Need help Silencing New Waterbox Infinia Reef 230.6

Soup Sandwich · Feb 29, 2024

Hello there,

I just sent this message to Waterbox, but it turns out their help desk is only available Monday-Thursday and I am trying to get my cycle started this weekend, so I wanted to reach out here to hopefully get some answers.

I am in the process of water testing my new Infinia Reef 230.6 - I am having an issue silencing the system.

I have adjusted the gate valve to have the water level in the overflow box just slightly below the emergency drain. However, no matter what level I have the water at, the overflow weir is flowing water directly into the emergency drain, which is causing a lot of noise. Aside from the noise, it does not seem right to me that the weir should flow into the emergency drain, as the emergency drain should remain dry and clean, and only carry water in case of an emergency. Have I missed something in setup, or is there an issue with this design? The height of the emergency drain is ~1/2 an inch below the horizontal supply, so it can not be plumbed any higher.

A few additional questions:

In setting the tank water level - I filled the display tank just to the bottom of the overflow weir, and then filled the sump up to about 2" below the top so that during a power outage the sump will not over flow. Is this the appropriate way to measure how much water should be in the system? Is there a recommended sump water height for when the system is turned off?
I purchased the Syncra SDC 9.0 with this setup. Is there a recommended flow rate for this return pump on this system?
**Additional note - the system was flowing water from the weir into the emergency drain even when I had the return pump tuned down to 20% (~400gph)
Is there a recommended water height for the return chamber of the sump during normal operation?
Is there a recommended water height for the display tank?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

nereefpat · Mar 1, 2024

Bump. Let's see if we can get you some help.

Could you post some pictures?

Soup Sandwich · Mar 1, 2024

Thank you for helping out!

nereefpat said:
Bump. Let's see if we can get you some help.

Could you post some pictures?

Thank you for trying to help out! I tried getting a picture - but due to the horizontal plumbing, it is a bit challenging to show exactly what is going on. The attached picture is a top down view of the overflow box. Circled in red is the emergency drain, which the weir is flowing water directly into.

I did wind up getting a response from Waterbox today, and they mentioned that I would likely need to turn down my return pump to reduce the amount of water in the display tank, thus reducing the amount of water going through the weir. However, even down to 15% flow rate of the Syncra SDC 9.0, I am still getting water into the emergency drain. Which means I need to drop it down to 10% flow rate to avoid this issue.

10% of this pump when accounting for head-loss is ~200GPH, which is not even a 1x cycle rate for the tank, so I do not see this as an appropriate option as I would prefer to have at least 2x, if not higher.

I think that my only option will be to cut the emergency drain back and add 45 degree fittings to relocate the emergency opening to the back of the over flow box. Not what I was hoping I would have to do with a new $5,000 setup!

jakebarrierreef · Mar 1, 2024

Please report back after you've made the e-drain modification! I'm looking to pull the trigger on a WaterBox and have seen this complaint pop up before. Sounds like poor design.

Reefin Aint Easy · Mar 1, 2024

Can you post a video for us to possibly help? My Waterbox is completely silent and I have a very high turnover rate running through it.

Soup Sandwich · Mar 3, 2024

Reefin Aint Easy said:
Can you post a video for us to possibly help? My Waterbox is completely silent and I have a very high turnover rate running through it.

Haven't been able to get a video yet - It's near impossible to show due to the supply plumbing covering the view of the emergency drain.

What model Waterbox do you have? In the picture below you can see the emergency drain to the left - this is where the water is flowing directly into from the weir if the return pump is set anywhere above 10%. I can get the system completely silent when I tune the gate valve and drop the flow way down to 10% - but I am trying to avoid that.

The below picture shows the overflow box, with the front panel/weirs removed.

Even if I apply pressure and pull the emergency drain back towards the rear of the tank, it will eliminate the problem because the water coming in from the weir won't reach the drain.

Reefin Aint Easy · Mar 3, 2024

Yes, exact same overflow setup. I was hoping to see a video of the flow and where your water level was in the tank and overflow box. If that makes sense.

Soup Sandwich · Mar 3, 2024

Reefin Aint Easy said:
Yes, exact same overflow setup. I was hoping to see a video of the flow and where your water level was in the tank and overflow box. If that makes sense.

That makes perfect sense! I have the emergency drain removed from the overflow box to see about a modification, so I won't be able to run it until it is back together.

The water was just about half way up the weir when it was operational though, and the water level was just over an inch down from the top of the tank.

Do you know what your return pump is putting out for GPH?

Soup Sandwich · Mar 5, 2024

Latest response from Waterbox below. Looks like I will have to go with my plan of modifying the emergency drain with 45 degree fittings to get it away from the weir and prevent water flowing through in normal operation. Very disappointing, mostly in principal only since it is an easy fix, but disappointing nonetheless when considering the high price tag.

Kzang · Mar 6, 2024

Soup Sandwich said:
Latest response from Waterbox below. Looks like I will have to go with my plan of modifying the emergency drain with 45 degree fittings to get it away from the weir and prevent water flowing through in normal operation. Very disappointing, mostly in principal only since it is an easy fix, but disappointing nonetheless when considering the high price tag.

I had this issue on my peninsula 6025. The flow through the weir would go directly into the emergency drain since it’s too close. The emergency drain was too low, so if you did the right level, you would hear the waterfall.

I just cut the emergency drain and added elbows and raised it up.

Keep in mind the dang thing is in metric. You can’t just go to Home Depot or Lowes and get stuff that fit.