Bean Animal or Herbie for Closed Loop System - Flow Questions

[FishyDP]

Looking for opinions on which overflow to install on a custom 72x29x25, 225g peninsula with a top to bottom internal overflow box. The issue with the bean animal is that it is making the overflow box almost the length of the entire overflow panel with 3x 1.5" drains, plus 2x 1" returns inside of the overflow box. I am also having the bottom panel of the tank drilled for 3x 1" closed loop returns, evenly spaced down the length of the tank.

My questions is..if I get rid of the 3rd/emergency drain and convert to a Herbie style drain (2x 1.5” drains), will it be enough to handle at least 6x/hr display turnover? I will likely not taper drains down to 1".

I currently have a 150g utilizing bean animal drain. It seems to be more than enough, and probability of a 1.5” drain clogging is minimal especially with teeth on overflow box pre-filtering anything large.

Thanks

 

[MarshallB]

Here is a chart Reefing Madness posted

225 x 6 is 1350 gph. 1 would do it at full blast, 2 would definitely do it. Its up to you on how comfortable you are with getting rid of the emergency drain. Are you ok with the increased risk?

 

[FishyDP]

Very helpful chart, thanks. That is the question, what is the risk of 2x 1.5" drains actually clogging with my flow rate and water volume.. according to the chart it looks like I am good with average pressure, even if I add in sump water volume. I would be comfortable with that risk level.

 

[nereefpat]

With a Herbie, you will have 2 x 1.5" drains, but only 1 of them will be moving much water. The same is true with a Bean, where you have 3 drains, but 1 is doing the work while #2 is a trickle and #3 is a dry emergency. Just be aware of that.

 

[User1]

With a Herbie, you will have 2 x 1.5" drains, but only 1 of them will be moving much water. The same is true with a Bean, where you have 3 drains, but 1 is doing the work while #2 is a trickle and #3 is a dry emergency. Just be aware of that.

But it is the safest overflow in our hobby. Edit: Forgot to say you are spot on how it works btw Not that it was needed.

OP - have you considered using 1" instead of 1.5? Also there is nothing wrong with a wider or more full overflow. In fact a smooth weir traveling end to end, regardless of side of tank, is the best for surface skimming. But back to your situation and having a tank drilled with 1.5" drains I reduced to 1" and have zero issues. In fact if you look at Bean's design you will see he also had to go from 1.5 to 1".

 

[FishyDP]

With a Herbie, you will have 2 x 1.5" drains, but only 1 of them will be moving much water. The same is true with a Bean, where you have 3 drains, but 1 is doing the work while #2 is a trickle and #3 is a dry emergency. Just be aware of that.

So the secondary pipe on the herbie acts as somewhat of an emergency drain it seems. Just one less level of redundancy compared to bean animal.

 

[FishyDP]

But it is the safest overflow in our hobby. Edit: Forgot to say you are spot on how it works btw Not that it was needed.

OP - have you considered using 1" instead of 1.5? Also there is nothing wrong with a wider or more full overflow. In fact a smooth weir traveling end to end, regardless of side of tank, is the best for surface skimming. But back to your situation and having a tank drilled with 1.5" drains I reduced to 1" and have zero issues. In fact if you look at Bean's design you will see he also had to go from 1.5 to 1".

On my current 150g, I have a bean animal with 1.5" pipes inside the overflow box, tapered down to 1" to my sump. Maybe this would be the way to go in either scenario. I just don't want to see the overflow box butted right up against the long panels and create dead spots ect..just a preference thing I guess

 

[nereefpat]

So the secondary pipe on the herbie acts as somewhat of an emergency drain it seems. Just one less level of redundancy compared to bean animal.

Yes. Exactly.

 

[User1]

On my current 150g, I have a bean animal with 1.5" pipes inside the overflow box, tapered down to 1" to my sump. Maybe this would be the way to go in either scenario. I just don't want to see the overflow box butted right up against the long panels and create dead spots ect..just a preference thing I guess

Fully understand. I'm the opposite. I reduced inside to 1" and left the plumbing down to the sump 1.5" since my sump had 1.5" fittings. Either way the Bean design can support a crazy amount of flow while being safe which I'm sure you are already aware.

I get the preference thing Was just wondering if it was a viable option is all but you have it covered!

 

[FishyDP]

Fully understand. I'm the opposite. I reduced inside to 1" and left the plumbing down to the sump 1.5" since my sump had 1.5" fittings. Either way the Bean design can support a crazy amount of flow while being safe which I'm sure you are already aware.

I get the preference thing Was just wondering if it was a viable option is all but you have it covered!

Thinking about it more I do like the idea of increased surface skimming..maybe something to consider. So many ways to skin a cat, or a reef tank ..part of the reason I love the hobby