Loud Durso standpipe (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

My durso is TOO loud! Here’s the problem. First the hole to let in air sounds like a punctured tire, but it never goes flat. Also, if I don’t put my standpipe as tall as possible (within ½” of the waterline) I still get a waterfall effect unless I restrict the pump output on my Ampmaster 3000. Any ideas?

DT

 

[Guest]

What size tank?

I have an Ampmaster 3000 on my 215g and I run it throttled back to ~2/3 of capacity and it's still more flow than I really need. I know what you mean about the sound from when I first fired the pump up wide open.

Mine is plumbed with a 1.5" inlet tube and the outlet flange goes directly to a 1.5" wye. Then I have bushings in the wye that take it down to two 1" ball valves. Those ball valves are about 2/3 open.

You can't hurt the Ampmaster throttling back on the outlet, only cavitating the inlet will damage it.

 

[Guest]

Your air hole is too small. The bigger you make the hole, the higher the water level will be in the overflow (and the whistling air sound will go away). Gradually increase the size of the hole until the water level in the overflow is about 1" below tank level. I run mine at that level and it is virtually silent.

You will also have to keep the air hole clean from salt creep. If I let mine go more than a couple of days without cleaning, it clogs up with salt creep and the water level drops and the air hole starts whistling (just like yours is doing now). Now I just keep a toothpick nearby, and everytime I work on the tank I use it to clean out the air hole and no problems since.

 

[Guest]

This is on a 180. My plumbing goes straight down to the sump, over the baffles and through the woods to the return pump we go, then directly back to the tank. Eventually I'll T off the return to an above tank refugium and surge bucket.

If I use a bigger hole then I get a flushing effect. I never could balance it out without getting the hole to whistle. Maybe it was too big? I've throttled it back before (return side), but doesn't that defeat the purpose of buying a 3000 gph pump? Also, do you guys screen or filter the inlet side of your pump?

 

[Guest]

A flushing effect usually means there is too much backpressure on the drain line. How far is the end of the drain line submerged into the sump? It should only be 1-2" below water level. It took a lot of trial and error for me to find the right depth for the drain line, but once I did I slapped a T on the end of it and it is very quiet.

I just run a stainer over my pump intakes. I didn't do that originally (except for the closed loop intake), but I had a couple of fish take a ride down the overflow into the sump and luckily they didn't get sucked into either of the pumps, but I put strainers on just in case after that. I don't use any sponge filters whatsoever in my system.

 

[Guest]

My 215's Ampmaster 3000 is used with a wet/dry, so the sponge is my return prefilter.

As far as defeating the purpose of a 3000gph pump, I went with the Ampmaster to get rid of the heat, plus it uses a lot less power than a comparable Iwaki.

The Mag 24 I used at first kept the tank (3/4" thick glass) at 84º with NO other pump running. Going to the Ampmaster dropped the tank to about 78º WITH a Mag 12 running my skimmer.

 

[Guest]

I switched out endcaps and drilled several small holes. That seems to be working for the whistling. Overall everything is much better. I can still hear the water going into the overflow box but I have an open canopy so that probably has something to do with it. That'll give me something to work on tomorrow night

DT