Sump noise

[hopper]

Looking for some advice on how to quiet my sump. I have a 110 gal. Oceanic reef tank with a 30 gal. Oceanic sump. If you are not familiar with the Oceanic sump I will try to explain it a little. The tank has a corner overflow with a return line coming back up through the overflow. I just installed a durso standpipe yesterday so that I could get rid of the bioballs. Water coming into the sump goes into a square chamber that has a filter pad lying in a tray on top of a bunch of bioballs. This is where the noise is coming from. The water goes through the filter pad and bioballs and out into the next compartment which contains a ETSS 500 skimmer with a pump for this skimmer and a small pump for the UV. Water then goes into the final chamber for return to the tank. The cause of the noise I think is that the water is not going through the filter pad effeciently. Most of it makes it through the filter pad, but some is rolling off the top and falling into the next compartment. I thought about doing away with this bioball compartment and hooking up PVC pipe to the bulkhead on the bottom of the overflow and having it elbow over to where this compartment is located and dropping two returns into the sump with filter socks on these returns. This sump works great now, I just want to make it quieter. I change the filter pad once a week and the tank water looks great. Hate to mess up anything that is working. Any ideas that incorporate the existing bioball chamber would work also. :idea:

Hate to be so long winded here, but I have been looking through Krish's thread at everyones sumps and I'm full of ideas now.

 

[Aaron Blake]

You may try a thicker coarse filter pad. Marineland makes a Blue Bonded cut to fit pad that is affordable. (Product # = MD-100) They tend not to clog very fast so you should not have to change it weekly either. They trap particulants very well and should do the trik. If thats your issue?

 

[tacocat]

Pull the bio-bals and filter pad out. Start using afilter sock instead.

 

[hopper]

Any thoughts on taking this compartment that holds the bioballs and turning it into a sort of refugium. I was thinking about putting chaeto in it and having the filter socks draining into the chaeto. I guess I would have to get a light under there, but that wouldn't be that big of a deal.

 

[WaterDogs]

Welcome to RF Aaron Blake!!

 

[tacocat]

The flow would be too great to make it a refugium. You would have sand, macro, etc all over the tank and sump.

 

[Angelscrx]

Take out the bio balls add rubble rock and use a filter sock instead of the pad.

 

[hopper]

Went to the LFS and got 10 lbs. of rubble and took the bioballs out. I still have the noise but I didn't get quite enough rubble to come up to the bottom of the tray that holds the filter pad. Going to put 5 more lbs. in tomorrow and I think this might do the trick. I checked the holes out in the tray and they were already a decent size so I am going to leave that alone for now. Will post results of adding some more rubble tomorrow.

 

[Krish]

Hate to be so long winded here, but I have been looking through Krish's thread at everyones sumps and I'm full of ideas now

Hey!!! Glad you enjoyed the thread!(LOL) The sump noise you are talking about, is it just the sound of flowing water like a high powered faucet or stream, or is it gurgling sounds like trapped air?

 

[hopper]

Sounded like a medium powered faucet. A lot better since I added the rubble. It's gotten a little better after the water ran over the rubble for about a hour or so also. I guess the water had to position the rocks just so. Now, it's almost quiet. Still gong to add 5 lbs. of rubble tomorrow.

I can hear the pumps now though! That's next. Probably place rubber pads under the pumps to solve a lot of that. Any other ideas on how to make a tank noiseless?

Hey Krish, I was about to hijack your thread with this, but thought better of it. Great thread. I love to see other people's tanks and sumps. I enjoy tinkering with my tank and I get lots of great ideas from threads like yours.

 

[Krish]

Hey Krish, I was about to hijack your thread with this, but thought better of it. Great thread. I love to see other people's tanks and sumps. I enjoy tinkering with my tank and I get lots of great ideas from threads like yours

LOL...I'll tell you like I tell everyone else...If you see my name on any thread, you are more than welcomed to hijack away! It doesn't bother me one bit(LOL).

About your noises, you remind me of a friend of mine(LOL) He went to great lengths trying to have his room quite of all noises. He completely closed in his cabinet and only drilled holes big enough in the back for hoses, plugs etc. He wrapped external pumps in foam (I wouldn't suggest because of a fire hazard LOL) filled his pre-filter to the brim with floss to quiet it down and was almost on his way to adding some dynamat (sound deadening material) to the walls of his stand before he decided to take it down to sell. I know with my setup, the only noises I get that really bothers me, is when hoses touch the sump or one another. It sounds like a boat motor and I've had to strap hoses out of the wat to avoid this. Good luck with the rest of you plans. I hope you get things all worked out!

 

[hopper]

Keep the ideas coming. My stand is only open from the back right now and I don't want to close this because of heat buildup issues this would cause. I want to look into this dynamat thing. Never heard of it. Any links where I can research it. I hadn't even thought about the hoses, but they are probably worth looking into also. I have a bunch of cords and hoses on the backside of the sump that could probably be tied together to help eliminate any vibrations and also make a lot cleaner looking setup. One day it might me worthy of being in Krish's thread.

 

[Krish]

LOL... Any setup can be in there. We've got toothbrushes in all there.(LOL)

The dynamat material is what we use to sound deadening cars that rattle from bass. Other people use it to quiet down road noise in cars. If you were to pull up the carpet in your car, you will probably notice a sheet of something looking like tin stuck to the car metal of the car...That's basically what it is. The stuff we sell is called dynamat xtreme which is the best. I'm not on my computer to show you a pic, but look here... http://images.google.com/images?q=dynamat&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images HTH

 

[hopper]

With the reflective material, would this cause my sump to have more heat. No light down there, but I was curious about the insulation concerns. Sounds like a good idea.

 

[Krish]

I'm not too sure about how it will insulate. It has never been used as an insulation as such, just sound deadening. I guess it will be like building your stand out of 2 inch ply as opposed to 3/4. Sound wouldn't travel through it as easily, but about insulating heat/cold, I'm not sure. The dynamat is only about 1/16th thick, but does the job in cars. I think it would look kinda funny if you ask me with silver all inside your stand(LOL) It will look more like an oven then a stand(LOL).

 

[hopper]

I guess that is why I have insulation on the mind, because of the reflective surface. 1/16" thick is not going to cause a heat buildup. I checked the return pump out last night and it is making a lot of this noise, so I am going to make a rubber mat for it to sit on and move some hoses around a little. In general I am going to have to get under there and move a few things around. Good time to clean the sump area real well. Mine is mainly from salt creep.

Krish, you and I both know that the people whose sumps are pictured in your thread did a lot a cleaning before taking pics and posting.

I went to Melev's website and saw some ideas also, but that will have to wait for the custom sump.

 

[Krish]

Good luck with everything. I will have to update my setup when I'm finished changing around my sump. I hope you get everything worked out.