How would you make this wet / dry quieter?

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Mudfrog

Mudfrog

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Jan 17, 2005
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I no longer have this setup but I'll be building a new one shortly. The issue I had was with the water entering the wet / dry. It was very loud, everywhere else was quiet. Granted I was using a Pondmaster 2400gph pump so it was moving a very large amount of water, I'm sure using a smaller pump would help some.

Basically I had one inlet for each overflow, it would drain into a drip tray that was lined with filter pads for the mechanical filtration. The water dripped through some of the pot scrubbies before hitting the bulk of the water. I was very happy with this setup and it kept my 120g that it was installed on very very clean. Maintenance was a snap as I just swapped out the pad. But how would I make the water entering the drip tray quiet? Ultimately I used the ball valves to slow the flow, but I'd prefer not to do that.



 
SubRosa

SubRosa

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There's no need to move water through a wet dry more than 5x system volume per hour. For most systems 2x per hour is plenty. Size your pump correctly and you won't need to throttle it back.
 
Star_Rider

Star_Rider

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is it hte sound in the sump or gurgling from the overflow that makes the noise?

on my tanks with sumps I find the overflow was the issue and quieted the noise with stand pipes
 
Mudfrog

Mudfrog

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Nah it had Durso Stand Pipes. See where the water is entering the drip tray, it's right there. There was a LOT of water and it was loud.

I had never heard that 2x - 5x turnover was plenty for a wet dry.. that pump had come with the tank so I used it. I've always tried to have 10x-15x turnover on my tanks :thumbsup:
 
excuzzzeme

excuzzzeme

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Mar 29, 2007
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Freshwater and salt differ on how much flow you need to maintain. Freshwater will usually be good on 3x per hour. I personally maintain mine at 8-10 x per hour as I overstock frequently. Even though that is the theoretical turnover rate, I am sure it is actually much less. I have my wet/dry on a 125. When I maintained Oscars in it, I had to clean filters maybe once every 2-3 months. Currently I have a dozen Silver Dollars with half of them being full, mature adults. I check the filter monthly and change it once every 4-6 months. My fish are healthy and my water stays at 0-0-15. I use a large pad of filter floss on top of a 30ppi sponge for filtration and approx 500 blue 1 1/4" bio balls. The noise I have is from my overflow even though I used Durso and Stendecker noise reducers and even tried one of my own designs. There is no noise at the filter/sump (which will handle a 200 gallon salt tank).
 
Mudfrog

Mudfrog

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excuzzzeme said:
Freshwater and salt differ on how much flow you need to maintain. Freshwater will usually be good on 3x per hour. I personally maintain mine at 8-10 x per hour as I overstock frequently. Even though that is the theoretical turnover rate, I am sure it is actually much less. I have my wet/dry on a 125. When I maintained Oscars in it, I had to clean filters maybe once every 2-3 months. Currently I have a dozen Silver Dollars with half of them being full, mature adults. I check the filter monthly and change it once every 4-6 months. My fish are healthy and my water stays at 0-0-15. I use a large pad of filter floss on top of a 30ppi sponge for filtration and approx 500 blue 1 1/4" bio balls. The noise I have is from my overflow even though I used Durso and Stendecker noise reducers and even tried one of my own designs. There is no noise at the filter/sump (which will handle a 200 gallon salt tank).
Click to expand...
Do you have a pic of your wet / dry? I'm trying to get some ideas. What size pump are you running?

I should be picking the new tank up tomorrow and I do not have measurements but I believe it will be in the 125 - 135 range. It has dual overflows built in. The stock list will consist of a fire eel, a school of 6 clown loaches, 6-10 rainbow fish and possibly 1-2 more smaller fish (under 6" adult size). It will be plenty of room for these guys (for several years) and the wet dry would be plenty sufficient. I was planning on using either a 950gph or 1200gph pump. I would like it quiet but I do want it to be efficient. I'm the kind of guy that runs two AC110's on a 55g :D

Here is a pic of the tank I'm picking up. At first I thought it was a 180g but I do not believe it will be wide or tall enough after studying the picture. I'm leaning towards it being a 125 or 135 now.

 
SubRosa

SubRosa

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http://www.championlighting.com/product.php?productid=18056&cat=1209&page=1

I love these pumps! The company was started by the ex chief engineer at WalChem, which manufactures the WMD series of Iwaki Pumps. The Bluelines are cheaper, quieter, and ime just as durable. This one will do the trick nicely for a dual factory overflow setup. Fyi the absolute most you can possibly flow through the system on that tank is about 1400 gph, 700 gph per side. And that's without any bends or accumulation of crud to slow things down. You're flowing through a 1" pipe powered only by gravity. Physics is physics! Better to figure on about 500 gph per side max in the real world over the long haul to prevent any problems. Figuring on about 5' of vertical plus a few elbows and such, you should get about 850 gph out of that pump. Plenty, even for the 180 you thought you had!
 
Mudfrog

Mudfrog

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I really need to get the dimensions from the seller. He want's $350 for the tank and 2x4 stand. If it was a 180 it would be a no brainer.. but if it's like a 125 that is kind of high around here. Especially with the amount of work involved to get the deposits removed from being a saltwater tank.
 
Nepherael

Nepherael

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Maybe a filter sock over the intake? If the sick goes over it maybe it won't make so much noise when it hits the drip tray

Sent from my awesome new Samsung Galaxy S3 using MAN app!
 
Star_Rider

Star_Rider

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can you enclose the area in the drip tray.

my sump (very similar in layout) is an acrylic and is enclosed. most of the noise is from the overflow on that tank.
I did install filter socks on my Marine tank and that stops the splashing in thre fuge. that may work here
 
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