Bean Animal Noise PLEASE hElp

[trailblazur]

I’ve spent hours trying to get this thing right and silent like everyone else can lol.


I’ve tried doing the pipes inside the overflow box shorter, longer, you name it.


With and without the u-pipe and I still can’t get it to where I want it.


I’m running around 2000 gph through the system fyi.



I can tune through adjusting the gate valve to have the primary drain under water and silent, BUT I cannot figure out how to get the secondary open air drain silent once water starts going down that pipe


ANY help or advice is appreciated.


ive attached pics of the system. THANK YOU ALL

 

[jelazar]

The primary siphon drain should be carrying 99% of your water. It looks like you have too much flow going down your secondary. On my tank, the secondary drain isn't much more than a trickle and it is absolutely silent.

Is the valve on your siphon drain already fully open? I.e., is it already maxed out? If so, you might have to increase your pipe diameters.

 

[trailblazur]

Thanks for taking the time to reply!!!

I had the pipe partially closed here with the gate valve.

I can open it to the point to where there’s a tiny trickle going down the secondary but I still hear it hit the bottom of the pipe lol.

the overflow box creator said about 15-20% of the flow needs to be going down the secondary so that has me confused.

any amount, a tiny trickle or 15%, going down the secondary causes some amount of noise.

The pipes are already 1.5” diameter.

Any other thoughts?

 

[FSP]

1.5" pipe is fine size wise. Some thoughts that may not be helpful:

- Those boxes have a huge design flaw where the external box is lower than than the height of the aquarium. The only one that I've seen address this are the Exotic Marine overflows. The water level should be lower in the external box for safety, especially with 2000 gph running through such a small external. Buuut...

- The greater the difference in water height between the boxes, the greater the noise. The video with water barely running through the open channel sounds like water crashing over the weir. There isn't a convenient or good fix for this other than slowing down the feed rate (return pump). Removing the teeth or making the weir longer also work but aren't really applicable here.

- A couple other things that contribute to noise during the video with a lot of water going down the open channel: an open top pipe won't be as quiet as the supplied U bend, and horizontal runs in the plumbing are louder than straight vertical or runs with a couple of 45° elbows.

Wish I had nicer stuff to say, but that's what comes to mind I think Exotic Marine uses the same hole spacing if that's something you want to explore, but I'm just guestimating what's wrong from a couple of videos.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I had the same problem and finally redrilled my tank so that my PVC pipe sizes were equal size since the return was smaller. You might add a gate valve on the secondary. Another thing to try is to increase the return flow if you can crank your pump up.

 

[edd59]

why do you want to move that much turn over through your sump?
sounds like your primary cant handle that kind of flow. try slowing down your pump

 

[trailblazur]

Maaaan oh man… just doesn’t seem like it should be this complicated

 

[FSP]

It isn't complicated until you (they) try to jam everything in a couple of tiny boxes and mess half of them. Beananimal drains and internal/external overflow boxes are sound ideas and easy to use.

 

[trailblazur]

1.5" pipe is fine size wise. Some thoughts that may not be helpful:

- Those boxes have a huge design flaw where the external box is lower than than the height of the aquarium. The only one that I've seen address this are the Exotic Marine overflows. The water level should be lower in the external box for safety, especially with 2000 gph running through such a small external. Buuut...

- The greater the difference in water height between the boxes, the greater the noise. The video with water barely running through the open channel sounds like water crashing over the weir. There isn't a convenient or good fix for this other than slowing down the feed rate (return pump). Removing the teeth or making the weir longer also work but aren't really applicable here.

- A couple other things that contribute to noise during the video with a lot of water going down the open channel: an open top pipe won't be as quiet as the supplied U bend, and horizontal runs in the plumbing are louder than straight vertical or runs with a couple of 45° elbows.

Wish I had nicer stuff to say, but that's what comes to mind I think Exotic Marine uses the same hole spacing if that's something you want to explore, but I'm just guestimating what's wrong from a couple of videos.

Does water have to be going down the secondary drain necessarily?

 

[Fat_ Ninja]

Not sure if it will help you but this is what I did. I found these soda pop can lids at Walmart that turn your can into a bottle with a lid. Stuffed it with carbon filter mesh and put a air line in the lid to attach at the top of my secondary drain with a hole drilled in the top. Insert the other end of the air line. Then tuned the flow to were it barely goes over the 45 degree elbow opening on the secondary. And all the sound went away.

 

[FSP]

For a beananimal, yes. That's what makes it self tuning. A Herbie, no, which is just a siphon drain with a dry emergency.

Is all that noise really coming from the open channel? It sure sounds like the weir in "trickle" video. Else, using some spaflex type PVC on the open channel to the sump can help with the horizontal run issue listed earlier.

 

[hart24601]

I keep just a small trickle going down my secondary with my BA. Ideally the smallest I can. Setups and plumbing vary so much it’s hard to say what will make yours totally silent, but sounds like reducing the secondary flow will help.

 

[trailblazur]

For a beananimal, yes. That's what makes it self tuning. A Herbie, no, which is just a siphon drain with a dry emergency.

Is all that noise really coming from the open channel? It sure sounds like the weir in "trickle" video. Else, using some spaflex type PVC on the open channel to the sump can help with the horizontal run issue listed earlier.

Yes, when I had a small trickle down the secondary you are correct. The sound then is coming from the inside weir to the outside box.

 

[trailblazur]

I keep just a small trickle going down my secondary with my BA. Ideally the smallest I can. Setups and plumbing vary so much it’s hard to say what will make yours totally silent, but sounds like reducing the secondary flow will help.

Do you hear the trickle crashing down the pipe though?

 

[trailblazur]

This is what the guy who makes them sent me‍

Basic Tuning Approach | Synergy Reef Docs

docs.synergyreef.com

 

[hart24601]

Do you hear the trickle crashing down the pipe though?

I don’t think so but not sure over the powerhead noise. My wife actually likes the water sound so I don’t fuss too much with it but my sump is in basement so I don’t hear it hitting the bottom.

 

[FSP]

Yes, when I had a small trickle down the secondary you are correct. The sound then is coming from the inside weir to the outside box.

Then that's just a design flaw, and flow flow needs to be cranked down Not unique with those boxes.

You can experiment with things like coarse foam in the interior box to silence to crashing, but then you'd need a dry emergency in the tank itself for safety. Also another thing to maintain. If you want to keep 2000 gph and have the funds, I'd give Exotic Marine a look.

 

[trailblazur]

Then that's just a design flaw, and flow flow needs to be cranked down Not unique with those boxes.

You can experiment with things like coarse foam in the interior box to silence to crashing, but then you'd need a dry emergency in the tank itself for safety. Also another thing to maintain. If you want to keep 2000 gph and have the funds, I'd give Exotic Marine a look.

Gah that’s not great news huh lol. The owner said it should be better when a slime coat starts to build???

 

[theMeat]

Would shoot for this

The height of the secondary determines the water level in the outside overflow box. You want the water level less than halfway up on the elbow of the secondary. You don’t want the water level on the outside box too much lower than the water level in the inside box or you will hear splashing goes through and falls. You’re limited by the height of emergency drain.

 

[FSP]

It's certainly a possibility. For a silent drain though, it has a lot working against it that slime probably won't fix. Teeth raise water level in the tank, the weir is too short for the advertised gph, the internal box is narrow and doesn't handle turbulence well, the external box is short and doesn't allow a high enough water level, etc. All of these things add up to the waterfall noise you're hearing.