Vented Plumbing Question

[Js.Aqua.Project]

I am working on setting up a 240g aquarium (get the tank Sunday and want it up and running within 6 weeks).

I used to help move and set up a lot of tanks and a few of the larger ones that were installed/set up by larger companies used a vent system on their drain lines to minimize bubbles in the sump by allowing air to escape up right before the water entered the sump rather than it being forced into the sump causing excess salt spray.

They looked something like this:

So essentially instead of using 90s or 45s they installed Tees which allowed the air to escape up and having the water fall down.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience running this style of drain plumbing and if you could give me your pros/cons.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Montiman]

It took me a bit to realize what you were referring to but I now understand. At the LFS I worked at we used a drain system like this. It does prevent bubbles and can make plumbing large or multiple tanks together simpler but I don't see any advantage over a full siphon with a redundant drain for a single tank.

 

[Saltyreef]

The long horizontal run looks counterproductive for air purging.
And a bubble trap/drain discharge chamber in most sumps takes care of the bubble issue.
Not saying this is wrong but could be simpler and safer.

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

It took me a bit to realize what you were referring to but I now understand. At the LFS I worked at we used a drain system like this. It does prevent bubbles and can make plumbing large or multiple tanks together simpler but I don't see any advantage over a full siphon with a redundant drain for a single tank.

I have run a couple tanks with Herbies and have felt like I have to adjust the valves too frequently to keep it at a full siphon so they will stay quiet and air free.

So I was thinking about going simple with a Durso and using the vent to reduce the air that makes it to the sump therefore reducing the salt spray.

 

[lpsouth1978]

On a big tank like that I would do a bean animal if possible. I know the tank is already ordered so bean animal is likely not an option. Having spent years running Dursos, I will NEVER go back to them. They were constantly finicky, loud, troublesome beasts. Plus there is no safety in the event of clogs. Too many close calls for comfort.

 

[Saltyreef]

Ive been chancing the use of a Durso for years.
It finally got on my nerves so much from the constant gurgle a lifereef silencer couldnt even fix, that i went bean animal for my new build.
Looking for dead silent and reliable.
Never flooded....but noisy.

 

[Montiman]

I have never really understood the Bean Animal. I always prefer a Herbie. I understand that the 3rd drain is for reliability but most tanks drilled for a bean animal are custom drilled and I have found the best way to increase reliability if going custom is to simply increase the drain diameter. If you are worried about your 1in drains clogging just up them to 1.5in. I think 2 1.5in drains are less likely to clog than 3 1in drains at the same flow rate.

As far as adjusting a Herbie. I find that if the secondary pipe on the Herbie is a durso you get a bunch more wiggle room with the valve. Often I find way more than a trickle is going down my secondary drain but I don't realize it because it has a Durso on it.

concerning the comments about loud Dursos. I think Dursos get a bad rap. The main problem with Dursos is people try to push too much flow through them. I installed tanks with Dursos for years with no one complaining about them. They are still my preferred method for doing service installs because I wouldn't trust the employees at a business to adjust a Herbie. A 1.5in Durso with a return pump rated at 1000GPH at 0 head is the perfect return for any aquarium up to 200 gallons. You don't need the crazy flow through the sump and you don't need to use tiny drains. I even remember doing 800 gallon systems with Dursos. Just use more big drains 2 2in durso drains on an 800 will keep even large return pumps quiet.

 

[AlexG]

I had vented drain lines on my last system to help balance air pressure in the drain since it was a 18' horizontal run with vents on both ends of the drain line. I would suggest as a safety measure to make sure the vent is above the waterline of this display tank so if the drain slows down it cannot leak water out of the vent.

 

[bblumberg]

I have Bean animal on 3 tanks and all are nearly silent. The pumps make much more noise than the overflow...

The advantage I see of the Bean animal over Herbie is that you have two lines to the sump in regular use in the Bean. One is a full siphon, the other is an open siphon but with a small flow. This gives you some latitude in the tuning so that it is not so finicky. If the water into the overflow exceeds the water out, then eventually the open siphon will convert to a full siphon and you will hear a flushing noise as the overflow drains more rapidly than usual. This alerts you to either change the drain flow to the sump (increase), or the return pump flow (decrease). The emergency overflow is there in case the other 2 clog and will be extremely loud, alerting you to the problem. I would not plumb a tank any other way...

 

[Hersheyb]

herbie or bean method if done correrctly, overflow should be silent. A vented plumbing is really not required for the size of your tank. I'm currently running a 450 gal system with 2 frag tanks attached to the same plumbing on a herbie method, near silent. If you have the sump/ref designed properly you should have any air bubbles in your display.

 

[ca1ore]

Vent would seem more to help to prevent air-locking on the drain. I tried something like this a long time ago and it made very little difference to the bubbles unless you significantly enlarge the vertical pipe and drop the mouth down to the bottom of the sump. Then it also can act as a 'skimmer' and make a big mess.