Perksta90
Seedling
Hi guys, I just wanted to share something with you as I know a lot of people ask about how to silence their overflow into a sump.
One good way is to drill two holes and have a syphon drain and an emergency drain. However, if like me your tank came with a really small overflow and only one hole for a pipe, you can't practically do this.
My tank has a 1 and a quarter inch pipe in a 4 inch wide overflow box, so there's not much room to play with. I've tried everything to silence it, durso, maggie muffler, filter floss, with airline, without airline, but it's always been incredibly loud.
So, my solution:
I drilled a 22mm hole about a third of the way down the pipe, and pushed some 16/22mm tubing down it to sit well below the waterline of the sump, and sticking about 2cm out of the pipe in the overflow. I then put a valve on the end of it in the sump.
Then I turned my 2000l/h return pump on full, and closed the valve until I achieved a full syphon through the tube.
If this pipe ever gets blocked, the water will just rise and fall through the main pipe. You need to close off the tube completely to make sure there's enough room left in the main pipe to accommodate the full flow.
Just thought I'd share it, as I've not seen anyone else do it on any forums and it's the only thing that's worked for me.
If you have any suggestions or reasons as to why I shouldn't do this, I'd like to hear your input, as you could be saving me some hassle further down the line!
Cheers
Craig
One good way is to drill two holes and have a syphon drain and an emergency drain. However, if like me your tank came with a really small overflow and only one hole for a pipe, you can't practically do this.
My tank has a 1 and a quarter inch pipe in a 4 inch wide overflow box, so there's not much room to play with. I've tried everything to silence it, durso, maggie muffler, filter floss, with airline, without airline, but it's always been incredibly loud.
So, my solution:
I drilled a 22mm hole about a third of the way down the pipe, and pushed some 16/22mm tubing down it to sit well below the waterline of the sump, and sticking about 2cm out of the pipe in the overflow. I then put a valve on the end of it in the sump.
Then I turned my 2000l/h return pump on full, and closed the valve until I achieved a full syphon through the tube.
If this pipe ever gets blocked, the water will just rise and fall through the main pipe. You need to close off the tube completely to make sure there's enough room left in the main pipe to accommodate the full flow.
Just thought I'd share it, as I've not seen anyone else do it on any forums and it's the only thing that's worked for me.
If you have any suggestions or reasons as to why I shouldn't do this, I'd like to hear your input, as you could be saving me some hassle further down the line!
Cheers
Craig