Splash box?

My 65g upgrade is mostly complete, but when I bought a new pump (Eheim 1260) the microbubbles really appeared. I put a ball valve on the return today and it has helped a little, but want to know what else I can do. I have a drilled tank with inch and quarter plumbing.

One person on here mentioned how they built a splash box. My guess this is some sort of chamber the water enters first from the DT before going into the sump. I had an idea of getting some old tupperware container and drilling some holes in it and then feeding the DT overflow pipe to the bottom. Think this will help?

Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks!

 

Hey Mulder, I built a splash guard bubble diffuser. I wish I had pictures of it in pieces out of the sump. Here is a crude drawing of it and an old pic of it in the sump.My drain is made out of 1 1/2" PVC. It's basically the 1 1/2" pipe inside a 3" pipe. The 1 1/2" inside pipe has 1" holes randomly drilled in it and it is capped off at the bottom. The capped end is approximately 1"-2" from the bottom. I used this adapter.
Shop Charlotte Pipe 1-1/2" x 3" PVC DWV Adapter Coupling at Lowes.com
I drilled a couple small air holes in the adapter and notched the bottom where the water comes out.
Hope this helps. I hope that I explained this clear enough. Feel free to ask questions if you need to.

 

Thanks for the drawing. It seems to make sense. So essentially you put the drain pipe inside a larger pipe? The drain pipe has holes drilled in it so the water comes out and then goes...where? Out the bottom? My drain pipe is 1 1/4 inches, so hopefully Lowe's has that.

How are you keeping the pipe from resting completely on the bottom? Thanks--it sounds like a good plan I can try.

 

Yes the water comes out of the bottom. In the 2nd pic you can kind of see the notched out bottom end of the 3" pipe. I added pieces of clear tubing I had laying around to the bottom where it touches the tank.
BTW it works great, it's quiet, very few bubbles, and zero splashing. I took it apart after 6 months to see if there was any kind of build up inside, there was none. So zero maintenance! lol
Also I did not glue any of it, all the rest of my PVC (return and drain) are glued though.

 

Do you think I could modify this by laying it on it's side? I have a 90 degree elbow I'd like to keep, but I could put the 3 inch pipe on the side and still put the smaller pipe inside with holes drilled in.

 

IDK for sure. To be honest I did not come up with this idea, I found the plans somewhere on the internet. I don't remember where. I would think that having it on it's side would still solve the splashing, but not do much for the bubbles? IDK Maybe try something like capping off the 3" and slotting or drilling large holes in the bottom of it so the water comes there? What do you think?

 

I am going to put some rubble rock right where the pipe drains and try that first. If that doesn't work I will give the 3 inch pipe a try and drill some holes. I hadn't thought of capping it, but that's a decent idea.

 

Mulder32 is your tank drilled for overflow and return or RR tank. If so have you thought about a Herbie style setup?? I had same problem as you on my 55 gallon. I upgraded to 120 gallon AGA with dual overflows and went with the herbie style setup. NO micro bubbles, very quiet(sometimes I have to make sure water is still flowing), and no splashing in the sump. It is very easy to setup. No major expenses(gate valve is probrably the most $35, and pvc.)

 

Tanked is drilled for overflow only. I have no splashing in the sump as the drain line runs almost to the bottom of the sump. I ordered a 90 degree threaded elbow for the overflow bulkhead which should eliminate alot of air, so I'm just narrowing down piece by piece.