Bean animal drain setup

[somechinesereefer]

Okay, after much thought, i've decided to try and force a bean animal setup into my arrangement instead of a herbie.

Here are my limitations. There's JUST enough clearance from the back of the tank to the wall to allow the 1" return pipe behind the tank, but i'm talking almost flush fitting here. I won't be able to place a pipe clamp at the back, unless there are non screw options for mounting them.

What's the best way to support the return pipe? Is 1 return pipe sufficient? I really want the return to be as simple as possible. This is a 90g tank with a 40g sump/fuge.

I have two 1" holes and one 3/4" hole drilled in the overflow. For this setup, should I make the main drain the 3/4" and the emergency and secondary drains the 1"?

I liked gmacreef's detailed how to on making the herbie overflow, but he doesnt have one for the bean animal, is there a more detailed source than https://beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system/?

Or should I just stick with the herbie due to my setup constraints?

 

[somechinesereefer]

Bumpity?

 

[mrbh22]

Bean animal requires 3 drain holes. If you wanted to take your return over the top of the tank you could do a bean animal setup pretty easy actually. You would need to plumb in a drain in your overflow about 2 to 3 inches below the second drain pipe. And put a gate valve on the lowest (full siphon) drain. Then the 3rd drain will be the emergency overflow. But remember that this would require you to reroute your return to an over the top style

 

[somechinesereefer]

Bean animal requires 3 drain holes. If you wanted to take your return over the top of the tank you could do a bean animal setup pretty easy actually. You would need to plumb in a drain in your overflow about 2 to 3 inches below the second drain pipe. And put a gate valve on the lowest (full siphon) drain. Then the 3rd drain will be the emergency overflow. But remember that this would require you to reroute your return to an over the top style

Which line should the 3/4" drain be? The other 2 are 1"

 

[W1ngz]

Is your return going to go up and over the side or is there a hole for that somewhere? A single return is fine, but you'll find the fittings are usually 3/4.

I would make a 1" the primary with gate valve, use the 3/4 as the secondary and the last 1" the emergency.

 

[somechinesereefer]

Is your return going to go up and over the side or is there a hole for that somewhere? A single return is fine, but you'll find the fittings are usually 3/4.

I would make a 1" the primary with gate valve, use the 3/4 as the secondary and the last 1" the emergency.

The return will go up and over behind the tank. One hiccup is I won't be able to get a pipe clamp to support it in the back, are there adhesive clamps I could attach to the back glass of the tank?

 

[samnaz]

Seriously gmac is never going to do the detailed bean animal write up despite many people persistently asking and being told “it’s in the works or almost done” or whatever.

I assume you will be draining your tank for this. Might as well drill the overflow from 3/4” up to 1” and drill the tank for a 1” return. That is, if moving the tank slightly away from the wall for a short time is possible.

 

[W1ngz]

The return will go up and over behind the tank. One hiccup is I won't be able to get a pipe clamp to support it in the back, are there adhesive clamps I could attach to the back glass of the tank?

I wouldn't worry too much about clamps. If its straight up vertical try and support it from the bottom instead.

 

[Quietman]

Honestly if the Herbie is working for you it's a fine solution. Just looks like the challenges you have might outweigh any benefits. You may end up tweaking the drain a bit more often with a Herbie, but that's about it once you have it set.

 

[somechinesereefer]

Seriously gmac is never going to do the detailed bean animal write up despite many people persistently asking and being told “it’s in the works or almost done” or whatever.

I assume you will be draining your tank for this. Might as well drill the overflow from 3/4” up to 1” and drill the tank for a 1” return. That is, if moving the tank slightly away from the wall for a short time is possible.

That's unfortunate on the GMAC news. Im not draining the tank for this, just the overflow

 

[somechinesereefer]

Honestly if the Herbie is working for you it's a fine solution. Just looks like the challenges you have might outweigh any benefits. You may end up tweaking the drain a bit more often with a Herbie, but that's about it once you have it set.

Actually I bought the setup from a local. It's currently got a double durso overflow that I was debating converting to Herbie or bean. Everyone said bean..

 

[Quietman]

BA is good. High flow, silent and doesn't need adjusting. Durso is good, lower flow nearly silent, no adjusting if setup right. Herbie is good, silent, high flow, nominal adjusting maybe required as build up happens. See where I'm going. They're all good depending on your needs and design. They're all about equally fool proof assuming a little planning and knowledge of limitations is understood.

 

[Quietman]

So basically if it moves the volume of water you decide you need and the safety volume exists - can't overflow sump on power outage and can't overflow tank if drain fails (return section volume) and it's quiet enough. You're good to go.

 

[Quietman]

Oh last thing....having a emergency drain with a durso or two dursos is a good thing.

 

[somechinesereefer]

Oh last thing....having a emergency drain with a durso or two dursos is a good thing.

In a herbie style, the emergency seems to just be an open standpipe, is that different than how you do your setup? Thanks for the info by the way!

 

[Quietman]

Nope...normal herbie with open standpipe for emergency. After a few months, I rarely have to adjust it. I suspect there's quite a bit more at first as the deposits have more impact on flow early on when everything's clean and new. Once the pipe and pump surfaces are coated, it steadies out nicely.

 

[Quietman]

If I had two durso's - I'd probably have one a tad higher to act as backup and emergency drain. It'll function just like a drain when water exceeds it.