How to muffle drain sound?

[jer99]

I just had a 200 gal custom acrylic tank built upstairs. A dream.
The sump and filters are down stairs. The tank is in a cabinet, but still, the sound is quite loud upstairs form the tank.

Does anyone have any ideas for dampening sound?

This is my first saltwater - I'm concerned about padding with carpet because of mold or rot. Would Foam work?

any ideas would be appreciated!

jerry

 

[Anonymous]

Foam and sound insulation will work. If the sound is from pump, you may want to put a mouse pad or something to make it more quiet.

As for the drain noise, by rerouting the plumbing or change the setup may work. If the overflow make the noise, you may need to use a different overflow setup.

 

[Anonymous]

How is you overflow set up?

 

[jer99]

Funny you should mention the overflow drain. That is the sound that is coming form the tank. The guys who set it up said yesterday they are going to heighten the level of the drain because right now it is falling a long distance ~ 4 feet. that is the sound that I am hearing.

I don't understand how they would do that. I would think anything that would change the drain would increase the water level. and there's currently only about 1/2 to 1 inch of space to the top of the tank from the water level....is that normal?

 

[Anonymous]

I think you need a "stockman" or "durso" modificaion. Both work on the same pricipal. Both muffle the sound of the water getting sucked into the drain. Here is an example of a "stockman"

 

[Anonymous]

What you can not see in the pics are three 1/4 holes I drilled in the sides of the cap through the pipe it sits on. With these I can control the amount of air I let in by turing the cap. The trick is to adjust the air intake to limit the sound but not enough to where it starts "flushiing". To make what I did easy to work with I sanded the inside on the cap so it would turn easy. If you do not sand the ID of the cap or OD on the little pipe nub you will not ba able to turn it.

"Dursos" are the same idea, but using elbows or elbows and tee's to accomplise the same thing. I have seen some with Y fittings and the look like they would work well also.

 

[jer99]

someone else mentioned putting the bio balls in the hole to fill it up and still allow the draining.
I am convinced that the sound is coming from the drain.
I'll post the solution here when its finalized. I appreciate the pictures.

Doesn't it limit the flow which in turn increasing the height of the water?

 

[Anonymous]

It can. You need to make sure the openings have as much, if not more, area than the pipe. If it does not you can have problems.