BeanAnimal Overflow Design Help

[pdiehm]

I'm starting to buy the general parts for the overflow build, and I have some questions that quite frankly google couldn't answer.

I received my 45mm driamond hole drill bit yesterday for 1" bulkheads.

Right now, I have a 75g, but I'm planning on buying a 110g (60x18x23) as soon as we get the price settled on. I will be doing a C2C internal glass overflow box, but it won't be full length. I'm thinking 48" so I can have a place to put the return pipe (more on this later).

I've read the majority of the posts regarding the bean overflow but some things still confuse me.

The design was done with 1" bulkheads, and 1.5" pvc piping (I think). If I understand correctly, how much gets drained will be determined by my return pump. So if I get a return pump that can deliver 900gph, the overflow will drain that? Foggy area #1.

I had planned to do 1" piping, but there's a piece in the design that can not be bought under 1.5". Would building it the way it was designed originally be too much drain? Or would this be where the valve comes into play so the overflow can be dialed down?

If I am able to use 1" pvc pipe with the 1" bulkhead, would that be adviseable, or would I be better served to use 1.5" piping with the 1" bulkhead?

As for the return, I only have 1 hole bit, a 45mm to fit a 1" bulkhead...would that be ok, or would the return hole be (should) smaller?

Probably the first set of about a hundred questions.

 

[pdiehm]

Another question:

How far down from the top of the tank, or bottom of the top trim should I drill the holes? Would 2.5" between each hold be ok?

 

[RocketEngineer]

1) Yes, if the drains are set up correctly then once things stabilize the amount you push into the tank will equal the amount drained out of the tank.

2) Using 1" plumbing works up to about 1200-1500 gph. The 1.5" design as pictured can handle much more flow than that so the drain tee helps keep the water moving smoothly. My 1" setup uses just standard fittings but I'm not pushing near the limits of the design.

3) I leave this question to more knowledgeable individuals.

4) A 1" return should be fine. Going smaller is going to seriously choke the flow from your return pump. All of the plumbing on my setup is 1" and I have no problems with flow from the return pump.

5) You need a MINIMUM of one hole diameter (45mm in your case) between the edge of the glass and the edge of the hole in order to be safe. That would put the center of the hole 1.5X the hole diameter down ( 2.75" to be safe) This ensures sufficient glass remains to prevent cracking. I recommend getting all the parts including the bulkheads and elbows before you start planning the rest. You want the top edge of the overflow about even with the bottom of the trim so the water line isn't visible. You need the holes to be far enough down in the overflow box so that water drops before going into the drains. The siphon should have at least 1" between it and the bottom of the overflow box.

Each system is slightly different based on what pump is chosen and how the drains route. You would do well to go straight down into the sump, minimizing jogs and avoid horizontal stretches.

 

[pdiehm]

So if I would move to 1" vs 1.5" piping, I would just disregard the sanitary tee, since as far as I know, it's not made smaller than 1.5"...in that case, I would just use a 1" basic T pvc pip?

 

[jc286006]

i was advised on one of the last pages on the original bean animal post to use 1.25inch pipe in my twin 40 build since the drops were going to be somewhere around 28 inches on one tank and close to 50 inches on the top tank from the Tee`s to my sump by uncle 06 the 1.5 inch fittings will not cost much more so use them if you have room the only thing that will be very much higher will be the gate valve or ball valve and you wont have to worry about any snails etc clogging it