gurgle buster users

whats up with the gurgle buster and its noise. i have two overflows with the gurgle buster attachments on each standpipe. problem is one is quiet , the other is making a loud splurging noise. no matter how hard i moved the bell , the gurgling would not go away. i turned the ball valve on one of the drains to spill into the skimmer section ..... and that reversed the noise coming from the gurglebuster. now the other is making loud gurgle noises, but the other is quiet. cant seem to shut both of them up. any suggestions ?


whats an easy way to lift or push down on the bell? i guess i made it a super tight fit and no matter how hard i try , i cant seem to move the bell.

 

Hofer Gurgle Busters, Dursos, and stand pipes in general just don't lend themselves to used in tandem, as you'll never achieve equillibrium with two of the above devices. The fact that one always works, is evidence that you've made them well, but they're designed to work as as single units. If one is tuned to the "sweet spot" the other will necessarily lose it's sweet spot. Hope that makes sense. You'll have to change your configuration to where you're running only one. Sorry.

As for adjusting them, you'll have to remove it from the overflow box, take it apart, and sand down the PVC that slides within the bell until that bell slides easily enough to move freely, but not so much that gravity causes it to shift over time.

Hope that helps.

 

really ? so nobody has two gurlebusters ?


then for the people with large tanks with multiple drains , how are you silencing them ?

 

I had 2 running and they were both quite... But they cut down on your flow... So I went back to the pre-filter sponges that came with the overflow.. I added some 1/2 tubing down the middle of the sponges and now I get the flow I was looking for and it's quite.... food for thought.. I was mad because those gurrgle buster things were a pain to make and now I dont even use them...

 

Are both of your pipes coming from your overflow box designed the same way. For example are all the bends the same and the length of the pipes? That is why one is doing fine and the other isn't.. You will have to play with the amount of flow your allowing through the bells... The pipe that has less bends will need to be closed more then the one the on that has more bends(will need more flow)... The reason it's so hard for you to adjust the flow like you stated is becuase the inside of the bell needs more sanding so it can be sled more easily. lol hope this makes a little sense...

 

Both go directly down into the sump. No elbows in either drains. Just a single 1.25" pipe from bulkhead to sump for each drain.

 

Well then if that's the case.. You have to make sure that each bell is open to the exact same amount. When you drilled the holes in the center pipe did you put the same amount of holes in each pipe? That could also be an issue...

 

In my 120 g system I'm using 2 (1 1/2") Duro style stand pipes in my overflow. You can read about it in the tank thread.

The left one provides flow to the refugium while the right side provides flow to the sump.

Otty recommended using "repair" couplings on both lines. Which you will see that I have done. This permits easy adjustment (up or down) to balance the flow rates to where I want them....then I drilled the holes in the top of each to get them quiet at the given flow...

As indicated, this design does not lend itself to running in parallel, but with a 5500 gph pump, I have chosen to have two and ensure that the pump capacity is covered. It has taken a couple of weeks of adjustments to get them to where each is quiet...difficult, but it can be done...

+1 the holes will need to be based on the flow each is handling...

 

Thats exactly what I was thinking. Both should be the same leveled bell. I even used a measuring tape to get the same distance from bottom to bell. Still not working. pretty disappointed as this gurgle buster was no simple task.


The # of holes in each buster is the same.

 

Ok, now if you look into the bell are the holes showing the same in each bell? Did you drill the holes at the same point in each pipe?