Dual Bean Animal

[Jamie7907]

So I’m setting up a new tank and want to use a Bean Animal overflow but I’m running dual overflows. My thoughts are to use a Bean Animal in each overflow but I’m thinking they may fight each other? The tank will be powered by 2 L1 return pumps. I’ve thought about connecting the full siphon line via a wye or tee underneath and then placing a gate valve to set flow will this work? Anybody have any other ideas?

 

[InspectorGadget]

It’s possible a dual bean animal setup would work with a joined siphon line but separate siphon lines might work better. This would allow you to tune each bean animal independently. I think if you hooked them together, it would be harder to tune if one side was pulling in more water than the other. But I could be wrong. You could always try it by using a couple of pieces of extra PVC during your water test. Just don’t glue where the T is so it can be removed if it doesn’t work. It could possibly work considering you can adjust flow of the intake line using an air valve. But your lengths of PVC for the intakes would have to be near identical or one side will be louder than the other.

 

[mcarroll]

Remember that your system would work just fine just as you have it with two normal drains – each effectively backing up the other. Design the return flow to properly match the drains you've built and you have no problems.

Work from there to see how much of what (if any) extra plumbing that you need in each drainbox. Herbie's are fun, but I think here it may just overcomplicate the design.

 

[Jamie7907]

I’m after silence though. This tank is going in my living room. Dursos are ok but I’m hoping a Bean Animal will be quieter.

 

[mcarroll]

Sound level is about GPH per drain diameter.

Are you limited to a particular plumbing size for your drains yet?

 

[Jamie7907]

was thinking either 4 or 6 1inch drains but nothing set in stone.

 

[bblumberg]

Bean will definitely be quiet, depending on how you set the level in the overflow. You'd be surprised how loud water falling a few inches can be. I try not to let mine fall more than 1" and that is still audible unless the overflow has its cover on and the canopy is closed. I can't easily guess how large that tank is, but Bean with 1" pipe will flow quite a bit of water. 2 separate overflows may make tuning a bit more tedious than it would be otherwise, but it should be doable.

 

[mcarroll]

was thinking either 4 or 6 1inch drains but nothing set in stone.

It seems like two larger diameter drains would be a more logical way to do it.

Are you targeting between 1200 and 1800 GPH, or how were you arriving at the quantity of 1" drains?

 

[Jamie7907]

Tank is 560 gallons, flow is expected to be around 4,000 gph with head loss.

 

[mcarroll]

A 3” drain in each side ought to do it, but are you sure about that flow?

Based on the generic recommendation for your target flow I think you will want those drain boxes to be at least 8 inches on each side.

 

[Jamie7907]

Well the tank will be powered by two L1 vectra pumps. Accounting for head loss and pipe friction should be somewhere around 4K per hour. The boxes are 8x8 internally.

 

[Black Pearl]

I did the dual ghost overflow bean animal with full siphon from both overflows into a wye and valve below the wye it's a little touchy to get dialed in but has been working fine 18 months with only the unilateral adjustments. All 1.5 inch drain pipe

 

[bblumberg]

Have a look at the hydraulic flow calculator on Bean Animal Bar and Grill web site: http://www.beananimal.com/articles/hydraulics-for-the-aquarist.aspx

A 1" pipe at 3.5' of head (mine are about this) is going to flow ~2150 gph. You can adjust for your actual height and diameter to get an idea of what you need. A Bean Animal set of 3 in each overflow should handle whatever you flow throw at it, even with 1" bulkheads.

 

[mcarroll]

Seems like a lot of flow for the tank size, but if that’s what you are designing for, then I think like I said I’d do a simple pair of 3” drains. Either could carry the flow if one were compromised somehow. Should be dead silent (for 4K/gph) under normal operation.