Silent and Failsafe Overflow System

[BeanAnimal]

well my question is relating to your build. I am trying not to drill the 220g.

Then you will not be able to utlize this type of standpipe design

If i can get a large enough hob filter, drill the 3 holes to put the 3 drain lines, technically, it should work correctly?

Yes, the "standpipes" will work but you will have barely any surface skimming and the achilles heel of the system will be the U-tubes. You have a much greater chance of U-tube siphon failure than you do of any decently implemented standpipe design failing.

And it will achieve my function as well as where I don't have to drill the tank.
Water will go into the hob and be siphon down.

You mean water will siphon into the HOB and then siphon down

Would this affect any functions of the fail save method? Sorry, first time plumber here

The system will only be fail-safe with regard to the water in the HOB, not the display!

That is, the HOB box will never overflow due to the way the standpipes are configured. The DISPLAY can still overflow if the U-tube siphon fails. The water will rise and spill over the tank rim.

Drill the tank!

Hope that makes sense

 

[nctinter]

Slip gate valve or threaded for the syphon pipe?

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[BeanAnimal]

There really is no need for a gate valve. The system only needs set one time.

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(Hint... turn off the silly tapatalk signature and pass the word for others to do the same)

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

+1

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[nctinter]

I thought I remember reading the gate valve was essential. Maybe I am just mistaking it with the Herbie. I've read a lot of info. Either way I have a gate valve that I'd like to use. It is slipxslip so I think I will just do a union on both sides. I have those too, man I have a lot of pvc laying around.

Sent from my computer not using silly tapatalk

 

[pandimus]

Hey all, im looking to setup a beananimal setup also. I am going to be using 1x Genxpcx40 pump 1190 gph, on my 125 gallon dt, with 50 gallon sump. Just curious if you guys think i need an overflow box or can i just put the bulkheads in. What size bulkheads and pvc would you use for my overflow? thanks all in advance.

 

[andyl9063]

im setting this on a 220g tank.

How do you determine the size of the overflow box? How big does it have to be? I will end up drilling the tank.

 

[SkyReef]

Thanks, Bean Animal: Your Overflow System Is Great.

Thanks, Bean Animal: Your Overflow System Is Great.

Here is the front shot of my twin-aquarium setup (installed at my office at work), using Bean Animal's overflow design. I will post pictures of the rearside plumbing tomorrow. In the meantime, recall that the drainlines of both tanks (left = NanoCube 28 and right = BioCube 14) share a common sump below the left tank (NanoCube 28). As the drainlines pass from the right to the left, they are obscured behind the glass-brick wall connecting the two aquarium stands. The overflow system is dead silent and has passed my weeklong-water-test.

My only problem now is that my Iwaki MD 40RT external pump is too loud. I modified the fan, as posted on another site, and that quieted things a bit, but not enough. I'm going to ditch the Iwaki and get a quieter pump. (Any recommendations would be gladly welcomed.) Bean Animal's design is so successful and quiet that I cannot tolerate the loud pump noise.

As for the overflow design: there is no gurgling, splashing, dripping, or any water noise, whatsoever--just as advertised by BeanAnimal. Thank you BeanAnimal. Your Overflow System is Great!

 

[psychadelicdrea]

nice

 

[BeanAnimal]

nice

A word to the wise...

Useless one word or one sentance contributions in order to inflate post count will get you banned.

 

[BeanAnimal]

SkyReef

I am glad that the setup is working for you. The quietest pumps I know of are the Velocity pumps, but they come at the cost of being water cooled even though they are external.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Hey all, im looking to setup a beananimal setup also. I am going to be using 1x Genxpcx40 pump 1190 gph, on my 125 gallon dt, with 50 gallon sump. Just curious if you guys think i need an overflow box or can i just put the bulkheads in. What size bulkheads and pvc would you use for my overflow? thanks all in advance.

Without a an overflow box, you will get no surface skimming. I suggest reading the first page of this thread and visiting my website for details of how the overflow is constructed. Most of your questions will be answered in detail

 

[BeanAnimal]

im setting this on a 220g tank.

How do you determine the size of the overflow box? How big does it have to be? I will end up drilling the tank.

See the reply above

 

[andyl9063]

See the reply above

i just read the whole thing.
Does it have to extend all the way from one end of the tank to the other end? I see people incorporating the idea, but some don't have it all the way.

It shouldnt affect it too much right.

 

[Mel-E-Mel]

Hi Bean and everyone else who may have input. I got my tank plumbed using yoru system and wanted to get feed back on what I may need to change. drains are 1" and I still need to attach the airline tubing to the open channel pipe. here some pics.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y182/rommelgin/sump12.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y182/rommelgin/sump10.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
from left to right, Siphon drain, open channel, emergency then return. I still need to add the baffles in the sump but the siphon drain and open channel will drain into the skimmer section. Emergency will drain into the fuge section. This is just a dry run so any advice on improvement before I glue is greatly appreciated!

Anything I should change out with this plumbing before I cement?

 

[ram1500]

Help......

Help......

Finally moved my tank to its spot in the living room, and now I can't get the system stabilized. The only difference I made was to go with a single return line instead of the tee. Tested it in the basement and all work fine. Now the water keeps rising and dropping in the overflow.

Help...

Thanks
Gus

It's alive.... and running. Now I need some advise on how to tune it.

There's a tee for the refugium with a ball valve and a tee on the main return to the DT with a split to distribute water evenly on both sides of the tank.

Cut the power a few times and watched it come back and balance itself out pretty well, takes a few minutes.

Is there a sequence of steps I should follow to make sure I now how to tune it and what to look for? Much appreciated. I feel a huge sense of accomplishment.

So far the only thing I can't answer for is I think the center baffle isn't high enough. Seems like I can't get the water to stay below it and it overflows slightly. Kinda defeats the purpose of the bubble trap. Maybe I need to move it up or it will work itself out with tuning. The center baffle is 1.5" higher than the two baffles fore and aft.

The only noise you hear is the water splashing back on the surface in the DT. Should I extend the pipe so it drains below the surface? Not sure if that will create a siphon issue.

Thanks
Gus

 

[BeanAnimal]

My guess is that the split siphon is causing small oscillations in the flow rate between the two sump halves and in turn creating a feedback loop with the overflow box.

However, the first thing to check is for bubbles coming from the siphon pipes on both sides of the split. How deep are they submerged?

 

[ram1500]

Problem solved. Thanks for the quick reply Bean...

For some reason I decided to shorten the siphon elbow, in other words bring it up a little since it looked a little close to the bottom of the overflow. It dawned on me that the open channel must be filling up before the actual siphon pipe and creating an endless cycle. There was never any water coming out of the main siphon pipe. I switch the two elbows and it fixed it immediately... I have both siphon and open channels about 2" below the water line in the sump.

Phew....
Thanks
Gus

My guess is that the split siphon is causing small oscillations in the flow rate between the two sump halves and in turn creating a feedback loop with the overflow box.

However, the first thing to check is for bubbles coming from the siphon pipes on both sides of the split. How deep are they submerged?

 

[justshoe]

Quick question on this setup, my tank is already drilled with 2 bulkheads in a overflow that runs about 2' wide on a 4' tank. The problem I have is that the bulkheads are positioned very low within the overflow box not really allowing me to place street 90's facing downward. My question is do you think i will be able to just run an open bulkhead on the full siphon drain and the open channel then when I drill my 3rd bulkhead place it slightly above the others to be able to run a 90 upwards to create the emergency drain.
I'm thinking on the open channel drain I may run a 90 pointed at around a 45 degree angle to get a slightly higher level but i'm not sure at this point how exactly to deal with this.

 

[andyl9063]

what are you guys using for the john guest fitting and how did you get it in the threaded cap? Drilling it?