Waterfall Noises

[sbash]

I have just installed a new glass overflow box around my 'bean animal' style plumbing. There is a significant amount of noise from the water falling into the box. The water falls about 3 inches. I am thinking about putting a piece of acrylic on a slant to catch and guide the flow, while still maintaining the same surface skimming. Any other suggestions?


Here is an image, sorry for the poor quality...

 

[thegrun]

Adjust the bean animal pipes/flow to raise the water level in the overflow box.

 

[cheucklate]

I agree, pipes are draining water too fast so you have a waterfall. If you want to be lazy, you can put a zip lock bag in the overflow and zip tie it to something. That'll help mitigate the noise. (This solution has potential problems though if installed incorrectly).

 

[sbash]

Thanks for your response guys!

Lol, I am not sure that is lazier than turning a valve, sounds like an accident waiting to happen

Do either of you run this style drain? I would be interested to know how what your measurements are for the individual weirs for each stand pipe.

For example, my emergency is about 1" below the overflow weir (elbow up), the bulkheads are about an inch lower, the open channel is just over an inch below the bulkhead, and the siphon is another inch down.

If I raise the water level, I could also likely raise the the weirs for each standpipe. Thoughts?

 

[chimmike]

I kept the emergency something like 1/2" above the other weirs.
I had the beananimal running solidly for a while and it was foolproof, silent, and awesome.

 

[drauka99]

raise the height of your durso to closer to the height of the weir. that is if you have the siphon set correctly. I had to adjust my trickle drain on the herbie higher for the waterfall noise as you describe. Keep in mind you will have to readjust the siphon once you raise the durso pipe due to increased head pressure on the siphon.

 

[sbash]

raise the height of your durso to closer to the height of the weir

So you are suggesting to turn the inlet on the durso standpipe upward instead of downward?

 

[fishgate]

It isn't draining too fast, the pipes are too low in the water. Raise them up so the fall is not as great.

 

[sbash]

It isn't draining too fast, the pipes are too low in the water. Raise them up so the fall is not as great.

Right, it is definitely not draining too quickly.

The issue, perhaps, stems from my misunderstanding of the expected behavior. But you are all right, the solution is as simple as raising the water level in the overflow box.

I will play around with it, thanks everyone!

 

[drauka99]

So you are suggesting to turn the inlet on the durso standpipe upward instead of downward?

no, I was suggesting making the durso taller

 

[sbash]

no, I was suggesting making the durso taller

I see... I cannot really do that, as the bulkheads are through the side of the tank, not up from the bottom. Given the basic design behind the 'Bean Animal' concept, the holes are level with each other. Here is a picture without water:

The nearest bulkhead handles the full siphon, the middle is my emergency and the furthest is the Durso/Open Channel (with the airtube and such).

 

[drauka99]

then the option I see is turning the elbow up and going with a gurgle buster setup instead of a durso, and then adjust the siphon to the point that a trickle runs through the open channel

will not be much room to get it right either

 

[fishgate]

Couldn't you put an upturned elbow on the tank side on each bulkhead? I think that would raise the water level in the overflow. It doesn't even have to be water tight, just stuff it in there - maybe a street elbow.

Your setup is why I don't like not using an external box along with the internal box.

 

[cprice]

Couldn't you put an upturned elbow on the tank side on each bulkhead? I think that would raise the water level in the overflow. It doesn't even have to be water tight, just stuff it in there - maybe a street elbow.

Your setup is why I don't like not using an external box along with the internal box.

^^exactly

Attach a 90 degree elbow facing down on your full siphon and one facing up on your emergency. Adjust the flow so that the water is just barely trickling into the emergency (but not enough to hear it) and then if that is still not enough height, just put a small piece of pipe in the elbow facing up to further raise the water level.

In this image the drain on the left I'd full siphon and the right drain is emergency. Tune the flow on the left drain so that a few drops are trickling over the right drain. Therefor the height of the water on the overflow is determined by the height of the emergency drain. This would be the same method you would use but it looks like you have two main drains and one emergency.