Bean animal overflow for first time...please advise.

[markysgirl]

Hello everyone!
Well, I finally got the plumbing put together and the return pump from the pump to the sump (hey that rhymes) turned on and it is running!
I'm not sure how to make it run correctly from here so I'm hoping someone can steer me to n the right direction.
Couple of things, the overflow is gurgling pretty loudly, the drain is currently dreaming into the secondary drain rather than the primary.
I'm just not sure what to do to fix this.
Can anyone help?
Other info. 75gal display
Trigger crystal 30 sump
Shadow overflow
Sicce syncra adv 9.0

 

[Albertan22]

Hello everyone!
Well, I finally got the plumbing put together and the return pump from the pump to the sump (hey that rhymes) turned on and it is running!
I'm not sure how to make it run correctly from here so I'm hoping someone can steer me to n the right direction.
Couple of things, the overflow is gurgling pretty loudly, the drain is currently dreaming into the secondary drain rather than the primary.
I'm just not sure what to do to fix this.
Can anyone help?
Other info. 75gal display
Trigger crystal 30 sump
Shadow overflow
Sicce syncra adv 9.0

It's not draining into the main drain at all? Do you have your gate valve closed completely? If so, open it up a bit and try to get just a trickle of water going down the secondary. The third emergency drain should be completely dry.

 

[markysgirl]

I opened the gate valve all the way. Now, it looks like the majority of the overflow is being routed down the primary, a little bit is trickling down the secondary and the third (emergency) is dry.
However, it is still pretty noisy, it sounds like a fast drip rather than the gurgling. I thought bean animal was supposed to be quieter than this.....

 

[motortrendz]

Your main is the low open drain with the valve. Your secondary is the taller one with a durso or elbow top. And the emergency should always be dry and above the waterline. adjust the valve closed to raise the water line in the box until it starts to run Down the durso. Then fine tune it from that point so the water is going down the durso and being quiet. If set right it is dead silent. My sump is in my basement and when my overflow is set right I always have to check the tank to make sure it's running bc it's so quiet. Lol

 

[markysgirl]

Thank you so much for all of your help!
Here's where I'm at right this second. The main drain is quiet and a full siphon. The secondary drain however, is still gurgling away. And there are lots of bubbles....lots and lots of bubbles.
When I start closing down the valve to get the secondary drain covered it diverts alot of the flow from the primary line and honestly I feel like the secondary is so far above the primary, that I might have water in the emergency drain.
I've included a picture of the overflow as it looks right now and the sump as it looks right now.

 

[motortrendz]

Your emergency drain is dry. That's fine, I would try to lower the mid pipe a little if possible. And maybe make the hole a little bigger. How low is your main full syphon drain? Is it an open bulkhead or does it have a 1in tall piece of pipe in it?

maybe someone else would have better input on this exact unit. I made my own.

Also it's hard to tell but looks like your water level.in your display is super high.. maybe back off on the return flow a bit. That will ease some of the pressure off the drains too.

 

[Albertan22]

Your emergency drain is dry. That's fine, I would try to lower the mid pipe a little if possible. And maybe make the hole a little bigger. How low is your main full syphon drain? Is it an open bulkhead or does it have a 1in tall piece of pipe in it?

maybe someone else would have better input on this exact unit. I made my own.

Also it's hard to tell but looks like your water level.in your display is super high.. maybe back off on the return flow a bit. That will ease some of the pressure off the drains too.

I’m more used to tuning a Herbie than a Bean Animal, wouldn’t you want to increase the height of the Durso or lower the water level with the gate valve? With all that air it seems she has too much flow through the Durso which I thought was only supposed to carry a trickle flow in the Bean Animal similar to the emergency drain in the Herbie?

 

[motortrendz]

I’m more used to tuning a Herbie than a Bean Animal, wouldn’t you want to increase the height of the Durso or lower the water level with the gate valve? With all that air it seems she has too much flow through the Durso which I thought was only supposed to carry a trickle flow in the Bean Animal similar to the emergency drain in the Herbie?

On mine the durso runs at about half flow so it doesnt create a syphon, the main is fully submerged and valve is about half closed. This is why I think there return is flowing a little too much, creating alot of flow going into the overflow box. But I could be wrong.

 

[markysgirl]

So I've been messing with this all morning. I found a video of a Shadow overflow working silently. If I close the valve on the main drain to get the overflow as full as it is on the video, there is crazy turbulent flow down the secondary drain with lots of bubbles.
I don't think the pump I have is adjustable (Sicce syncra adv 9.0) however, I have ball valves on each side of the return lines. I think my instinct is correct in that if I close down the ball valve it will reduce flow to the DT.
The pump is rated at 2500 gph and the overflow is as well. I'm totally at a loss as to what to do.

 

[W1ngz]

Bubbles and gurgling in the secondary is because there is too much flow in the secondary. If the primary valve is already wide open, you need to reduce the flow from the return. 2500gph is very much on the high side for a 75gal. The best choice right now since you're still testing, would be to downsize the return pump. You want this setup to be adjustable, which means you need to get to a point where the valve on the primary is at least partially closed.

Typical guidelines are 3-5 x display volume turnover per hour, so you're looking for a pump that can push around 400gph after the height of the return (head height) is considered.

 

[W1ngz]

Looking at the performance chart for the syncra advanced, even the 5.5 model pushes more than 800 gal per hour at about 5 foot height. You might consider a syncra silent 2.0 or 3.0.

 

[markysgirl]

The primary drain valve is not all the way open right now.
If I open it all the way the flow down the primary is faster, so fast that it is not a siphon anymore. As I close the valve, it does make a siphon on the primary, the secondary slows way down and slowly runs bubbles and and water out of it, and as I close the primary further, the secondary starts to gurgle and produce huge bubbles into the sump. Even when it's in it's middle phase, it continues to make quite a bunch of noise.
I'm probably explaining it in a wonky fashion because I'm such a noob, I've ordered a smaller pump, I got the 2.0.
When I was trying to figure out which pump I needed I watched a bunch of videos, read a bunch of articles but had a really hard time with figuring in head height. ;Bookworm
I really appreciate the help! And welcome all opinions about this!!!

 

[Albertan22]

I believe that you want to open your primary wide open, then close it down incrementally and slowly until just the point where it is no longer creating bubbles from the primary siphon line. I say incrementally because the effect won’t be instant, it may take 3-5 minutes to stabilize. You should have just a little water going down the secondary, which shouldn’t pull air. If the box itself is really noisy because of the flow coming through the weir and bulkheads into the box, you probably need to slow down the return pump by either downsizing or limiting it with a ball valve or gate valve on the output side of your pump.

 

[Albertan22]

Thank you so much for all of your help!
Here's where I'm at right this second. The main drain is quiet and a full siphon. The secondary drain however, is still gurgling away. And there are lots of bubbles....lots and lots of bubbles.
When I start closing down the valve to get the secondary drain covered it diverts alot of the flow from the primary line and honestly I feel like the secondary is so far above the primary, that I might have water in the emergency drain.
I've included a picture of the overflow as it looks right now and the sump as it looks right now.

Jumping back to this post, is there a point where it is quiet but you are trying to keep adjusting to get the secondary drain covered? If so, take it back to where it is quiet. The secondary is there to deal with fluctuations, not as a primary means of achieving drain flow. Don’t worry about covering it, but rather finding that quiet sweet spot.

 

[zalick]

BeanAnimal gave up his website, no idea why.... But here is an archived copy. Definitely worth reading. https://web.archive.org/web/2019010...t-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx

 

[cedwards04]

I run a bean animal on mine, and it is pretty silent. I do get some minor bubbles here and there, but nothing significant.

Are you using a gate valve or a ball valve on the main drain? The main drain needs to be opened completely, and then SLOWLY turn the gate valve closed until you reach a point of siphon. There should be little to no flow down the secondary drain.

How far underwater are the main and secondary in the sump?

 

[zalick]

Do you have a hole in the top of the U on the backup drain?

Also, are all the drains separate down to the sump? You cannot tie these together.

Read the website I linked to above to really understand how a beananimal works. It should be basically dead silent when setup correctly.

 

[lapin]

I see the air hole in the secondary but only see one drain into the sump.

 

[W1ngz]

I see the air hole in the secondary but only see one drain into the sump.

Look over in the skimmer and return section for the other two.

 

[markysgirl]

I run a bean animal on mine, and it is pretty silent. I do get some minor bubbles here and there, but nothing significant.

Are you using a gate valve or a ball valve on the main drain? The main drain needs to be opened completely, and then SLOWLY turn the gate valve closed until you reach a point of siphon. There should be little to no flow down the secondary drain.

How far underwater are the main and secondary in the sump?

I am using a gate valve. And twice now I have opened the valve all the way, closed it really slowly until the main becomes a siphon. But there is a bunch of water and bubbles flowing down the secondary drain. It sounds like it is belching under water.
The main drain is about 2 inches below the waterline in the sump and the secondary maybe a little shorter?