A lot for my first post.....

There is a time limit on editing posts. Something like 30 minutes after posting. Look for the edit button in the bottom right corner of the post next to the quote button.
 
I think it will work just fine with 1 1/2” pipe.

By the way, I am a chemical engineer and do this stuff for a living.
 
I'm not seeing a "siphon" here either. For a siphon, at some point, your drain line has to go above the water level in the main tank. Since according to the drawing yours doesn't, anytime there is enough water in the overflow to fill the length of the drain pipe, water will flow into your sump.

Kevin
 
I'm not seeing a "siphon" here either. For a siphon, at some point, your drain line has to go above the water level in the main tank. Since according to the drawing yours doesn't, anytime there is enough water in the overflow to fill the length of the drain pipe, water will flow into your sump.

Kevin

He states that the overflow style he was using was a bean animal style. That style utilizes a full siphon primary drain. You are correct as the photo doesn't show that but I'm his description it was mentioned.
 
He states that the overflow style he was using was a bean animal style. That style utilizes a full siphon primary drain. You are correct as the photo doesn't show that but I'm his description it was mentioned.

I saw that as well, but his drawing is pretty explicit. Maybe the problem is in the understanding of a Bean Animal overflow?

Kevin
 
I saw that as well, but his drawing is pretty explicit. Maybe the problem is in the understanding of a Bean Animal overflow?

Kevin

There is a ton of old and new post about them on lots of sites. They are dead silent and almost fool proof once set up. They do take some time to "œdial" in though.
 
I saw that as well, but his drawing is pretty explicit. Maybe the problem is in the understanding of a Bean Animal overflow?

Kevin

Thanks Kevin, my drawing was a back-of-the-envelope kind of thing. I have done a lot of research on the bean-animal and know what it is, I just am not artistic enough to have drawn in all three lines that it requires, a forth line of the return and a fifth line for my automated weather change system.

:)
 
I'm not seeing a "siphon" here either. For a siphon, at some point, your drain line has to go above the water level in the main tank. Since according to the drawing yours doesn't, anytime there is enough water in the overflow to fill the length of the drain pipe, water will flow into your sump.

Kevin

Kevin -

Not sure this is accurate. The siphon as I understand it occurs in the overflow box, not the tank and nowhere in any of the bean-animal designs have I seen where the drain line goes above the water level in the main tank. Maybe I am missing something but I have spent hours researching it and visiting a couple folks running the bean-animal on their tanks.

In fact, right here on ReefCentral there was a huge discussion replete with diagrams on how to set it up. That post was one of the reasons I choose to post here since this community seems to know a lot about them.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1541946&page=371

If I am mistaken on how they operate, please let me know as I don't want to be designing around some misconceptions that I may have about how to set them up or how they work.

One of the best explanations that I have come across was this you tube video. Hopfully the link comes through, some forums don't allow posting of external links.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJQMSmFjc-Y

Anyway, thanks again for the information...
 
Knowing what I know about siphons the distance should not be a factor. We have siphoned water from much greater distances. We used a mechanical start for the siphon. That would be my only fear with that set up.
 
I was reading here on reefcentral of someone with a 14' run having no issues, so I am hoping I won't either!!

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2685616

I really have a hard time seeing how it would create a Bean siphon with 24" of vertical drop, a 23' horizontal run, and then the inverted 'U' as it enters the sump. As I'm sure you know, the Bean relies on there being no air in the siphon line. I don't know how it will be able to purge all of that air. You've seen Beans in action. Have they demonstrated start-up to you? A LOT of air gets in the line even with a straight drop.

Will your design drain water? Absolutely.
Will it be able to handle the same flow of water as a regular Bean with a siphon? I don't think so.
 
I really have a hard time seeing how it would create a Bean siphon with 24" of vertical drop, a 23' horizontal run, and then the inverted 'U' as it enters the sump. As I'm sure you know, the Bean relies on there being no air in the siphon line. I don't know how it will be able to purge all of that air. You've seen Beans in action. Have they demonstrated start-up to you? A LOT of air gets in the line even with a straight drop.

Will your design drain water? Absolutely.
Will it be able to handle the same flow of water as a regular Bean with a siphon? I don't think so.

Well, and I guess that is why I am asking ahead of time. I have read (see link in previous posts) about people going longer distances with it with no problem and I hope that is the case with me as well. I did try a siphon with a hose over the same distance with the same down, up, down setup and it worked just fine. I ugess in the end, there will really be no way to know until I build it and try it, and then we will all know!!

:)
 
Knowing what I know about siphons the distance should not be a factor. We have siphoned water from much greater distances. We used a mechanical start for the siphon. That would be my only fear with that set up.

Yeah, when I did my hose test I had to mechanically start it but it absolutely worked even over the length of the hose. Maybe I'll just build one with an old bucket and see what happens....
 
Yeah, when I did my hose test I had to mechanically start it but it absolutely worked even over the length of the hose. Maybe I'll just build one with an old bucket and see what happens....

I think that this is a great idea. See if you can get the siphon to self-start.

I hope that I am wrong and that it will work for you.
 
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