Verify our Bean Animal Overflow is right

SteveNMegz

New member
Have our tank all plumbed up and ready to go right now but hoping to get a blessing from some of the pros. I still have to drill a hole and insert a 1/4" tube into the middle drain line but other then that any recommendations or issues you can see with the elevations of pipes.

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The main and secondary channels can be the same height; once the main is tuned properly with the gate valve, you'll just have a trickle coming from the secondary. This will also allow you to lower the emergency some so there is more headroom in case of disaster.
 
^^ yep..
Should be just fine as is but lowering those 2 won't hurt at all..

Depending on the size of the return section in the sump you might never reach the emergency as is before the pump starts sucking air..
 
I read that I shouldn't glue them in place either just pressure fit them into the bulk heads. What's your thoughts?
 
I read that I shouldn't glue them in place either just pressure fit them into the bulk heads. What's your thoughts?

Setup in this fashion, there would be no to clean them if you glued them in place. I run mine the same way and they work great.
 
Agree with the above comments. Everything outside the box should be glued. Any connection that is submersed can be friction fit to allow for cleaning. The only place this becomes an issue is with the fittings for the full siphon - if they aren't tight and are above the water line they can entrain air and cause noise and/or alter the flow dynamics.

Also be aware that a non-glued fitting may allow water to slowly drain down to the sump in the event of a power outage, so make sure you allow for this.

Other potential issues that you don't show:
- make sure the pipes are not too far below water surface in the sump; about an inch. They may not purge air properly otherwise.
- I assume you have a gate valve on your siphon line placed towards the bottom of the pipe.
 
Agree with the above comments. Everything outside the box should be glued. Any connection that is submersed can be friction fit to allow for cleaning. The only place this becomes an issue is with the fittings for the full siphon - if they aren't tight and are above the water line they can entrain air and cause noise and/or alter the flow dynamics.

Also be aware that a non-glued fitting may allow water to slowly drain down to the sump in the event of a power outage, so make sure you allow for this.

Other potential issues that you don't show:
- make sure the pipes are not too far below water surface in the sump; about an inch. They may not purge air properly otherwise.
- I assume you have a gate valve on your siphon line placed towards the bottom of the pipe.

And following with this, making the main channel a little bit shorter (1/4" works) than the secondary will create a full siphon and self tune quicker.
 
Unless you want a lot of stuff from your DT making the water slide trip to your sump might throw some egg crate on overflow weir. Hope you had fun with pluming your own system and hope it serves you well.
 
Thanks for all the info guys! A couple more pics below just to show you guys what I'm thinking. Let me know what you think.




Not shown - vertex alpha 130 skimmer, vertex rx-z 1.5 zeovit reactor, vectra m1 return pump, radion xr30w pro, etc... have all these items, just have to clean them up before placing them in.

The overflow has removable teeth.....



So the final concensus is to cut the secondary overflow and emergency down another 1/2"???
 
Sorry for my bad english,I'd keep fitings in the overflow not glued for 2 reasons:regular cleaning,and trying to find best water level in the overflow when you fill with water for first time.I think you should shorten a little bit the main 2 pipes,because there will be small difference between the level in the akvarium nad the fall will be small,so the scam will acumulate on the water surface in the overflow.I keep mine not glued and dont have a problem with sump overflow when power goes off and fittings leaks because there is not much water in the overflow,and as I can see your overflow is also small.

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Thanks for all the info guys! A couple more pics below just to show you guys what I'm thinking. Let me know what you think.


So the final concensus is to cut the secondary overflow and emergency down another 1/2"???

I dont know if 1/2" is the right number but just make the main and secondary elevations match in regard to the height of elbows in the overflow. From the pic of the sump plumbing, it looks like you'll be using a filter sock and that the far left return is the main channel. If you are running a sock, you may want to run the secondary into that sock as well (not sure how you'd pull that off with the single sock config of that sump though). Is there a reason you have the 45°s on the secondary channel right now?

Edit: and I wouldnt bother using the weir.
 
My opinion,the fall from display tank would be very small and will cause gathering scum on the water surface in the overflow,I had the same issu and had to lower the main pipes.This is one of the reasons not to glue the fittings.Other reasons are already said, the cleaning.Mine are tight and not glued without any problems and dont intend to ever glue them.

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Have our tank all plumbed up and ready to go right now but hoping to get a blessing from some of the pros. I still have to drill a hole and insert a 1/4" tube into the middle drain line but other then that any recommendations or issues you can see with the elevations of pipes.
Inserting the tube isn't necessary in this type of setup. The reason it's used in the original BeanAnimal design is that the pipes, including the air hole, are all located on the outside of the tank. In that configuration, without the tube, there's no way to close the air hole for a full siphon. The air hole prevents a full siphon in the secondary, forcing the primary into full siphon. The hose in this configuration acts as a "plug" (air stop, actually) as the water rises causing the secondary to go full siphon. Without the hose going back to the tank, air would continue to enter and the pipe would never go full siphon in the event of a total failure of the primary.

In your configuration, as the water rises it will cover the hole as the overflow box fills up to facilitate plugging the hole, creating a full siphon condition.

There's no need for the secondary to be higher than the primary, but there's no real need to change it either, unless you want to lower the height of the water in the overflow box. A good reason not to glue it, at least not right away.
 
Hello, I don't know if the aquarium is still running.. But I would like to ask. What are the dimensions of the overflow box, and the diameter of the pipes?


I'm thinking to do exactly the same you have.

Ahh and a last question, how far is the aquarium from the wall?

Thank you

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Looks good, you're going to love it. I set up my new system bean animal. After years of the standard Duran I could never go back. Make sure to glue everything outside the tank. The fitting in side can just be hand tightened
 
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