Bean Animal Plumbing Question

truetricia · Jul 16, 2019

Good morning! I have a plumbing question.

My 120g tank has dual overflows. One of the pipes, 1", will be used for the return, and I plan to do a bean animal overflow scheme for the remaining three holes. Two of the remaining holes are 3/4" and the other is 1".

Which brings me to my question:
Do each of the Bean Animal drains need their own lines down to the sump, or can they be joined together using T-joiners and then go down to the sump in one line? If so, how often and where should ball valves be used to regulate the flow? Does the single pipe going to the drain need to be larger than the others to accommodate all the flow? Or if this doesn't work, can I connect the two 3/4" pipes and use them as the durso and emergency drains, and use the 1" pipe by itself as the main drain with a ball valve for adjustment?

I've got minimal space in my fish room, so I want to keep the plumbing minimized but I also don't want to sacrifice safety or quietness for the plumbing. I've seen pictures online of both ways, but no accompanying explanations that state whether the combined singular pipe approach has ramifications for which I want to be aware. Obviously there are plenty of explanations on the traditional Bean Animal design.

TIA for your assistance.

Lockridge49 · Jul 16, 2019

The 1" should be its own run to the sump and use a gate valve to tune as it needs to be full siphon. On the secondary and emergency in theory you could connect them but you then lose the "alarm" function of the emergency.

AiKkz · Jul 16, 2019

each bean animal drain needs its own line to the sump, the bean animal was created for safety, so if one gets clogged there are back ups. Another reason they each need their own line is to adjust the primary with a gate or ball valve to ensure silent operation.

JoshH · Jul 16, 2019

Might I suggest using one of the 3/4" lines for your return? Should provide tons of flow for your 120 and you could then use one of your 1" for your main siphon, 3/4" for secondary and the other 1" for the emergency.

As mentioned above, while you can technically join the plumbing below the tank, it really isn't advisable and somewhat defeats the purpose of the BA setup. You only need a gate valve on the primary drain to tune the flow. I would suggest if you want to install Premium ball valves on each drain to isolate the tank. Kindof overkill but can be worth it.

truetricia · Jul 16, 2019

Lockridge49 said:
The 1" should be its own run to the sump and use a gate valve to tune as it needs to be full siphon. On the secondary and emergency in theory you could connect them but you then lose the "alarm" function of the emergency.

I've never understood the "alarm" function. Is it just that if your water is touching that pipe end then you know something is wrong?

Thank you both the discussion.

JoshH · Jul 16, 2019

truetricia said:
I've never understood the "alarm" function. Is it just that if your water is touching that pipe end then you know something is wrong?

Thank you both the discussion.

The "Alarm" function is actually in your sump. Ideally you plumb the emergency drain shorter than the water height in your sump (Something you really dont want in normal operating conditions). It will make a ton of splashing noise to alert you that water is flowing down the emergency drain which is not normal and you can check it out. Obviously this doesn't work if your sump happens to be in your basement but other than that it works really well.

truetricia · Jul 16, 2019

JoshH said:
Might I suggest using one of the 3/4" lines for your return? Should provide tons of flow for your 120 and you could then use one of your 1" for your main siphon, 3/4" for secondary and the other 1" for the emergency.

As mentioned above, while you can technically join the plumbing below the tank, it really isn't advisable and somewhat defeats the purpose of the BA setup. You only need a gate valve on the primary drain to tune the flow. I would suggest if you want to install Premium ball valves on each drain to isolate the tank. Kindof overkill but can be worth it.

Josh

Thank you! May I ask why you suggest using the 3/4" instead of the 1" for the return? There are reasons why either configuration works for me, but they're equipment based and not based on engineering designs.

truetricia · Jul 16, 2019

JoshH said:
The "Alarm" function is actually in your sump. Ideally you plumb the emergency drain shorter than the water height in your sump (Something you really dont want in normal operating conditions). It will make a ton of splashing noise to alert you that water is flowing down the emergency drain which is not normal and you can check it out. Obviously this doesn't work if your sump happens to be in your basement but other than that it works really well.

That makes total sense. I won't hear it in the fish room. Additional questions. Since I won't hear the emergency "alarm" function, no other real drawbacks to plumbing the secondary and emergency lines together? Or, since I wouldn't hear the "alarm," can you put a leak (LDK) sensor under the line (in a manner where it wouldn't fall into the tank)? This way when the emergency line is "in use," a bit of water drips onto the sensor and triggers the Apex based alarm? Then the location of the sump doesn't matter.

JoshH · Jul 16, 2019

truetricia said:
Josh

Thank you! May I ask why you suggest using the 3/4" instead of the 1" for the return? There are reasons why either configuration works for me, but they're equipment based and not based on engineering designs.

Ofcourse you can ask, the reason why atleast I suggest making the swap is that (Depending on flow), if your regular return flow is close to the capacity of your main 1" siphon, your 3/4" secondary and emergency drains won't be enough to handle the flow individually. If your Emergency drain is the same size as your primary your guaranteed that it will handle the flow if your primary and secondary get clogged.

The only way I would ever plumb the secondary and emergency lines together is if the pipe they were being joined in to was massively oversized (In the 2 1/2" category). Personally I still would avoid it myself. I dont know if the leak detector would be a good option to put under the emergency line as I'd be willing to bet it would pick up the moisture in the sump. I could be wrong as I haven't owned one myself though. You could probably do a flow sensor on the emergency and have it alarm if it detects any flow...

truetricia · Jul 16, 2019

JoshH said:
Ofcourse you can ask, the reason why atleast I suggest making the swap is that (Depending on flow), if your regular return flow is close to the capacity of your main 1" siphon, your 3/4" secondary and emergency drains won't be enough to handle the flow individually. If your Emergency drain is the same size as your primary your guaranteed that it will handle the flow if your primary and secondary get clogged.

The only way I would ever plumb the secondary and emergency lines together is if the pipe they were being joined in to was massively oversized (In the 2 1/2" category). Personally I still would avoid it myself. I dont know if the leak detector would be a good option to put under the emergency line as I'd be willing to bet it would pick up the moisture in the sump. I could be wrong as I haven't owned one myself though. You could probably do a flow sensor on the emergency and have it alarm if it detects any flow...

The flow sensor is an even better idea!!

Everything you said makes sense. Thank you. That will greatly help me with my plumbing plans, which I'll hopefully get dry-fitted today. I assume you do one-way valves on both the primary and secondary?

AiKkz · Jul 16, 2019

Example of the “alert” on the emergency drain. If I ever hear the splashing or see water coming out of this drain, I know I have a clogged drain pipe.