Silent and Failsafe Overflow System

[saf1]

Thinking of testing this actually since the dollar / gallon sale is going on with a 40 gallon breeder. I have two 29 gallon BioCubes that I should merge due to the rose bubble tips growing too large and splitting. My question is:

Can I use 1" pipes in this case or do you really need 1.5"? I've been working through the thread and it seems most are doing this on large tanks and using the 1.5. Figured 45 dollars or so isn't too bad of an investment to test and I can combine the tanks The Bean system looks pretty straight forward and I like the idea of fail safe. I have a Sea Swirl from a previous tank and a sump. Seems like the right time to test and hone plumbing skills

 

[SGT_York]

1" works just fine and is much cheaper considering the gate valve cost increase from 1" to 1.5"

I had a panworld 200 on a 120 running at 5.5' of Headloss into a 1" pipe worked just fine, now it goes into two 3/4" joined to a 1" gate.

 

[saf1]

Thanks for the information. I was also thinking of just going ahead with the 1.5" that way I could re-use it on the next tank.

Ty again appreciate the information!

 

[Da Maui life]

Finished up my build a few days ago and the BA overflow system turned out perfect didn't have to mess with anything, truly set and forget. One question I do have is on the BA overflow, should the waterline inside the box fall centerline of the down turned 90 or just above center for the best flow rate?

 

[Humongous]

I am dry fitting my drains now and want to gravity feed my skimmer from the siphon by branching a line off. It is a 2" drain line and I am thinking of a 1" tee off the main. I have gate valves so i can dial in the flow a little better but my question is where should the tee and valve be placed? Before the main lines 2" valve or after?

 

[mathewpike]

Setting the BA overflow

Setting the BA overflow

Hey

So I have just finished installing my BA overflow and weir. I am using a 3000LPH (800GPH) return pump at a head heigh of approx 1.2m which makes it roughly half the output at this head height.

I am running 1" plumbing all the way through the system.

My question is how should I go about setting up the siphon line? I have got the system running but the overflow box starts to full up until it gets to the emergency standpipe, the standpipe runs for a few seconds then both the siphon and open channel go into overdrive and suck the overflow box dry until the siphon breaks. Then the overflow box fills again. This keeps going continuously (i have waited 10 minutes and no change).

I have tried closing off the siphon valve almost fully closed but then the box stays full and uses the emergency, then a small tweak open again and it goes back to its up and down motion again.

Hopefully I have made some sense there. If not check out this video, sorry about the crap quality. YouTube Link

 

[Da Maui life]

Your video doesn’t show what we really need to see the back side of your pluming. Perhaps your caps are sucking in air or you don’t have the air line on the right standpipe. Give us a photo of the back side of the overflow system (plumbing) from overflow box to sump. I just finished mine and it works perfect.

 

[SavingOurSeas]

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Hello folks,
... Forgive me for asking what I'm sure has been discussed somewhere in the tome-length thread. 250 pages is a lot to sift through, my apologies.

I find that using the search options sure speeds up the progress of my projects.
Usually, most things have already been spoke about and I find all the necessary information on the subject I'm needing.

Just a suggestion that could save you hundreds if not thousands of hours in the long run.
Happy Reefing my friend! :fish2:

 

[uncleof6]

Hey

So I have just finished installing my BA overflow and weir. I am using a 3000LPH (800GPH) return pump at a head heigh of approx 1.2m which makes it roughly half the output at this head height.

I am running 1" plumbing all the way through the system.

My question is how should I go about setting up the siphon line? I have got the system running but the overflow box starts to full up until it gets to the emergency standpipe, the standpipe runs for a few seconds then both the siphon and open channel go into overdrive and suck the overflow box dry until the siphon breaks. Then the overflow box fills again. This keeps going continuously (i have waited 10 minutes and no change).

I have tried closing off the siphon valve almost fully closed but then the box stays full and uses the emergency, then a small tweak open again and it goes back to its up and down motion again.

Hopefully I have made some sense there. If not check out this video, sorry about the crap quality. YouTube Link

Drain outlets are too deep in the sump, they should be < 1" below water surface, or the air tube from the open channel is too deep in the overflow. The inlet to the air tube should be above the inlet to the day emergency. The open channel is doing all the work, and the siphon is not starting; it is not purging the air.

I would lean toward the first cause, but cannot see the air inlet tube. If there is a horizontal run in the siphon line, that would also cause the siphon to not start. There are no mysteries with this system; there are a finite number of things can go wrong. At this point, although an air leak in the siphon line is possible, it really is not possible to determine that. Seeing the back of the tank/plumbing really would not help much, though picture of undertank could give some clues.

In any case, compare your system to the model that Bean has posted. All starting issues are caused by deviations from the original desgin.

From a safety standpoint, the bulkhead holes are too close together, making for a rather unpredictable back panel.

 

[mathewpike]

Drain outlets are too deep in the sump, they should be < 1" below water surface, or the air tube from the open channel is too deep in the overflow. The inlet to the air tube should be above the inlet to the day emergency. The open channel is doing all the work, and the siphon is not starting; it is not purging the air.

I would lean toward the first cause, but cannot see the air inlet tube. If there is a horizontal run in the siphon line, that would also cause the siphon to not start. There are no mysteries with this system; there are a finite number of things can go wrong. At this point, although an air leak in the siphon line is possible, it really is not possible to determine that. Seeing the back of the tank/plumbing really would not help much, though picture of undertank could give some clues.

In any case, compare your system to the model that Bean has posted. All starting issues are caused by deviations from the original desgin.

From a safety standpoint, the bulkhead holes are too close together, making for a rather unpredictable back panel.

Thanks Uncleof6, the runs do have horizontal sections quite long ones too, so I guess thats where I went wrong. I didn't see that mentioned anywhere in the original posts but I'm sure its there and I missed it.

The drain outlets are less than 1" below the waterline in the sump. The hose in the video is hiding the air tube from the open channel but its height is set approx half way between the emergency and the open channel (so pretty much in line with the centreline of the bulkheads).

Also i'm not sure why the bulkhead holes are too close together, they are well over 6x panel thickness apart and from each edge. Anyway the tank only cost $15 so if I have stuffed something up its not a great loss.

 

[Da Maui life]

. Anyway the tank only cost $15 so if I have stuffed something up its not a great loss.

Until you come home and find water and critters on the floor. :idea:

 

[mathewpike]

Until you come home and find water and critters on the floor. :idea:

I got young kids, im used to finding water and critters on the floor.

 

[Da Maui life]

I feel you on that, bradda pops.:thumbsup:

 

[uncleof6]

Thanks Uncleof6, the runs do have horizontal sections quite long ones too, so I guess thats where I went wrong. I didn't see that mentioned anywhere in the original posts but I'm sure its there and I missed it.

The drain outlets are less than 1" below the waterline in the sump. The hose in the video is hiding the air tube from the open channel but its height is set approx half way between the emergency and the open channel (so pretty much in line with the centreline of the bulkheads).

Also i'm not sure why the bulkhead holes are too close together, they are well over 6x panel thickness apart and from each edge. Anyway the tank only cost $15 so if I have stuffed something up its not a great loss.

The air tube is way too low. The air tube inlet needs to be ABOVE the inlet to the Dry Emergency. Otherwise, it will trip the open channel to siphon, before the siphon can start. Combined with the long horizontal runs, you have a recipe for a system that will not function properly. Anyone that implements this system, needs to READ Bean's thread. The ins and outs of siphon systems are in Bean's thread; the causes of starting problems are covered more than enough times, to make them easy to find.

Hole spacing at a minimum need to be 1 hole diameter from the edges of the glass, and from each other (edge to edge,) glass thickness is irrelevent—you have been taking advice from an uninformed source, and the holes are too close together. I understand the tank is only worth $15, but how much is damage caused by a catastropic failure gunna cost?

I will say, other than the hole spacing and air tube inlet, you did a decent job of setting up the top part of the drain system.

 

[mtman58]

Does the following seem like a good plan:

I plan to have around 850 gph going into my external overflow box. There will be three 1.5 inch size drains after bulkheads are placed. The main drain will be even with the bottom of the overflow box and have a gate valve at the end. The open drain will be straight and 4 inches tall with no gate valve. The emergency drain will also be a straight pipe but 5 inches tall and 2 inches from the top of the tank. The size of overflow box will be 18 inches long, 8 inches wide and 7 inches high. All 3 drains will flow straight about 35 inches into the sump (No elbows or bends).

Was wondering if 4 inches for the open drain was tall enough or perhaps even too tall?

I may increase amount going into overflow box later, but for now it will be 850gph.

Thanks for the help.

 

[mtman58]

Any help would be great, thanks

 

[Jgoal55]

Bump

 

[gernby]

Wow, what a long thread! I'm really impressed with the BA setup. However, I'm considering a modified approach for my 180 Bow Front with PVC bottom. I'm considering drilling 3 holes in the bottom to run PVC up to an internal overflow box, then plumbing them as shown in the picture below.

The full siphon and emergency plumbing would be pretty much the same as the BA, but I'd like to go a different route for the auxiliary line (open channel). I believe the result should be the same, but the "open channel" portion of the return would be located in my filtration closet under the stairs.

I haven't determined what size piping I'll need yet. Any thoughts?

 

[gernby]

I realized that I could also add a lower outlet from the auxiliary outlet with a valve, in case the prrimary full siphon didn't have enough flow on its own. I could use the valve on the secondary outlet to restrict its siphon just enough to allow the spill-over.

 

[gernby]

It also seems that if the auto-adjusting siphon above was large enough, then you could eliminate the regular full siphon completely. Basically, you could just have the auto-adjusting siphon with an emergency siphon (just 2 holes).