Quiet saltwater setup?

[MidSSouth]

I am planning on putting a SW tank in my bedroom. The one I am looking at has a 10 gallon sump and the setup looks like it sucks in water from the tank, it runs down to the sump through PVC and spills into it where it is skimmed and then fed back to the tank where it flows out of a pvc pipe with holes in it. As it stood the water level was low in the sump and the water coming into it would just kinda lap out and splash. Is that normal or should the sump be filled all the way so it will run silently?

 

[OCCFan023]

Sumps are often filled only half way not fully, because its a precaution if the power ever goes out or something happens you wont there to be a little leway for extra water (you will have to take precautions for water drianing into the sump with a whole drilled in the return line, but thats probably already done). You can probably fix the sound of the water splashing.

Is the tank drilled with a overvlow box, or HOB overflow?

 

[MidSSouth]

There is an overflow box inside the tank and it is drilled in the bottom it looks like. Here are some poor pictures.

Sump
Tank


Does anyone know what the red specks all over the tank are? Looks like some sort of algea to me. Also his live rock doesn't have much coloration or apparent growth. The tank has supposedly been running for 2 years.

 

[OCCFan023]

Yea the tank is drilled, looks like a cool tank. The specs are coraline algae it looks like.

THe rock could be base rock, but its hard to tell, but if the tanks been up for two years it looks a little plain (Just me, I could be wrong).


What type of lighting is on the tank?

 

[OCCFan023]

O yea, What kind of pump is on that return. The pvc pipe with the wholes doesnt look like too much circulation, you may have to upgrade that if you want adequite water flow over the live rock

 

[wayne]

Yes the live rock is a bit dull. I suspect he has tried to make his own, but you never know.
I cannot see much in the sump photo at all. Is it split into different compartments. Normally sumps are run pretty low to stop flooding if the power cuts, and raising the water level usually helps, but without a better photo or description I can't really suggest a specific fix