DIY Silent Surge device

[Toast_Man]

So, did the title catch your attention?

I hope so, because I am looking for some input on an idea. I am using a surge bucket on my tank built based on the bucket at the following link http://wind.winona.msus.edu/~jlulewic6852/surge.htm

as I wattched the burping and bubbling surge My mind got to thinking and I think I may have an idea :! to reduce or eliminate the air from the surge.

THe air is drawn in to the pipe via the emergency overflow of the toilet flapper. if you were to plug the emergency overflow the air would not be able to enter the pipe and the pipe would remain filled with water at all times. (kind of like putting your finger on the end of a straw and lifting it out of your glass leaving liquid trapped in the straw)

I tried blocking the air flow usng a plastic bag and an elastic band and this seemed to reduce the amount of bubbles. Hopefully this post will get some thought going on this idea and possibly plans for a quiet bubble free surge will finaly be a reality.

Come on people lets get those creative wheels turning. :)

any coments/contributions would be great

Joel



[This message has been edited by Toast_Man (edited 08-13-2000).]

[Afishianado]

hey toast man,
I guess you could always just block it off but then you wouldn't have the overflow protection. How about restricting the airflow through it? So you don't get that gulp of air.Or maybe a stopper for the overflow that is attached to a line inside the siphon tube. when the siphon starts the overflow isn't needed anymore, so the flow could pull a bobber or something down with it pulling the line that comes out of the overflow and is attached to a stopper. The stopper plugs the overflow not allowing that big gulp of air, then when the siphon is finished, the stopper falls abck out. Does that makes sense? I am not sure if it would work. Or just find someother way of plugging the overflow only when the siphon is active, but be open the rest of the time.

Chris

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check out my tank here: http://www.geocities.com/cmrehder

[Snailman]

Part of your problem is the water that is in the surge pipe at the end of the cycle runs into the tank leaveing the pipe full of air. When your bucket gets full of water you now have a pipe full of air with water on both ends of it. :( To fill the pipe with water you must force the air out of it underwater so you get bubbles. I have built four different surge device designs and the one I settled on is a 20 gallon modified version of the www.aquatouch.com (http://www.aquatouch.com) design. It works very well. One of my modifications blocks the toilet valve overflow by design. You will find as you raise the incoming water rate that there is a limit how much water will go down that 3/4" overflow tube and if you go any further you will have a flood when the valve fails to open. I installed a 1" bulkhead fitting high in the tank and that is my overflow. I am pumping over a 1000GPH into this thing and when the valve fails to open the overflow goes underwater and starts and autosiphon like the Carleson surge device. :) That really puts air in the tank but no floods. :) I also discovered the limits of the toilet flapper. I bought a 30 gallon cone shaped tank from www.usplastic.com (http://www.usplastic.com) . It has a 2" internally threaded bulkhead fitting in the bottom of it. :) Just screw the toilet valve on the inside and your 2" surge pipe on the outside and you are ready to rock. This is when you discoiver that toilet valves were not designed to open under 3' of water. :( If you don't need any more surge tan a five gallon bucket you might well want to get one of the real silent surge devices. They look really cool. He got rid of the toilet valve and that is the best answer.

[Agu]

I can't find the url, but do a search for Robert Michelson and his 200 gal marine aquarium. He has plans for a silent surge with no moving parts. He was inventing a bunch of stuff five years ago that we're trying to reinvent now. If anyone finds it please post the url, it's well worth checking out. Agu