Silent and Failsafe Overflow System

Thank you, I will look into your suggestions. I am usually on a Mac. I know my kids use Flickr but not for 3rd party hosting. Maybe I can figure it out! :fun5:

If u are on a pc then a lot of people have went to imgur or Flickr. They don't work well or at all on a mobile though. For mobile a lot of people use tapatalk. I don't like how the forums are with tapatalk. I'm always on my mobile so I can't use Flickr or imgur. What I found works best for me is Postimage. After photobucket made the switch I looked for a easy way to post pics for weeks. I finally found postimage & it was simple to post from.
 
Help fine tuning system!

Help fine tuning system!

Re-post, hopefully with pictures correctly. Wasn't able to embed them last time.

<Been lurking here off/on for 2 yrs, 400 pages is intimidating!

Finally got around to a system for my 55g tank and custom built 18g sump. The return pump moves an estimated 550-575 gph via 3/4" line to a spray bar. This is the prototype before venturing into it with my 8' 300g tank. I can't get the system quiet and not sure why.

I can hear water splashing below the ball valve as well as in the open channel. I have played with the valve, raising and lowering the water height in my internal box but can't seem to find the right spot. I can get the syphon to not have any bubbles but I still hear water, not always constant, but as if it fills then overflows if that makes sense (i.e. not always a constant gurgling sound). If I restrict syphon flow I get bubbles in the open channel. If I open up the syphon more it bubbles. I'm stuck...

Plumbing is 1 1/2" (smaller bulkheads as original plans), all bulkheads the same height. Stack caps on with Teflon tape. All joints in the syphon and open channel glued except the last short piece of 1 1/2" that drops into the sump (7/8" below water line). Both downturned 90's are made with teeth and sit about 3/8" off bottom of internal box.

1) How do I properly fine tune this system?

2) Can I get this system silent with such a low flow w.r.t. the plumbing size (575gph and 1 1/2" plumbing)?

3) I did not submerge the emergency channel due to space constraints. It empties into a different chamber than can have its water level fluctuate due to evaporation. I figure if the 1st 2 channels block and the emergency becomes functional it can handle 575 gph as an open channel not requiring an airtight full syphon. Is this correct? (the last 45 and short piece of 1 1/2" wasn't glued, everything above was).>

Thank you for your help!
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Is it possible the 1 1/2" full syphon is trying to pull more than the pump can provide? Is it possible there isn't enough flow into the syphon tube to purge all of the air in it? As I open up the ball valve the water level drops in the overflow box to the point where it will suck in air through my slotted downturned 90. So maybe I need to rebuild the 90 without slots (have to cut out the bulkhead and re plumb, or downside to a 1" line? Your thoughts?
 
With the 1.5” plumbing & the lower flow u will have a difficult time adjusting the syphon with a ball valve. On your setup a gate valve would work a hole lot better. With the large plumbing & a ball valve u only turn the valve a small amount but it is making to much of a difference & eighther dropping the water level to much & causing the syphon to suck air, or raising the water level to where the open channel has to much water & is loud.

U really shouldn’t glue the plumbing inside the overflow box. If it isn’t glued what I would do as a test is turn the 90 on the open channel up to where it isn’t receiving any water. Then see if the syphon works right without any bubbles coming out in the sump & if it is quiet. If the syphon is still loud & still has bubbles then u know u have a air leak. If it is silent with no bubbles then u know it was the open channel making the noise & was taking on to much water.

Set the water hieght in the overflow box to where the open channel is only taking a trickle of water. So basically around 1/8” to 1/4” above the bottom of the bulkhead. In your first picture it looks like the water level inside the overflow is about halfway on the bulkhead which is to high. It needs to be closer to the bottom of the bulkhead.

The slots in the syphon downturned 90 will end up causing more issues then they are worth on a setup like yours. U can keep the one on the open channel but I would replace the one on the syphon. I would also add a short piece of pipe to the downturned 90 on the syphon to where it is only 1/4” to 3/8” off the bottom of the overflow box.

Your main issue is the water level in the overflow box needs to be just above the top of the slots in the 90 for the open channel to be quiet. The problem is when u set the water level at that hieght the syphon will suck air because of the slots.

For a temporary fix u can cut a piece of pipe just long enough to fit so u can slide it into the 90 on the syphon. For example, if the bottom of the 90 is 1” from the bottom of the overflow box, cut a piece of pipe 1” so u can fit it to slide it into the 90. It would essentially be removing the slots. Then see if u can tune it in. If u can then u know u only need to replace the 90 because of the slots. If u still can’t quite get it tuned u will know u need to replace the 90 & the ball valve with a gate valve
 
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U really shouldn't glue the plumbing inside the overflow box. If it isn't glued what I would do as a test is turn the 90 on the open channel up to where it isn't receiving any water.

Set the water hieght in the overflow box to where the open channel is only taking a trickle of water. So basically around 1/8" to 1/4" above the bottom of the bulkhead. In your first picture it looks like the water level inside the overflow is about halfway on the bulkhead which is to high. It needs to be closer to the bottom of the bulkhead.

The slots in the syphon downturned 90 will end up causing more issues then they are worth on a setup like yours. U can keep the one on the open channel but I would replace the one on the syphon. I would also add a short piece of pipe to the downturned 90 on the syphon to where it is only 1/4" to 3/8" off the bottom of the overflow box.

Your main issue is the water level in the overflow box needs to be just above the top of the slots in the 90 for the open channel to be quiet. The problem is when u set the water level at that hieght the syphon will suck air because of the slots.

For a temporary fix u can cut a piece of pipe just long enough to fit so u can slide it into the 90 on the syphon. For example, if the bottom of the 90 is 1" from the bottom of the overflow box, cut a piece of pipe 1" so u can fit it to slide it into the 90. It would essentially be removing the slots. Then see if u can tune it in. If u can then u know u only need to replace the 90 because of the slots. If u still can't quite get it tuned u will know u need to replace the 90 & the ball valve with a gate valve

My internal 90's are glued, was under the impression everything needed to be glued. And unfortunately my bulkheads are slip slip so they need to be cut out and the plumbing from below the T's and up needs to be replaced. Will use threaded bulkheads moving forwards!

We are on the same page...I can't turn the open channel 90 but I can block it off! I covered it with a baggie and elastic band and allowed the overflow box to fill and turned the emergency channel into the open channel. My syphon channel worked! No bubbles. And barely any water coming out of the "temporary open channel". The water was nearly at the top of my overflow box as my emerge 90 is about 3/16" below the box top. So no air leaks in the syphon channel. That tells me (I think?) I was not getting enough volume into the syphon for it to properly purge, correct??? With the overflow box fuller I had more water entering the syphon and it self purged.

Based on the above test, I don't know if water at the height you suggest will work? I may need more for it to purge?

Yes, the slots are trouble. If I have more height in the overflow box the teeth won't be an issue. I am trying to come up with a way to cover the slots without having to completely cut out the top 1/3 of that channel (all glued). I have thought of your idea about sliding a piece of pipe up into the 90. With 3/8" clearance I'm not sure if it will be successful or not. I may have to slide 3 pieces on top of each other. I will try this weekend.

The bottom of the 90's are already about 3/8" off the bottom of the overflow box, however, the teeth create a problem.

***My thoughts moving forward: to replace the open channel 90 with a threaded bulkhead and then turn the 90 sideways to essentially be able to raise the overflow box water height before it enters the open channel. This will have more volume enter the syphon and hopefully purge itself. This would be similar to having raised the open channel bulkhead say 1/2" like many do, but I followed the original plans. I recognize this is opposite to what you suggest as far as overflow box water height. On second thought, my first step should be to try to slide a piece or 2 of pipe into the bottom of the syphon 90 to block the teeth and try to get it to full syphon.

Potential problem with turning the open 90 sideways: if the syphon gets blocked will the open become a full syphon or will it suck air from the surface of the water like a vortex? My guess is it will syphon but this will be easily tested by turning the 90 sideways and blocking the syphon to see what happens. Even if it doesn't full syphon, I think I am still covered due to the low water flow of 550gph (probably less than the charts due to friction etc). I would have 2 open channels (open channel plus the emerge to handle 550gph).

Your thoughts on these comments? My apologies for being lengthy but my wish is to be through and hopefully provide enough info to answer in advance questions you may have. Thank you.
 
Turning the 90 on the open channel sideways won’t really do anything to help. Think of the open channel with just the bulkhead without a 90. If the water level is more then about 1/4” above the bottom of the inlet on the bulkhead it will be loud. Turning the 90 sideways won’t affect this. That is about where the water level has to be for it to be silent. The open channel is essentially what u set the water level to inside the overflow box.

Your issue is that when u have the water level at the correct hieght the slots that u cut in the syphon 90 start sucking air because they are cut to high.

It looked like the bottom of your 90 has more then 3/8” clearance from the overflow box. Being that is the case I don’t know if it will work how I said to test it. I would still try it & cut a piece of pipe 3/8” long & insert it into the 90. It may be enough to get it working. If not even though it sucks, u will have to change out the 90 on the syphon & this time don’t glue it inside of the overflow.

I wouldn’t even mess with the open channel. On a back drilled tank like yours it isn’t the 90 that sets the water level. It is the bulkhead itself. So trying to manipulate the 90 doesn’t really solve anything.

The syphon will purge the air. What will happen is when u start up the return pump the water in the overflow box will rise above normal operation until the syphon purges all of the air. Then the water will lower & go back to the normal operating hieght. So basically it will self regulate to get the air purged, the water will build up until it is enough to purge the air. The emergency may even take a little water at first until it stabilizes.

One of my tanks is the same setup as yours with the internal box & back drilled tank. I drilled all the holes at the same hieght just like u. On startup it builds up to where it is right at the emergency but it will eventually purge the air from the syphon & stabilize. It takes it 30 seconds or so. When I setup that tank I even cut the slots in my 90’s like u did, but I had to replace the syphon 90 for one without slots because I was having the same issue as u.

The first thing I would do is cut a piece of pipe to cover the slots on the syphon. Then start the return pump with the valve about 1/2 way closed. Give it a minute & see what it does. U will more then likely have to keep slowly closing the valve to get the water level to rise. Once u can get the water level to rise enough to where the syphon kicks in just let it stabilize to where the water level is consistent in the overflow. Once u get to this point & it is consistent u will know if u need to raise or lower the water level. Make very small changes to the valve until u can get the water level to the bottom of the inlet on the bulkhead. After u turn the valve a small amount give it a minute because it takes a few seconds for the change to show. When u get the water stabilized to about 1/4” above the bottom of the bulkhead u will know if u need to change the 90 on the syphon. If it is still sucking air u will have to change it out because that is around where the water level will have to be. If u have trouble getting the water level to that hieght then u will probably have to also change the ball valve to a gate valve
 
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Thank you LSUFAN. I grabbed all the parts and tools and headed to the office today. Cut thin rings to slide into the syphon toothed 90. Got there and realized the 90's are 1 1/4" not 1 1/2" so of course they didn't fit. :mad: Hummed and hawed and decided to make changes.

I'm swapping the syphon and open channel. This will allow me to 1) completely put in a new syphon 90 with no slots 2) allow my syphon to have a near vertical drop in the back of the sump via 2 45's rather than the current set up where it travels forwards to the front of the sump (even though it fully syphoned with the current setup when I blocked the open channel).

I had all the parts except I need to pick up a valve and a bulkhead. I just have to replace the T with a coupling and replace the plumbing forwards into the overflow box. Threaded bulkhead this time!

The top terminal caps are just threaded with teflon tape so I can easily switch them so the air tube remains with the newly allocated open channel.

I will take your advice and hopefully be able to tune it once I glue what needs to glue and allow it to cure. I will update. Thanks again.
 
Sorry if this has been asked but I’ve spent days and countless hours trying to read everything out there. But can you run 1-1/2” bulkheads with 1-1/2” pipe on the drains. And where’s the best placement for gatevalve on siphon, up high or down low by sump?
 
Sorry if this has been asked but I’ve spent days and countless hours trying to read everything out there. But can you run 1-1/2” bulkheads with 1-1/2” pipe on the drains. And where’s the best placement for gatevalve on siphon, up high or down low by sump?

What size tank do u have?
But yes, u can use 1.5” plumbing if u have enough flow through the system. The location of the gate valve isn’t critical in most cases. I would put it where it is easy to get to whether it is behind the tank or in the stand. Most of the time it is easier to get to under the stand close to the sump, but it depends on the setup. The only time it may make a difference where it is installed is if u have the sump located far away from the tank like in a basement or u have horizontal runs in the plumbing . In that instance it would be best to have the valve at the end of the run close to the sump & not at the tank.
 
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Its a 125 that I’ve been working on for the last month. I’ve put a glass C2C in already and waiting for the glass to come in so I can make the exterior overflow box. Then I have anoher 125 for my sump that I’m also waiting for glass to make baffles.
I have a 90 now and needless to say I’m not very happy with just about everything about it. So I also built a fish room in my basement and once all said and done it’ll make life easier for the up keep. No more carrying buckets. It’s a multi level so it’s reallg only gonna be about a 6-7’ drop.
If I knew how to post pictures here I would and I’ve been on a different forum trying to get help and no one seems to be any help there.
 
For pictures I used to use photo bucket but they now charge something like 3 or 400 hundred dollars a year. I already had a flickr account so I just uploaded pics there then posted the links here. Worked fine.
If I knew how to post pictures here I would and I've been on a different forum trying to get help and no one seems to be any help there.
 
Its a 125 that I've been working on for the last month. I've put a glass C2C in already and waiting for the glass to come in so I can make the exterior overflow box. Then I have anoher 125 for my sump that I'm also waiting for glass to make baffles.
I have a 90 now and needless to say I'm not very happy with just about everything about it. So I also built a fish room in my basement and once all said and done it'll make life easier for the up keep. No more carrying buckets. It's a multi level so it's reallg only gonna be about a 6-7' drop.
If I knew how to post pictures here I would and I've been on a different forum trying to get help and no one seems to be any help there.

1.5" will be ok if u plan on being on the higher end of tank turnover. U just don't want to be trying to have 200 or 300 gph with 1.5" plumbing. 1" plumbing would also be ok. I would place the valve by the sump being it will be in the basement. That is the only time the location of the valve really makes a difference. It does make it a little harder to tune because u can't see the overflow box to see what the adjustment has done. The good thing about a beananimal is once u get it dialed in u don't have to touch it. I havnt touched my valve on my syphon in atleast a couple years.

U can use the thumbnail in the post to post a picture. When u make a post it is the icon at the top that looks like a paper clip. A lot of people have started using Flickr or imgur but they don't work from a mobile phone. I am always on mobile so I have found postimage.com to be the easiest for third party hosting.
 
I'm sure this has been asked many times before. But what are the advantages of an external been animal overflow compared to an internal wier with a been animal ?
 
The drains themselves work eighther way. The biggest difference is not having a big overflow box inside of the tank.

With a interior overflow box only, it has to be 3" to 4" wide to be able to fit the elbows. If u have a exterior overflow box then u don't have a wier inside of the tank. The other option is a narrow 1" to 1.5" wier inside of the tank with a exterior box to hold the plumbing. Similar to the ghost style overflow boxes.
 
I'm sure this has been asked many times before. But what are the advantages of an external been animal overflow compared to an internal wier with a been animal ?

Like LSUfan noted above, they work the same more or less. Space is what it comes down to. The thread is massive and I've read it a couple times now while setting up my 240. I seem to recall seeing both with zero complaints. It is all about looks and space in the end. When set up properly to his design it works. And works well. Very well.
 
Hi.

I hope it's ok with herbie overflow questions as well. I need some help decide size for a overflow for my 20gallon tank that i have setup as an AIO since a year back.



These are the the boxes i have in mind. It's a diy project.

Inside black box dimensions: 11.8x1.1x5.5" lxwxh.

Clear acrylic box inside: 11.8x3.2x6.3" lxwxh
Sound good or do i need to make the boxes larger?

Some more info.
2 Bulkheads 1 1/2" and for drains 1"
I will use a plastic mesh instead of teeth.

Tank 26x26x11.4" lxwxh and sump around 16gallon.

Thanks.
 

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I just installed a 20'' Synergy External overflow box on my new SC-150.
There is currently no water in it at the moment. I'm waiting on my order to come in on a total of 8 30lb bags for my Tropic Eden Pink Tonga Mesoflakes for my Substrate.
Then it time to start my plumbing.

I do have a question if you run one of these External Overflow boxes like i am. All the parts that came with the Synergy 20'' box was 3 1.5'' pipes external and 3 prefab pipes that have been pre-cut @ 1.5''. My sump has 1'' bulkheads so somewhere i am going to have to reduce it down. Should I reduce it to 1'' right before it hits my sump or after the 1.5'' True Unions then add a 1'' reducer and go all 1'' to the bulkheads on my sump! Let me know your thoughts on which way you would plumb it?
 
I would drill the sump to accept 1.5” bulkheads & use 1.5” on everything. U will be surprised how much more water a 1.5” open channel can take & remain silent. That means u will be able to have more flunctuation in the system & it remain silent without having to touch the valve on the syphon.

Otherwise I would reduce down at the bulkhead in the overflow box & just use all 1”. A 1” to 1.5” reducing bushing will slide straight into the bulkhead, then the 1” will slide into the bushing. If u have a union at the bulkhead in the overflow box then u can do it the same way but from the union instead of the bulkhead
 
Got my C2C and bean animal setup on this 125 DT and been test running with some water. It's been running for 6 days now and it's the quietest and smoothing running fish tank I've seen(not that I've seen a lot).
I'd like to thank this site though for it's where I got most of my info while reading and searching the net for my new diy fisg tank build.
Now that's it operates the way I hoped and some, it's time to start the stand/bookcase and rehome everything from my 90gallon into this.
 

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Hey guys

I'm having troubles with my new tank and the beananimal overflow.

3q8ri



Very hard to get a proper picture as its close to a wall.
In the picture you can see 4 pipes the closest to the camera is a return pipe so forget that one.
First one should be full siphon, then open channel, then emergency. All pipes are 1.5", only the full siphon has a valve.
Basically whats happening is I can't get the system to run correctly unless the full siphon has the whole top section (upside down U shape disconnected, as seen in the pic) removed and left as just the bulkhead.

If I connect the complete piping back onto the bulkhead and make it look like a Beananimal should it seems like the full siphon gets air stuck in it and all the flow goes into the open channel with a heap of bubbles produced in the sump.

It seems to run perfect the way it is at the moment (as seen in pic), but can it run like that forever without any issues.

I'm a bit stumped at the moment. Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks in advance!
 
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