Beananimal Overflow Problem

ReefinManhattan · Dec 10, 2017

I've had a DIY beananimal overflow setup on my 80 gallon reef for a couple of years with no problems. I just drained and cleaned my sump and changed out my return pump (I have a spare). When I filled the sump and plugged everything in again, I couldn't get the water level in my overflow box high enough to stop the suction noise, now matter how much I closed down the valve. Then I stuck my hand in the sump and realized I had water coming out of my secondary, but none was coming out of my primary. I checked the 1/4 inch airline on the secondary, but its fine. I shut everything down and cleaned and reseated the friction joints on both my U-tubes, but still no dice. I can't figure out what to do next. Any ideas?

Crabs McJones · Dec 10, 2017

ReefinManhattan said:
I've had a DIY beananimal overflow setup on my 80 gallon reef for a couple of years with no problems. I just drained and cleaned my sump and changed out my return pump (I have a spare). When I filled the sump and plugged everything in again, I couldn't get the water level in my overflow box high enough to stop the suction noise, now matter how much I closed down the valve. Then I stuck my hand in the sump and realized I had water coming out of my secondary, but none was coming out of my primary. I checked the 1/4 inch airline on the secondary, but its fine. I shut everything down and cleaned and reseated the friction joints on both my U-tubes, but still no dice. I can't figure out what to do next. Any ideas?

I'm unfamiliar with the bean animal setup, but is there any priming of the pipe or anything that has to be done? Did you take your pipes apart and check for any kind of blockages?

sbash · Dec 10, 2017

Can you feel the full siphon working in the overflow box?

As @crabs_mcjones suggests there could be airlock or a blockage... My full siphon sometimes airlocks (this happens because there is too much water under the pipe in the sump, so the air cannot be pushed out by the water trying to fill the pipe, so the air simply gets stuck and does not allow any water into the pipe), the solution is to unscrew (carefully, lol) the cap on the siphon pipe to allow the air to be pushed up instead of into the sump. This is why he uses a T (Tee-Wye) in his published design right after the bulkhead:

The middle one should be the full siphon in this picture...

ReefinManhattan · Dec 11, 2017

Sbash, thanks for the input. You were right about the airlock! I took the primary u-tube out of the friction joint and reinstalled while the system was still running and now because water is flowing into the sump from that line. However, there is still water flowing through the secondary, and now it flows in a "surge" pattern where the water in the overflow box is at the correct level for a minute or so (and silent), and then the overflow box drains and refills itself quickly in a cycle. Any idea what might be happening?

jonneyb · Dec 11, 2017

I think your return pump is pumping to much dial it down a little

sbash · Dec 11, 2017

The siphon is likely pulling too much water now, hopefully you put a valve on that... Just close it a bit. OR, yeah, as @jonneyb suggests, it could be too much flow from your return pump... Without knowing the size of pipe and the pump you are using, I can only theorize

ReefinManhattan · Dec 12, 2017

I am using 1 inch pipe, and my return pump is a Sicce Syncra Silent 4.0. With a 4 foot head, the output is around 605 GPH. I do have a gate valve on the primary down tube, so I will try turning it down.

sbash · Dec 12, 2017

Okay, so a 1" pipe with a at least a two foot drop (with a full siphon) will pull quite a bit more than 600 GPH. So it is likely just pulling too much so the siphon continually starts and stops, so you just need to close the valve until the siphon engages, then slowly dial it in to adjust your overflow level.

The theory is that you should only need to set it once, however I have not found this to be the case with mine. You first set it with a dry pipe, then the slime layer develops so it needs to be tuned a bit... Then it shuts off and dries up, so it needs to be retuned... etc...

ReefinManhattan · Dec 12, 2017

Thanks again for all the help. Your reply got me to thinking why my 1" lines hadn't overwhelmed my return pump for the last two years...so I checked and it turns out when I installed the clean return pump, I accidentally closed the variable intake dial on the front. I dialed it to full open and problem solved!