durso Stand pipes... anyone?

[Heavydc2]

I was wondering if anyone has done this and if there are pluses or minuses to it. I would love to quite my overflow down, but I do not want to sacrafice something else to do it.

My only concern is it will cut down on the airation of the water, but should this be something to worry about?

[tapper of spines]

There are about a billion threads on the Durso. Just do a search.

TOS

[oneputt67]

yes there are a billion threads on this subject. if you don't have roon for the original durso, you may want to consider the stockman standpipe also.

quick summary: people use it. it works. no problems if properly installed and maintained.

[Alberio]

It took me less than an hour to assemble 2 durso's. cost about 5 bucks. Shopping for parts took the longest time. Lowe's has a great selection of parts. Home Depot is so-so.

I had to cut mine for AGA installation.

Go to the Durso Website. Just do a google search on Durso standpipe.

[stellinger]

Here is the link to Durso's (http://www.rl180reef.com/pages/standpipe/standpipe_frame.htm) website. No drawbacks I've noticed. Plenty of peace and quiet. As long as you have plenty of flow in your tank, I wouldnt worry about lack of oxygenation. There will be a mixture of air and water running down your overflow lines.

[Reefadict]

I set my stand pipe in the Durso method with the 90 deg. elbow pointing down and I still got a suction noise coming out of the top of the tee. The other thing I dont like about the durso method is that it acts as a baffle so you dont really get good surface skimming so what I did is I took the 90 deg elbow that was pointing down and pointed it up towards the ceiling and installed a short section of pipe into it so that it was above water. This made the water go straight down the top of the tee. The pipes have to be the proper height along with the tee to allow the system to work. Anyway in the 90 deg elbow I inserted a piece of .25'' hose wrapped with teflon tape until the teflon was in a big enough ball that it fit snug into the elbow. This is temporary until I buy a cap for the elbow then I will just cap the 90 and have an air hole drilled in it. My standpipe is 1'' and the pipe going to the sump is 1.25''. The 1.25'' pipe has a ballvalve on it which I have turned very slightly and presto no suction noise of any kind and I get good surface skimming! I tried a picture but the digital camera is junk.

[stellinger]

Reefadict

The reason you still had sucking noises is that your standpipe is smaller than your drain line. If you look at Durso's website, the standpipe needs to be larger tan your return line for returns up to 1.5" dia. where you can use a standpipe the same dia. as your return line. If you had done your standpipe in 1.5", it would have worked much better. Throttling your return with a ball valve could be asking for trouble. If something gets stuck in there like a snail you could overflow your tank. You may be all right though since the choke point should be your 1" standpipe. Anything that makes it through there should pass the ball valve as long as it is not closed too far. I also don't understand what you mean about no surface skimming. Isn't your standpipe in an overflow box?

[Reefadict]

Let me try this again

[beefcake]

Stellinger is correct. If you go to durosos page he emphasizes the use of a larger pipe than the tubing going to your sump/fuge.

[Reefadict]

Yes my standpipe is in an overflow box but I think having any surface junk going right down into the filter is better than having it float around in the overflow box until it can break down enough to make it into the baffle. I could understand about the discharge going to the sump being the same size as the standpipe this would probably help the noise. The way I have mine set up it is absolutly silent. If you open the canopy and listen you can hear a slight air suction through the hose but you cant hear anything otherwise. Except for the water falling into the sump. No mater what type of set up you have you should always have the return pump wired to a float valve set in the overflow so that if something does plug the overflow it will cut the power to the pump. Also anything that could make it down a 1'' pipe would not be likely to get stuck in a 1.25'' ballvalve. I only keep my valve very slightly turned. Not even 1/8 of a turn and this seems to stop the suction noise all together. I guess it is making up for the size differances in drain pipes. I would like to post a picture but I cant seem to get it to work

[oneputt67]

I think reefaddict's modification of the Durso standpipe is similar to what the Stockmand standpipe does. A little more complicated since he has a tee involved, which is unnecessary in my point of view. I may be mistaken as I am only visualizing what he has done. Can't you see your pics man.

Skimming has nothing to do with standpipes unless you don't have them set at a proper level. Therefore, your water is not being properly skimed by your skimmer box.

[Reefadict]

Once more

[Reefadict]

Sorry the pictures are soo poor but the camera is really cheap.

[Reefadict]

Top view if you can make it out

[Reefadict]

What I meant by skimming was that anything ( film, waste, debri )
floating on top of the water will be taken right to the filter in the sump instead of standing around inside of the overflow until it can make its way into the baffle of the standpipe. Im not knocking the durso but I think that if you can make a stand pipe that is silent like a properly installed durso but get rid of any surface waste faster then you have made something good even better.
Quick question while were at it Durso users.
How quiet is your Durso set up? Any suction or slurping noise at all?

[stellinger]

I've got 2 standard durso's, 1.25" standpipe over 1" bulkheads. The drains in the sump empty straight down right at the sump water level. With the lights out, the only thing I can hear is the Mag 18 in the sump driving the skimmer. Return pump is a Velocity T4 (silent). No gurgle or hiss or waterfall noise coming from the overflows. With the lights on you can hear the two icecap 4" fans in the hood.

[oneputt67]

is this inside your main tank or in the overflow box? sorry can't tell.

am using both the stockman and durso standpipes. no noise from either.

[Reefadict]

The Overflow box is in the back right hand corner of my main tank and the standpipe inside of the overflow is an inch or less below the tanks normal water level. I dont know if you can make out my pictures but I personally feel that this is a better way of taking any waste or debri that may be floating and getting it down to the filter. Plus it is silent. Not to say that a durso or stockman will not take it down to the filter I just theorize that with the way their drainage is set up that it would take them longer to do so because anything floating on top is not going to want to go to a drainage sorce that is below the water line in the overflow box. Kinda like a grease trap that keeps the grease floating on top while having a baffle allows the ''clean'' water to flow to the sewer. eventually the grease either gets removed manually or becomes soluable enough that it flows out.