Bean Animal confirmation

reely989 · Jul 17, 2024

Yet another Bean Animal question-- sorry guys. So I'm getting a tank that is 30" tall with an internal overflow. My plan is to run a bean animal. I was curious about how much lower the main drain needs to be from the secondary? I was thinking about doing a 15 inch height on the main, 20 inch height on the secondary, and then a 24 inch height on the emergency. Any issue with that plan?

MarineandReef Jaron · Jul 17, 2024

The only issue with a main drain being too tall is that it may suck in some air. I think 5in below the secondary should be fine. You could raise the pipe even higher by adding 2 elbows to point the intake downwards. This way there is not as much suction at the water's surface.

JayD976 · Jul 17, 2024

around 6” is good from what I’ve read and setup on my own.

Reefer Matt · Jul 17, 2024

@BeanAnimal

BeanAnimal · Jul 17, 2024

Hi - I am traveling. Pings make me very grumpy.
Somebody or somebodies owes me a lot of bacon the last 24 hours.

6" is fine. When you have room, this prevents the siphon from creating a vortex in high flow systems. It will also allow the siphon to start well before the overflow box fills fully.

I will post the bacon delivery address shortly...

DCR · Jul 17, 2024

I don't think you want your secondary being so low (20") as it will create a large waterfall over the weir on a 30" tank and a lot of noise. I generally would suggest about 1" below the weir. I also like to put two non-glued 90-degree elbows on top of the secondary overflow pipe so I can make minor adjustments to the secondary overflow height with the second elbow. There are other ways to accomplish this but I do not glue anything inside the overflow box so I can make changes if needed.