sheet in today. If you can give me specific dimensions, I think you could insert the front one first (after the elbows are out of the way), and then insert the end pieces to wedge it tight. You might need to wedge a small piece in the center to keep it from bowing.
 
Okay, I have been doing some thinking..

I am stuck...taller overflow box walls will not solve the problem. I can't make the water level stay constant, so what will the higher overflow box can do to make it stop. I know it will make tuning easier, but in order to tune it I have to be able to make the water level stay put. In my case, I haven't been able to do that.

I am clueless...if I am sleeping in my couch one more week, I swear I am taking the whole thing down and get rid of the damn thing...

This is on top of my skimmer haven;t been able to work because it can't get consistent water level, so the level inside the skimmer goes up and down....

One solution was to put a ball valve on the return pump and try to adjust the water going back that way, but doing this, I am not going to have enough flow to feed my skimmer and phosban reactor..


Doing the one vale open all the way and tuning one valve haven't work either....

UURGGRHHHHHHHHHH, if I have a crow bar, I'd smash the damn tank right now..

stan
 
The problem is you really need to raise the water level in the overflow box. This will let more water flow down the pipe w/o a siphon. You already stated you can't do that because then the water level in the tank will be the same as the over flow box. By having a taller overflow box the water level relative to your bulk head will be higher...

Hope that makes sense...
 
@bdare wrote:
The problem is you really need to raise the water level in the overflow box. This will let more water flow down the pipe w/o a siphon. You already stated you can't do that because then the water level in the tank will be the same as the over flow box. By having a taller overflow box the water level relative to your bulk head will be higher... Hope that makes sense... said:
I think so...so this will increase the flow going to the sump ?

I thought no siphon = less flow ?
Click to expand...
 
It will not increase flow going to the sump. When the water level is low it means it's a full siphon. The more air you let in, the higher the water level will rise. If anything you might have slightly less flow going to the sump.
 
Thanks for your reply..

I am plumbing my skimmer to be gravity fed from the overflow box. As of now with no siphon, there's not enough flow to feed the skimmer. At full siphon, there's too much flow for the skimmer.

My battle is trying to find the middle ground to where it can feed the skimmer and phosban reactor while maintaining the level in the overflow box to be quietly operating.

My return pump push out about 400 gph after head loss, there is more than enough flow to run my skimmer and phosban reactor from the overflow. My problem is finding the perfect level

stan
 
Remember... The water will still go into your overflow box at the rate of your return pump. I guess I mis-spoke when I said "less flow". You just get more air in the pipe.
 
Your drain line should go down to a Tee fitting, then continue to a gate valve, and then to the skimmer. As you close the gate valve, more water will have to divert to the Tee above, and through more plumbing into the sump. The line going into the skimmer should be devoid of bubbles, and the gate valve let's you set the flow rate into the skimmer. The skimmer should have its own gate valve or method of determining how much water is in the skimmer by controlling how much exits the skimmer body. Picture attached.
 
Thanks Marc,

This is pic of the PVC setup behind the tank.

Return PVC - Tee - Ball Valve - Skimmer. The clear vinyl tubing is the skimmer input.

The Skimmer is an ASM G2 with Gated Valve Mod. With the durso running with no siphon, and the gate valve closed all the way, the water level barely sits below where the cone started. Obviously I am not getting any skimate that way..

With the durso running full siphon, the gate valve have to open all the way for the water not to overflow into the collection cup..

This is why I am concluding that if I can get it to stay constant, I can get the perfect amount of flow into the skimmer.

stan
 
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