Quieting the beananimal trickle drain

[Martingale]

I have an eclipse L setup as a beananimal with a gate valve on the full siphon. I'd really like the trickle drain to be as silent as possible as it drives me nuts even with the overflow boxes top cover and with covering the top of the weir.

What i ended up doing as a temporary fix is setting up a Dorso using a 1" tee + 1" cap + 1" elbow on the trickle drain, but I don't really like this. It takes the entire height of the overflow box and forces me to nearly close my full-siphon drain to avoid it sucking air as the dorso ends up being pretty low in the box.

I've looked at some other designs but I was hoping for some suggestions on an alternative approach to this. I've been eyeing to do something like the maggie muffler or gurgle buster.

 

[Water Dog]

Do you have room to set up something like this?

Picture the exterior box where the flat strainer is your primary drain, the U-pipe (90 elbow with a 90 street elbow with a hole drilled on top) is the trickle and the straight pipe is the emergency.

Your temporary fix of putting a Durso with a tee is not needed as it adds unnecessary height.

 

[Martingale]

With that setup should the emergency still be below the airhole?

 

[Water Dog]

The emergency in my picture could definitely be cut longer. Adjust as necessary.

 

[HOOPDEEZ]

You can drill a hole at the top of the elbow if it gurgles. Also I have a piece of rigid airline added to the hole and extending up a few inches so it doesn’t spurt ever (optional)

 

[Jason777]

What is actually making the noise? Is it the water flowing over the weir, the water flowing into the Eshops box through the bulkheads, gurgling going into the full siphon, gurgling going into the secondary drain? All of these would be different fixes. A picture would help if you can get to it.

 

[User1]

Yeah - I'm not sure where the noise is coming from. Primary, secondary? You should not be using the emergency overflow until both primary or secondary are blocked or you are backed up somewhere else.

Are you using a true Beananimal design or hybrid? It isn't a Bean Animal unless you followed it to a T. That means overflow to plumbing in the sump. Not trying to split hairs but it really is that cut and dry.

 

[Martingale]

I don't really want to fidget with a photo, so here's someone elses:

My setup is the same except where they have the elbow setup on their full siphon I had nothing but a strainer. I now have an actual Durso style drain like here rather than the white standpipe they have.

By Durso I mean this:



The noise isn't from water going into the weir, from the weir to the overflow box, etc. The noise is 100% exclusively from having a standpipe acting as a trickle drain.

I had been able to tune this to be relatively quiet, but the slightest water movement or walking past the tank makes a more noticable trickle down the pipe. That's why I did a quick trip to home depot for the Durso until I could figure something else out. This noise is probably really benign and an unnoticable issue for most people but I've gotten everything else dead-quiet so it's incredibly noticeable to me.

WaterDog's setup is what I'll likely go with as it looks like it'll fix the issue while avoiding the excess space that using a 1" Tee was causing. I also wasn't originally using a low-profile strainer, and that's a pretty neat thing I'll also be picking up from BRS. I'll also probably go with airline into the hole.

My only question with that setup is whether the trickle drains airhole should be at a height that allows the airhole to fill with water, and become a full siphon, when the primary drain is closed off and water exits the emergency or remain sucking in air?

Thanks for the photo by the way @Water Dog!

 

[Montiman]

I would try a maggie muffler mini these are basically small all in one dursos that were made by an LFS owner in our area who passed away a few years ago. In phoenix virtually everyone uses these instead of dursos.

 

[JoshH]

I would setup your BA like @Water Dog suggested with the U-shaped plumbing with a hole drilled in the top as your secondary and keeping your primary the same way. Your emergency drain needs to be only slightly higher than the top of the elbows on the secondary.

 

[User1]

So this is the noise that is gurgling due to the Durso style pipe. You are no longer using a Bean Animal as you already are aware. Best idea is to use a John Guest fitting in the top of the cap so it is large enough and won't have salt creep. Then add in the 1/4 " tube to let air in. You can add a valve to the tube to adjust air and make it more silent as you see fit or easy to clean.

This is what I did when I had a Durso. Bean Animal when followed is super quit but again that isn't what you are doing here. The Muffler is a option although I've never used it. My issue with the Durso is similar to what you describe is the gurgle noise/sound as the vent clogs up.

 

[Martingale]

I would try a maggie muffler mini these are basically small all in one dursos that were made by an LFS owner in our area who passed away a few years ago. In phoenix virtually everyone uses these instead of dursos.

Those seem really interesting but I never saw too many reviews other than complaining that it whistles. It's also like $30 after shipping from most places for what feels like a hit-or-miss.

I also wasn't sure what the different versions are as from site to site there's a few competing models:

Maggie Muffler Overflow Standpipe Muffler

Maggie Muffler Overflow Standpipe Muffler

www.marineandreef.com

Premium Aquatics | Aquarium & Fish Supplies

Aquarium & Fish Supplies Superstore. Guaranteed Low Prices. Free Shipping for qualified orders. Aquarium supply for your aquarium fish, saltwater aquariums, freshwater aquariums and ponds. The best aquarium lighting, protein skimmers, aquarium chillers, calcium reactors, aquarium pumps for fish...

premiumaquatics.com

Notice how theres a 1", 1.5", mini, 1"/1.5" and a 1.25"/1.5".

I figure the largest one I could've fit in the box on a 1" pipe would have likely been the quietest.

 

[Martingale]

So this is the noise that is gurgling due to the Durso style pipe. You are no longer using a Bean Animal as you already are aware. Best idea is to use a John Guest fitting in the top of the cap so it is large enough and won't have salt creep. Then add in the 1/4 " tube to let air in. You can add a valve to the tube to adjust air and make it more silent as you see fit or easy to clean.

This is what I did when I had a Durso. Bean Animal when followed is super quit but again that isn't what you are doing here. The Muffler is a option although I've never used it. My issue with the Durso is similar to what you describe is the gurgle noise/sound as the vent clogs up.

It was the noise from the beananimal trickle. Going from a trickle to a durso was just a way of combating that noise.

I was hoping to try and set something up like this rather than the trickle standpipe, which is why I went durso:

 

[Montiman]

I will disagree with some here. Even when I have run bean animal overflows I still like to have a muffler on my secondary drain. I have found it hard to dial to dead silent even with a gatevalve without getting extremely close to opening the valve too much and loosing the siphon. The muffler on your secondary valve just gives you a bit more play when adjusting the gate valve.

 

[Montiman]

Those seem really interesting but I never saw too many reviews other than complaining that it whistles. It's also like $30 after shipping from most places for what feels like a hit-or-miss.

I also wasn't sure what the different versions are as from site to site there's a few competing models:

Maggie Muffler Overflow Standpipe Muffler

Maggie Muffler Overflow Standpipe Muffler

www.marineandreef.com

Premium Aquatics | Aquarium & Fish Supplies

Aquarium & Fish Supplies Superstore. Guaranteed Low Prices. Free Shipping for qualified orders. Aquarium supply for your aquarium fish, saltwater aquariums, freshwater aquariums and ponds. The best aquarium lighting, protein skimmers, aquarium chillers, calcium reactors, aquarium pumps for fish...

premiumaquatics.com

Notice how theres a 1", 1.5", mini, 1"/1.5" and a 1.25"/1.5".

I figure the largest one I could've fit in the box on a 1" pipe would have likely been the quietest.

You would want the mini. They sell for around $10 with whatever freight the vendor will charge. The other sizes are just the 1.5in with adapters to reduce the pipe size down. IMO every time I have had someone complain about whistling it is because they were running enough flow that the pipe was on the edge of being a complete siphon.

 

[JoshH]

Seriously @bpipher all you need to do is what @Water Dog posted above, use two elbows on the secondary (Street Elbows will be even more compact) and drill a hole in the top of them. It will take up way less space height wise and will solve your issue with noise.

 

[Martingale]

Seriously @bpipher all you need to do is what @Water Dog posted above, use two elbows on the secondary (Street Elbows will be even more compact) and drill a hole in the top of them. It will take up way less space height wise and will solve your issue with noise.

That's what I'll likely go with. I'll try to remember to have an update with some photos when the order comes in from BRS.

 

[Water Dog]

The hole on top of the U-pipe trickle drain is all you’ll need. No airline will be necessary. Everyone adds an airline to quiet it down when they are using a Durso as a single drain. In this case you’ll be using the U-tube as a secondary trickle drain, so the airline will be unnecessary.

 

[User1]

For the record the image above that is tagged Bean Animal is not his design. That is something else. I am not sure what is up with his web site since I can't seem to find it. However, here is a image I had saved.

The only noise I have had using his exact design, which by the way is the only way to guarantee no flood, is when I did not have my plumbing in the sump properly set. The length of pipe and water level was the issue. Since then there is no noise.

I'm not adding much value here other than just being nit picky I guess on the overflows name.

 

[JoshH]

For the record the image above that is tagged Bean Animal is not his design. That is something else. I am not sure what is up with his web site since I can't seem to find it. However, here is a image I had saved.

The only noise I have had using his exact design, which by the way is the only way to guarantee no flood, is when I did not have my plumbing in the sump properly set. The length of pipe and water level was the issue. Since then there is no noise.

I'm not adding much value here other than just being nit picky I guess on the overflows name.

While I agree whole heartedly that what most consider a Bean Animal drain setup is actually a modified version of the true original design. It irks me like saying all slim internal overflows with external boxes are Ghost overflows which they absolutely aren't.

I disagree that the true Bean Animal is the ONLY setup that absolutely guarantees no flooding. All of the modified BA setups provide the exact same security as the original one does just with a different setup.

And from what I have heard he is revamping the website, I'm not entirely sure when it will be back up and running though..