Silent and Failsafe Overflow System

[88rxna]

Would these be a bad idea using them on the through holes on the tank? I've lost a few fish to my drains and wondered if this would make noise or cause a problem?

 

[sleepydoc]

Just sent you a PM

I'd probably put them on the pipe inputs rather than the through holes. They may not fit on the holes anyway - I bet they're sized to go on pipes. No personal experience with this. Maybe someone else can chime in...

 

[mtgh]

It could be. Is the problem that the siphon never starts up? Some people have reported that they have had problems with horizontal runs preventing the siphon from starting but others have done it without a problem.

Is this a new problem or an old problem? How did you get it started originally? What size plumbing and how much flow? How long of a horizontal run?

New problem for my new setup. Tanks is 6feet. Pipe runs to the other end of sump to
Discharge . Horizontal portion is 7 feet. Pipe size is 1 inch. To start have To
Manually purge the air.
I read that if I drill a small hole at siphon pipe it will help purge the air
Thanks

 

[woodnaquanut]

Hi guys,

My bean animal does not auto priming when I shut off the pumps and on again
It is because I have horizontals pipe discharging into the sump?

Thanks

To add a bit to Sleepy's comment...

It's also important to have the siphon exit just below the normal operating water level of the sump. If it's too deep it can inhibit the purge!

Including pics is always good, BTW.

 

[sleepydoc]

New problem for my new setup. Tanks is 6feet. Pipe runs to the other end of sump to
Discharge . Horizontal portion is 7 feet. Pipe size is 1 inch. To start have To
Manually purge the air.
I read that if I drill a small hole at siphon pipe it will help purge the air
Thanks

7 feet is a long stretch. I would suggest trying to have it slope downwards if you can.

Where did you read that drilling a hole will help purge the air? Depending where you drill it, you could easily make the problem worse.

 

[rickztahone]

Would these be a bad idea using them on the through holes on the tank? I've lost a few fish to my drains and wondered if this would make noise or cause a problem?

I currently have a strainer for doing water changes in my 75g and i will tell you that when the water level gets down to the strainer, it makes a whole bunch of noise. I would imagine it would be noisy on the pass throughs as well. It may be fine on the pipes though.

I currently created a thread actually that depicts the way I modified a BA overflow so that my little ones do not go on an overflow ride . See here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2520504

 

[pdiehm]

Uncle:

Let's just say lessons are being learnt. Acrylic overflow box came undone. About to order 2 pieces of glass for a C2C. It's a 60" tank, would 1/4" glass thickness be ok for the internal overflow box?

 

[sleepydoc]

Uncle:

Let's just say lessons are being learnt. Acrylic overflow box came undone. About to order 2 pieces of glass for a C2C. It's a 60" tank, would 1/4" glass thickness be ok for the internal overflow box?

Uncle's not around much lately - Just posted a reply on your other thread

 

[mtgh]

7 feet is a long stretch. I would suggest trying to have it slope downwards if you can.

Where did you read that drilling a hole will help purge the air? Depending where you drill it, you could easily make the problem worse.

Not possible to slope it . Looks like no choice but have to manually purge
The air. I read in another forum on bean animal but cannot remember which one.
They mentioned a small hole on top of siphon so that when immersed in water
The air bubbles will purged out from the hole

 

[Swope2bc]

Not possible to slope it . Looks like no choice but have to manually purge

The air. I read in another forum on bean animal but cannot remember which one.

They mentioned a small hole on top of siphon so that when immersed in water

The air bubbles will purged out from the hole

Just a thought, but could you install an airline in the top side of the horizontal run to allow the air to purge.

 

[jason2459]

New problem for my new setup. Tanks is 6feet. Pipe runs to the other end of sump to
Discharge . Horizontal portion is 7 feet. Pipe size is 1 inch. To start have To
Manually purge the air.
I read that if I drill a small hole at siphon pipe it will help purge the air
Thanks

How much flow do you have going through it? How far into the water is the siphon during normal operation and when the return is stopped? Like woodnaquanut said you do not want it in very far at all especially with the horizontal run. You want as little back pressure as possible.

 

[mtgh]

Just a thought, but could you install an airline in the top side of the horizontal run to allow the air to purge.

Will this work?

 

[mtgh]

How much flow do you have going through it? How far into the water is the siphon during normal operation and when the return is stopped? Like woodnaquanut said you do not want it in very far at all especially with the horizontal run. You want as little back pressure as possible.

My pumps are 2 nos 5000 litrs/hour
Normal it is around 1inch in the water

 

[BeanAnimal]

New problem for my new setup. Tanks is 6feet. Pipe runs to the other end of sump to
Discharge . Horizontal portion is 7 feet. Pipe size is 1 inch. To start have To
Manually purge the air.
I read that if I drill a small hole at siphon pipe it will help purge the air
Thanks

The "hole" would be at the end of the siphon pipe, just below the high water mark in the sump when the return pump is turned off.

When the pump starts, the water level in the sump will drop, exposing the hole. This should allow air to purge.

This is good advice for almost any setup. Many folks terminate the siphon discharge far too deep in the sump and therefore, have problems with startup.

If this does not work, you will need to use larger horizontal pipe, large enough that it will not fully fill with water during operation. The larger horizontal pipe then may need to be vented near the end. Of course, then may defeat the purpose, as A) you lose vertical head for the siphon and B) it may be audible.

Are you sure you can not slope the pipe at all?

 

[Swope2bc]

Well, my bean has been running for a bit and because the sump is in the basement I've not mentioned my question until now. I have 1" pipe for all 3 and no vertical runs, just a 7' drop with a few angles. I've tried to tune my siphon to handle more flow but even the slightest opening of the valve results in a complete drain of my overflow box. All of that being said, I am getting minor bubbling beneath my secondary line. Is there a simple solution?

Thanks for everyone's patients with all of the questions! And BeAnAnimal it's good to see you still answering them after so many!!!

 

[mtgh]

The "hole" would be at the end of the siphon pipe, just below the high water mark in the sump when the return pump is turned off.

When the pump starts, the water level in the sump will drop, exposing the hole. This should allow air to purge.

This is good advice for almost any setup. Many folks terminate the siphon discharge far too deep in the sump and therefore, have problems with startup.

If this does not work, you will need to use larger horizontal pipe, large enough that it will not fully fill with water during operation. The larger horizontal pipe then may need to be vented near the end. Of course, then may defeat the purpose, as A) you lose vertical head for the siphon and B) it may be audible.

Are you sure you can not slope the pipe at all?

The picture is as per my setup. Where I should I drill the hole
Thanks

 

[BeanAnimal]

The picture is as per my setup. Where I should I drill the hole
Thanks

First sentence of my post:

The "hole" would be at the end of the siphon pipe, just below the high water mark in the sump when the return pump is turned off.

 

[mmn]

\

The picture is as per my setup. Where I should I drill the hole
Thanks

There's a couple of other things not right here.

1) The emergency should be higher - just even with to a 1/4" below the trim, assuming that's where your water level is in your DT. The way it is there it's going to kick in too soon when you're trying to tune the siphon.

2) Can't tell for sure but it looks like your open channel airline is too low. If it's in the water it will not do what it's supposed to do, i.e you'll have a full siphon on the open channel. If it's outside the overflow box it cannot work. It needs to be just a little higher than the inlet for the emergency so that if the siphon is clogged, and the emergency gets clogged, the open channel will convert to a full siphon.

 

[sleepydoc]

Well, my bean has been running for a bit and because the sump is in the basement I've not mentioned my question until now. I have 1" pipe for all 3 and no vertical runs, just a 7' drop with a few angles. I've tried to tune my siphon to handle more flow but even the slightest opening of the valve results in a complete drain of my overflow box. All of that being said, I am getting minor bubbling beneath my secondary line. Is there a simple solution?

Thanks for everyone's patients with all of the questions! And BeAnAnimal it's good to see you still answering them after so many!!!

Sounds like you are just unable to fine tune it enough. Are you using a gate valve or a ball valve? It is much easier to make small changes with a gate valve.

 

[rickztahone]

\

There's a couple of other things not right here.

1) The emergency should be higher - just even with to a 1/4" below the trim, assuming that's where your water level is in your DT. The way it is there it's going to kick in too soon when you're trying to tune the siphon.

2) Can't tell for sure but it looks like your open channel airline is too low. If it's in the water it will not do what it's supposed to do, i.e you'll have a full siphon on the open channel. If it's outside the overflow box it cannot work. It needs to be just a little higher than the inlet for the emergency so that if the siphon is clogged, and the emergency gets clogged, the open channel will convert to a full siphon.

I believe he is saying his setup is similar to this picture one, but the system on that video is from a very popular Bean Animal setup that works very well for the owner.