My Glass-Hole.com overflow is a piece of garbage!

[STiTCH87]

I have the 700gph overflow from Glass-Holes.com and the thing is LOUD!!! I finally got the drain line to be quiet by adding Spa-Flex and now the drain line as well as where it enters the sump is like 95% dead silent.

The overflow itself however, is EXTREMELY loud and keeps gurgling non-stop. It's not like an occasional gurgle, i'm talking constant 24/7 LOUD gurgling.

I've adjusted the air line tube to every length and configuration or twisting one can achieve with absolutely zero change in noise.
Yes I have the baffle in place.
Yes I am using the enkamat included.
Yes I have the lid on (which makes it even louder it seems.)

I am using a Marineland 3000 Series Return Pump that's rated at 700GPH which i'd say must be around 550GPH roughly after going thru all my plumbing and up the 4 foot distance (I have a check valve that kinda slows it down too.)

I have the Marineland turned down all the way so it's probably really pumping 500gph out of the pump itself, and then part of that return is teed off to the refugium, so maybe 450gph going to the return line to the tank that is really likely around 300gph coming out of my return line. It's barely much flow at all and leads me to believe my turnover rate sucks. And yet STILL this overflow is gurgling SOOO loud!

It's sucking in air at the overflow box itself. When I turn the ball valve so that the return line is barely getting any flow at all (maybe like 100gph tops) then it slightly quiets but is still super loud but more of a loud trickle sounds in the overflow box than a gurgle.

Again, all the sound is coming from the box. The air line does make the air sound but it's masked by the sound of the overflow so IDC about that noise. And the plumbing itself is silent.

HELP?!?!?!

Anything short of building an external durso and i'm lost for ideas. I emailed Glass-Holes.com yesterday afternoon and they never responded.

I've read a few people saying to just dial back the return, but an overflow rated at 700GPH, should be able to handle ATLEAST 500gph even if the overflow is overrated (which I hate how they do that.)

But it's a 40g breeder. Running 100-200gph thru the sump is not going to cut it. In fact, that'd make the skimmer virtually useless as it'd barely clean the water in the DT i'd imagine.

 

[beckbrass]

I have the same overflow on a 40 with no problem. It took a bit of time to get the tube to the correct depth but was dead silent after that. If you emailed them on a weekend id wait to hear back during the week.

 

[STiTCH87]

What are you running for a return? How much GPH do you think is going through your DT return?
I can't help but feel like something inside the overflow may be incorrectly assembled or cut. Because I don't even hear a change in sound when I adjust my F.L.U.S.H. tube. If it made any form of sound change at all i'd feel better in knowing I may be on the right track, but nope nothing.

The enkamat does quiet it slightly, but it's sooo extremely loud still. I'll have to shoot a video and upload it on here.

If you took your overflow and removed the enkamat and the baffle, that's how loud mine is with both of those things in place, no lie.

It's been a week of messing around with it and it hasn't even quieted like one decibel since. I'm so lost for ideas on what could be causing it. It's so strange.

Looking around online it seems like people either have one that's 100% dead silent, or one that's loud as can be.

Where is the water level at on your teeth? Mine is roughly halfway up the teeth. A bit less. I had a 300gph pump attached to it turned down to 150gph and it was quiet and fine, but running 150gph through a 700gph overflow is foolish.

I MUST be doing something wrong here. That, or I have a defected overflow somehow which IDK how either of the two things can be true since i'm in a losing battle with any attempts to fix it.

 

[beckbrass]

I run an eheim 1260, 635 gph, I had a sump thats bottom was about a foot lower then the tank so guessing close to 600 gph with no problem. Now the sump is lower guessing about 525 gph or so. No problem.

Don't know what it could be does it just sound like loud water or air suction/gurgle ?

 

[P-Nut]

From their item description:

Recommended continuous flow rate 200-500 gph

 

[STiTCH87]

It sounds like air suction and gurgling. Like if you took out your enkamat and baffle, that sound, thats what I hear 24/7. So confused.

And yes P-Nut, I am well aware it says 200-500gph continuous. But I am having trouble even at 200gph having it quiet at times. And anything above that, forget it. 500gph in that overflow seems like an unachievable dream for me right now.

Apparently I should've gotten the 3,000gph overflow kit... Lol.

I've heard to try and match sump flow to the skimmer you use?

I was gonna get an Eshopps S-120 skimmer with the Sicce Psk-200 pump which is 365gph IIRC.

So i'd like to see 350-400gph going through this overflow. Shouldn't be too much to ask for out of a "700gph" overflow to do so quietly. So that's my goal.

No to figure out why it isn't quiet... Lol. Hopefully GH calls me tomorrow.

 

[Kungfukid]

You need to reduce the flow on your return pump

My glass hole box is rated for 300gph and if I run my pump at a max flow, it makes the same noise as you described
After I lowered the flow on the return pump, it became dead silent too
I am also using marine land maxi jet 1800 (great pump by the way)

So base on my experience, your pump might be too strong

 

[P-Nut]

a possible solution (maybe?): those overflows come with a 1 1/2 L shape. Instead of using 1 1/2 pipe, use a bigger diameter pipe.

 

[STiTCH87]

I don't feel like its the pipe size, as there is already an air water mix in there working just fine. I feel like maybe its that there isn't enough air entering the drain line through the flush tube and thus air is being sucked at the overflow instead? Yet when I blow into the air line, the overflow bubbles. Lol. I don't know. I just don't know.

I'm gonna just try and adjust it to 350gph thru the overflow and see how that goes. How to actually measure fly is beyond me though lol.

 

[mnavick]

Try a reverse durso in your sump. I have 2-1500gph glass holes and were noisy in the begining. Added the reverse durso's and instantly went mostly silent (1600+gph is going to make some noise).

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[JohnK]

You've hit the limitation of the pipe size.

Slower flow down the "vented drain" (aka duroso / stockman) allows the water to cascade around the inside walls of the pipe and air can easily seperate itself and rise up and out through the open middle. Increase the flow enough and that airway up the center of the pipe starts getting choked off and will start to cause noise issues.

Your options are;
-Reduce the return GPH
-Get a bigger overflow box (with a larger or multiple drain holes)
-learn to live with the noise

 

[dannyp02908]

If it were me, I would take out the elboy in back with the tube. Switch it to a T. On bottom of tee is your drain. On top, add a pvc cap. Drill holes one by one til it stops gurgling. If you don't use the cap, it will be loud. If you can, inside the overflow,put an elbow pointing down so it is in the water. If I totally missed the design of the overflow, disregard.

 

[SteveDola]

even if you use a T with vented cap its going to be loud because theres too much water going down. My solution would be to add an other drain...Ive done this and its almost dead silent plus its always better to have 2 drains than 1 in case something obstructs the first drain you dont have a flood.

 

[STiTCH87]

Drilling a tank full of water and liverock/sand is a scary thought... Lol.

I just put a reverse durso in the sump at the end of the Spa Flex, and also put a second and third airline tube from the overflow box over to the elbow in back of the tank that way the drain can suck air at that tubes as well as the F.L.U.S.H. tube that's in the elbow. It's quieted it down drastically and I am now running what i'd estimate to be maybe 300GPH (maybe more? IDK) through my overflow at a respectably quiet decibel. I mean it isn't "silent" as some peoples overflows are. I have heard quieter ones, but right now, it is most definitely at a livable and tolerable level. I'm going to try and open up the ball valve in a few days very slightly to let juuust a little bit more water through the return back to the tank and see if the overflow stays at a decent noise level. If not i'll dial it back to where it is now. I'm aiming for the sweet spot of 365gph where the skimmer runs at. We'll see in the coming days where this leads.

Oh, and my tank has also started the ugly phase of a cloudy white hazed bacterial bloom as well as a dinoflagelate growth on the rocks and lightly on the sand bed. The flow is enough that the sand isn't growing it much, but the rocks are.

All I have in there right now is a scarlet hermit and a missing royal gramma (been missing for over a day and i'm assuming it's somehow dead as i've few hiding spots in there and he's been nowhere to be found even after moving a few rocks.

But the scarlet is super happy to be cleaning my rocks, he just can't keep up. Did a 5g WC today and lessened how long the lights are on for as well as their intensity and increased DT flow a bit. Plan to add a few small snails Tuesday to try and battle the dinos. Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate are at zero so i'm assuming it's part of the new tank cycling as well as perhaps high PO4 as I have yet to check those levels. I had a turbo in the tank in hopes of it grazing the dinos, but it died within 12 hours from unknown causes.

 

[Dashiki]

You should slow the flow through your sump. 10x volume is very high. Cone skimmers proccess small amounts of water efficiently the longer you keep that water in your sump the cleaner it is when you return it.

3-4 times volume is what i would do at most.

 

[Lenovo]

just curious, why do you need fast flow from your sump to the display?
Like Dashiki said, slow flow is good for the skimmer. (more time to process).

 

[Andy V]

I have the same overflow, and it is quiet if set up correctly.

First, there should be no hard plumbing anywhere. This is part of their instructions. I have no reverse durso or anything and my setup is quiet, you don't need it.

Second, if the flow is too low you can have gurgling too. That being said, I would reduce the flow.

Third, you said the problem was noise in the box itself. I can tell you from my own experience that if you don't have the enkamat in there correctly, it will not help. You have to take the two pieces they give you, fold them in half, and jam them in on each side of the acrylic piece inside. If they gave you one piece, cut in in half and then do what I said.

Laying the enkamat flat across does not help. If you are running any hard pipe, remove it. This should get you quiet.

One last piece of advice...over time, the enkamat gets clogged and can cause an overflow if you don't take it out and clean it every couple months.

 

[STiTCH87]

I had the enkamat on top lol. Hmm ill see how your idea goes. And the only hard PVC is the return but between the pump and return is flex PVC to reduce vibration. I removed the reverse durso today since it started making noise and it stopped. And idk I just read everywhere that 10x turnover into the sump was normal. Guess I read wrong. I have 1200gph flow from a powerhead up top. I still personally think this overflow is junk though. the design is lousy and noisy for what it is and I've seen simple overflows that come stock on tanks run way quieter and better.

Not to mention, if the overflow can only handle 200-500gph constant, call it a 500gph overflow. Not a 700. Idky they do that. Nothing against the company. Great guys. Just a poor design imo.

 

[shawn708]

I also put the enkamat on top and thought it was noisy but just overpowered it with the surround sound in the living room I might try this myself as well.

 

[Andy V]

I have a feeling once you dial it in, you will love it. Yes, it is finicky, but once you figure yours out, it works well.

The footprint of the thing is minimal and in my tank you actually cannot even see it since it blends in perfectly with the back wall. In a 60 cube (what I have), having the extra space is invaluable.