Bean Animal Gurgle/Succ

[Ugin]

I just replaced my sump for an upgraded sump. My tank was dead silent but now it's making a huge sucking noise as a siphon is not starting. All the water is going through the secondary. Here are the facts:

1. Primary drain output is lower in the sump than secondary drain (I removed it, the picture is slightly old)

2. Primary drain is fully open
3. Secondary drain is not submerged

Does the secondary drain have to be submerged to create a siphon? What am I doing wrong lol?

 

[schuby]

The process is to slowly close the valve on the primary (partial turn every few minutes) until the siphon starts. The target is to have the water-level high enough in the overflow so that the water is just trickling into the secondary.

 

[schuby]

A pic of your bean-animal overflow would be very helpful, too.

 

[Ugin]

The glass isn't clean right now, but here's an old pic when it was first setup. I'll try your advice. So the secondary drain (not the overflow box) does not have to be under the surface of the water?

 

[schuby]

I suspect the problem is an air-bubble in your primary. On my bean-animal setup, I do not have the U-shaped pipe on my primary, just the short 1-2" vertical pipe.

 

[Ugin]

My primary drain in the sump goes down pretty far under the water line. Is that a problem here?

 

[Tumey]

You’ll have better luck tuning & quieting things down if all three drains are terminated about an inch below normal sump operating water level.

 

[Scratch08]

My primary drain in the sump goes down pretty far under the water line. Is that a problem here?

No it should not be a problem, mine runs about 2-3" below surface...dead silent.

 

[User1]

I suspect the problem is an air-bubble in your primary. On my bean-animal setup, I do not have the U-shaped pipe on my primary, just the short 1-2" vertical pipe.

Then it isn't a bean animal .

 

[User1]

You’ll have better luck tuning & quieting things down if all three drains are terminated about an inch below normal sump operating water level.

You are correct. Although I'm not sure it is the cause of this issue the one thing that has to be done when following the actual bean animal design is this. You need the drain lines set below as you pointed out.

 

[dreamcatcherr9]

Then it isn't a bean animal .

Is there anything inherently wrong with setting up this way? Any pros or cons? Regardless of the name used to describe the overflow setup, so long as there is a primary, secondary and emergency?

Sorry everyone, just wanting more knowledge.

 

[emilio365]

My primary drain in the sump goes down pretty far under the water line. Is that a problem here?

I had that same problem After that I cut my primary line that was sumerged and only left 1.5 inches sumerged and after that it was able to create a full siphon. I believe you are using the same overflow that I used.

 

[schuby]

This is a pic that I referenced when choosing my overflow design.

 

[Ugin]

I had that same problem After that I cut my primary line that was sumerged and only left 1.5 inches sumerged and after that it was able to create a full siphon. I believe you are using the same overflow that I used.

dang I literally did a double take cause your setup is super close to mine. Yeah, I'll give it a shot.

 

[emilio365]

dang I literally did a double take cause your setup is super close to mine. Yeah, I'll give it a shot.

Im gonna update my build thread in the next couple days check it out if you get a chance.
do you have a build thread?
I would like to check-it out.

 

[User1]

Is there anything inherently wrong with setting up this way? Any pros or cons? Regardless of the name used to describe the overflow setup, so long as there is a primary, secondary and emergency?

Sorry everyone, just wanting more knowledge.

Probably not. Then again I'm not the original designer. I just know reading through many a thread one of his pet peeves is that people use the name still after making their changes. I can see his point. Yes, there are three drains being primary, secondary, and emergency but his use the elbows and air vent via john guest fitting.

I do know that many people set it up as the picture shown.

 

[User1]

This is a pic that I referenced when choosing my overflow design.

Here is the source and all needed to know on why it is setup the way he did.

Edit: it really is a good read regardless if you use it or not.

Silent & Fail-Safe Aquarium Overflow System | BeanAnimal's Reef

Build the world famous "Bean Animal" silent and fail-safe aquarium overflow system. No noise, no adjustment, no floods. A truly set and forget setup that makes the Durso and Stockman style of standpipes obsolete! Build your own today!

beananimal.com

 

[Ugin]

So as an update, here's what I did. My primary drain in the sump had PVC going down 8-9" below the water line. I cut it down to 2"~ and the toilet flush stopped.

HOWEVER, there is now a balancing act in my system where if I close my gate valve on the primary by half-a-turn, the sound in the sump is completely silent, but the water level in my overflow box goes down enough where the trickle into the overflow box from the tank is a bit loud. If I turn up my return pump to compensate, the secondary drain causes the sucking noise again.

I'm not really sure what to do outside cutting my secondary drain and installing a gate valve :/

 

[saltyhog]

Slowly turn your primary gate valve 1/4 turn at a time (waiting a few minutes between turns) until the water level in the overflow is about 1/2 up the horizontal part of the secondary drain's U. If that means the level in your overflow is low enough to cause noise you will need to raise the secondary drain....it's the one that sets the water level in the overflow.

 

[dreamcatcherr9]

I will be at this point in a few weeks hopefully. I am reading with anticipation and interest.