Bean Animal overflow

[Sharebear]

I’ve been playing around with my return pump and adjusting the main drain pipe to reduce the annoying sound + too many air bubbles from return pump...
just wanted to make sure.. that this blue air line... is not supposed to be submerged in the water? It just seems like it’s too long.. and just chilling near the top/getting no water

emergency -> main -> secondary
Not sure about the purpose of this blue line except it’s suppose to mix in with air to reduce sound from what I’ve read.. but sooo loud!

 

[lapin]

The tube is so it will become a full siphon if the water level rises enough to cover the end.
If you have just a trickle going down the tube then it should be very quiet.
Where do you think the sound is comming from.
Blue tube? Cap? Bottom of the drain?
Are the ends of the drains 1/2" under water in the sump?

I assume you have something like this in the overflow box?

 

[Sharebear]

The tube is so it will become a full siphon if the water level rises enough to cover the end.
If you have just a trickle going down the tube then it should be very quiet.
Where do you think the sound is comming from.
Blue tube? Cap? Bottom of the drain?
Are the ends of the drains 1/2" under water in the sump?

I assume you have something like this in the overflow box?

Yep! Something like that hahah but a little switched. I’ve noticed I can make the sound go away which comes from the top the main drain I feel like? When I close it up more then.. less sound.
There’s a lot of air bubbles coming from my return pump area so I was trying to reduce it by lowering the power for the return pumps and adjusting the valve for the main pipe.
Maybe there’s not enough water... but when I shut down everything then my sump is quiet full.. so I’m too scared to add more water.
Should I just power up my return pump again so there’s enough water to cover that awful sound? Are too many little air bubbles not good for my fish?
sorry for the super duper long questions..

 

[lapin]

First open the main drain all the way. Then turn on the return pump at lets say med. No water should go down the secondary. If the main drain pipe is 1/2" under water you should have no bubbles in the return pump section after the first purge of air.
If you do then your pump needs to be turned down even more or the main drainpipe is sucking air.

 

[Sharebear]

First open the main drain all the way. Then turn on the return pump at lets say med. No water should go down the secondary. If the main drain pipe is 1/2" under water you should have no bubbles in the return pump section after the first purge of air.
If you do then your pump needs to be turned down even more or the main drainpipe is sucking air.

Wow... thank you so much! I will be trying this today!! Hopefully I can get rid of always wearing headphones now lol!

 

[Sharebear]

First open the main drain all the way. Then turn on the return pump at lets say med. No water should go down the secondary. If the main drain pipe is 1/2" under water you should have no bubbles in the return pump section after the first purge of air.
If you do then your pump needs to be turned down even more or the main drainpipe is sucking air.

You are a life/ear saver! This entire time I thought water needs to come from both primary and secondary. I did what you recommended and played a bit with the settings.. so now primary valve is almost fully open at 90% ish, only water coming from this one, none from secondary and emergency..
I can.. enjoy this silence...... yessssssssss

 

[lapin]

Kewl

 

[Soren]

You are a life/ear saver! This entire time I thought water needs to come from both primary and secondary. I did what you recommended and played a bit with the settings.. so now primary valve is almost fully open at 90% ish, only water coming from this one, none from secondary and emergency..
I can.. enjoy this silence...... yessssssssss

One additional note from what I have read about this in my own research:
I think most Bean Animal drain setups are typically set with the valve on the primary drain to restrict flow enough to let just a trickle into the secondary drain rather than no flow at all. I think this is to make sure that the secondary drain is set up to be silent if it does get used (it would never be needed if you always perfectly maintained the primary drain and constantly adjusted flow rate with the valve, which is not realistic in most cases).

Also, you may want to keep the outlet of the emergency drain above the water level in the sump so you hear the splashing of water that indicates that the primary and secondary drains are not allowing enough flow, therefore sending water down the emergency drain. This allows you to know this has happened since you hear the sound, and you can fix the issue with the other drains before more major issues. In this case, you WANT to hear the sound, since it is a type of alarm to a problem.

 

[Sharebear]

One additional note from what I have read about this in my own research:
I think most Bean Animal drain setups are typically set with the valve on the primary drain to restrict flow enough to let just a trickle into the secondary drain rather than no flow at all. I think this is to make sure that the secondary drain is set up to be silent if it does get used (it would never be needed if you always perfectly maintained the primary drain and constantly adjusted flow rate with the valve, which is not realistic in most cases).

Also, you may want to keep the outlet of the emergency drain above the water level in the sump so you hear the splashing of water that indicates that the primary and secondary drains are not allowing enough flow, therefore sending water down the emergency drain. This allows you to know this has happened since you hear the sound, and you can fix the issue with the other drains before more major issues. In this case, you WANT to hear the sound, since it is a type of alarm to a problem.

Ahhh thank you for the explanation! I usually just stick my hand in the... pipes to feel the water pressure.
Should I adjust the blue air line from secondary so it touches the water in the overflow? Currently it’s just floating outside of the overflow Bc it’s pretty long

The emergency pipe is a bit shorter than the main and secondary. My hearing is often blocked by.. my headphones but I visually check it once a day to make sure no water is coming out.

Whew, so many things to check..

 

[Soren]

Ahhh thank you for the explanation! I usually just stick my hand in the... pipes to feel the water pressure.
Should I adjust the blue air line from secondary so it touches the water in the overflow? Currently it’s just floating outside of the overflow Bc it’s pretty long

The emergency pipe is a bit shorter than the main and secondary. My hearing is often blocked by.. my headphones but I visually check it once a day to make sure no water is coming out.

Whew, so many things to check..

I do not know enough about the function of the blue tube yet, so I cannot comment on that. I will need to do more research on its function.

Your exit pipes look right, since it looks like the primary and secondary are a little bit below the surface while the emergency is above the sump water surface. You could raise the emergency drain even higher above the surface if you wanted to do so, but it is not necessary.

 

[Sharebear]

I do not know enough about the function of the blue tube yet, so I cannot comment on that. I will need to do more research on its function.

Your exit pipes look right, since it looks like the primary and secondary are a little bit below the surface while the emergency is above the sump water surface. You could raise the emergency drain even higher above the surface if you wanted to do so, but it is not necessary.

Oh no hahaha no need to research!! Thank you so much!

 

[Soren]

Oh no hahaha no need to research!! Thank you so much!

I mean that I need to research because I am doing a double Bean Animal drain through overflows for my setup with 90-gallon display tank draining into side-by-side 75-gallon mangrove lagoon that drains into the 75-gallon sump under the 90-gallon display. On Bean Animal's original design, I saw the blue tube but was not sure what it was for other than to simply be an air inlet to prevent sucking air into the inlet for the secondary drain as it fills up.

Though I may not be doing the research simply for your benefit, I will check back here if I learn enough to understand the function of the blue tube.

 

[Sharebear]

I mean that I need to research because I am doing a double Bean Animal drain through overflows for my setup with 90-gallon display tank draining into side-by-side 75-gallon mangrove lagoon that drains into the 75-gallon sump under the 90-gallon display. On Bean Animal's original design, I saw the blue tube but was not sure what it was for other than to simply be an air inlet to prevent sucking air into the inlet for the secondary drain as it fills up.

Though I may not be doing the research simply for your benefit, I will check back here if I learn enough to understand the function of the blue tube.

Oh gosh, your new set up sounds insane hahahahah!
I just read “saltwater aquarium for dummies” and didn’t learn anything LOL!

 

[Augus7us]

FYI the blue air hose should not be in the water. The hole in that pipe is to prevent a back siphon.

Take a look at this link:

Overflow Boxes and Drain Styles - Durso, Herbie, and Bean Animal

Decide which of the three most common types of drains and overflow boxes is right for you and your tank.

blog.marinedepot.com

 

[Sharebear]

FYI the blue air hose should not be in the water. The hole in that pipe is to prevent a back siphon.

Take a look at this link:

Overflow Boxes and Drain Styles - Durso, Herbie, and Bean Animal

Decide which of the three most common types of drains and overflow boxes is right for you and your tank.

blog.marinedepot.com

Hahaha yes! I saw that diagram and was like oh there hose is so small... why is mine soooo long??? Maybe I’ll cut it....

a professional set up reefer should totally do a FaceTime session.... this is hard haha! Thank you for sharing your input!

 

[Augus7us]

Just cut it, no worries. As long as some air can get in, it will prevent a back siphon.

Part of the fun with reefing is that its not easy. Anyone can start a tank and keep tetras and guppies alive, very few can say that with reef tanks.

 

[Rybren]

Actually the blue hose should not be submerged. If the main drain gets plugged, then the water in the overflow will rise, covering the opening of the blue hose, and turning the secondary into a full siphon.

On a Bean, it has nothing to do with a back siphon.

Try it out. Completely close the valve on the main drain and watch what happens.

 

[Augus7us]

You're correct, my brain saw back siphon for some reason. Been out of the game for a while...

Either way cut the blue hose and you're good to go.

 

[mehaffydr]

The blue hose should NOT be cut unless its just entirely too long. You should put the open end of the blue hose in the top of the emergency overflow pipe sticking down in about an inch or 2 This way if water does enter the emergency drain pipe it will at the same time fill the blue hose and make the secondary drain pipe a full siphon and prevent a disaster.

 

[lapin]

Blue hose:
It allows for air to enter the secondary pipe. This prevents it from becoming a full siphon. It allows for a trickle to flow down the pipe. You only want the secondary to become a full siphon when the main become blocked for some reason, so it can handle the drain volume.
If the secondary were to become a full siphon and the main is not blocked you would get an instant draining of the overflow. Then a woshing sound as both the main and secondary suck air. Then the main and secondary will go back to normal until that blue pipe gets covered with water again. Repeat over and over again.

Because your pipes are not in the overflow box you need that blue hose. My pipes are in the overflow box. Its an external box. I made my overflow box deeper and my secondary has a hole in the top without the blue hose stuck in it. Should the main get stopped up, water will cover this hole before the overflow fills up to a point where the emergency takes on water.