Herbie Overflow - Starting over

[mark]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

Thanks Mark. I think I will drop the height of the pipe in the emergency drain slightly to keep water moving. Can you post a pic of your emergency drain? I can't picture how you've set this up but it sounds like a good plan.

emergency just at tank level



fitting w/tubing for circulation, coupler sits on top of standpipe, small stub as was easy way to adjust total standpipe height when first setting up emergency

[Coralgurl]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

My emerg is at a level I'm comfortable with so it can't spill over the top. No other reason for the height and I run my box level about an inch below it

My main is taped and threaded hand tight into the bulkhead. It started out quite tall as I was trying to eliminate it all draining during pump off
I chopped a bit off at a time until it was low enough to be quiet and believe it's sitting somewhere around 4" tall ?, which puts it about 17" below the very top of the tank ... ? maybe ?

If you need to know send me a PM and I'll throw a tape in there this weekend

Oh, little tip
Try to have your emerg sloping constantly downhill. Then you don't need to worry about stagnant water
I don't run a trickle through my emerg on purpose as some do and it's fine

Thanks Greg, the stagnant water is what is sitting in the overflow, occassionally the main drain fills up if I forget about the filter sock but not enough to clean it out. The emerg line into the sump is sloped so water does drain.

I'll probably start it around 17" and see how that works. We ended up buying 20' of PVC so got lots to work with...

Originally Posted by mark

emergency just at tank level



fitting w/tubing for circulation, coupler sits on top of standpipe, small stub as was easy way to adjust total standpipe height when first setting up emergency

That makes sense, thanks for posting the pics. Will hopefully get to this over the weekend.

[gregzz4]

I'm procrastinating a WC, so here ya go
BTW, I just finished washing my tape measure ...... Just for you Sheena

My main is currently 11-1/4" and my box water level is 16"
My emerg is 17" and I have another 3" + to tank spilling over
I also have a float valve to cut the return pump power before it reaches the top of the box
The fitting on my emerg is of no consequence; it just ended up there from spare parts to make the standpipe

BTW, it took days for my box to quiet itself down as it needed a bacterial film to help the water flow 'stick' to the edges of the over part and such

Whatever you do, give it time between changes/adjustments
Good luck and I hope you get a quiet box out of all your work

Here's some crappy pics for ya that I took blindly as the light surround is in the way for viewing what the camera sees;

Main barely visible


Emerg


Emerg and box height ... maybe a wasted pic post but someone may be helped by it

[Coralgurl]

Got the new standpipe in today, cut it at 17". Had to adjust the gate valve and return flow a bit, but it's much quieter. I'll give it a few days to settle before making further adjustments. The water level is about 2" higher than the pipe and I can still hear the water but it's much better.

Now to see if I can find a way to quiet the radion fans.

[gregzz4]

So any new news ?

[Coralgurl]

It's still noisy, but not as bad. Something is going on in my tank as my skimmer went nuts after I turned it back on last night after I fed my fish and still hasn't settled. Having the skimmer off affected the flow, so made some adjustments as there wasn't much I could do, we had company that just left this morning.

Even with the higher water level, it sounds like a leaky faucet. I am home for the day so will be able to tinker.

[gregzz4]

Hopefully you find something stuck in the skimmer venturi or on the pinwheel

How many GPH do you estimate you're running through your overflow ?
What's your level below your teeth ?

If you feel like tinkering with your levels, I have my box level nearly 5" above my main (standpipe is 11-1/4") and about 4" from the top

[mark]

found standpipe doesn't make any different in the overflow chamber level (I can remove it and level just stays the same). The only effect is see having it, is the amount back to sump with pumps off or if too high, I'll start getting a vortex and suck in air.

What effects the chamber level is back pressure on return line, by how the valve is set or even if my filter sock gets dirty and water starts rising in the sock. If you are going to play, maybe do so on how deep the drain line goes into the sump.

Ended up run my main drain chamber high so water drops probably less than 1/2 an inch so really no noise.