How to Install BeanAnimal Drains into Synergy Reef (or Ghost) Overflow

[bps619]

Thank you for the reply. I actually figured it out and you're absolutely right. My drain line went all the way down by the sumps bottom. I shorten the lines and now kicks in quick.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by woodnaquanut

Looks like your siphon is not clearing completely. How deep is the outlet in the sump? It should be just below the surface at normal sump running.

Also if you have long horizontal runs in the siphon line, you'll get that effect.

Yes it's normal for a sump to fill some when return pump is not on. It's mostly a function of how deep the return line is in the DT. There is a back siphon from the return line.

[Patrick Cox]

Quick question on this box. Should I be worried about the weight of a Gate valve hanging from this box? And also about torque from turning the gate to adjust the flow? My previous overflow was glass and this was not a worry but I am concerned about the plastic box.

Thanks.

[woodnaquanut]

Originally Posted by Patrick Cox

Quick question on this box. Should I be worried about the weight of a Gate valve hanging from this box? And also about torque from turning the gate to adjust the flow? My previous overflow was glass and this was not a worry but I am concerned about the plastic box.

Thanks.

You should support the plumbing so it doesn't 'pull' on the OF box. This is a good practice for any plumbing.

[thejuggernaut]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oya6X3aLUOo

Here is mine using 1.5" drains. I have also built one using 1 in drains. I just used a t on the open channel, so the top is open. I put a plug in the top with a hole drilled in it. That way I can just pull the plug if I need to remove a clog.

[rickztahone]

A few key notes with the BA system:

-there is no need for the elbows to be offset, they can (and were on BA's original design) be at the same level.

-The airline is the one that allows it to be an open channel with only a small trickle flowing through it, allowing the system to be silent

-the siphon line (only) has to be ~1" submerged. The other 2 it does not matter. However, I have my OC at the end of my sump, in the return section, but submerged pretty deep. When you do this, you have wiggle room for the return section to lose water via evaporation, but once it gets to a certain point, you might here the small trickle of water when you are getting low on water. It serves as a good audible reminder that you need to add water to the return section. But, if fully submersed, it will only show a very small amount of bubbles coming from it.

-the emergency line should not be submerged. If 2 lines fail, you do not want your emergency to be submerged, you want to hear it! Leave it above all water levels in any section.

[Patrick Cox]

Question on the OC. Should this line have a constant flow through it? Should the water height in the overflow box be higher than the opening of the line?

[Patrick Cox]

I just installed one of these boxes and I am finding that I can't get rid of the dripping noise unless I run the water level in the overflow box 1 1/2" from the top of the box. Is this too high? It looks like others are running a bit lower in the box. The dripping sound I am battling is water dripping into the internal overflow box. Thanks.

[boudster]

Is anybody running the 20" version of the overflow box? I will be using this on my 270G and I'll likely need to be running this at more than 600GPH. The box handles 2500GPH which is obviously way too much, but what modifications would you recommend to the OPs setup which would give me the appropriate level of flow-through for a larger tank?

[maddhugan]

just to be safe, get a 36" one. The larger one does not have any ill effects, but if you get smaller and if you need more flow than the 20" can handle then you will have a problem. Modular Marine sells 36" awesome ones. i'm buying modular marine 36" one for my custom tank that is 96" long, 30 wide and 25" tall. 300 gallon.

[WLachnit]

I wish I had known about modular marine prior to ordering my 300gal starfire with dual 20" ghost synergy overflows on the back side of the tank (96x24wx30h). I was mostly concerned about making sure I had a lot of linear overflow, which is why I went with dual overflows. Now I will have a total of six 1 1/2" pipes to deal with. The tank is going to be delivered almost any day. So, I wonder, based on this thread, if there is a way to connect the two external boxes? Would a large diameter pipe between the external boxes work?

[LXXero]

from what i've read, trying to join bean animals with a "y" is often problematic, but MIGHT work. it's going to be harder to tune. If you mean just connecting them with a pipe and then blocking out the bulkheads on one side or the other, that'd probably work, but you might be tight on space, and attaching that all together would be awkward, you'd probably have to put a union in the middle.

another option, don't use all 6 drains. Make one side the full siphon and emergency, and the other make the trickle line. Put plugs in the other 3 bulkheads.

so for example (and this is arbitrary, it could be either side):

left side:
full siphon, emergency, plug

right side:
trickle, plug, plug (or 2nd emergency if you want)

Dial the siphon back until you get trickle into the 2nd overflow for the trickle line. Done.

that's also why you want the trickle on the opposing side from the siphon - so you consistently have flow into both boxes.

[WLachnit]

Originally Posted by LXXero

from what i've read, trying to join bean animals with a "y" is often problematic, but MIGHT work. it's going to be harder to tune. If you mean just connecting them with a pipe and then blocking out the bulkheads on one side or the other, that'd probably work, but you might be tight on space, and attaching that all together would be awkward, you'd probably have to put a union in the middle.

another option, don't use all 6 drains. Make one side the full siphon and emergency, and the other make the trickle line. Put plugs in the other 3 bulkheads.

so for example (and this is arbitrary, it could be either side):

left side:
full siphon, emergency, plug

right side:
trickle, plug, plug (or 2nd emergency if you want)

Dial the siphon back until you get trickle into the 2nd overflow for the trickle line. Done.

that's also why you want the trickle on the opposing side from the siphon - so you consistently have flow into both boxes.

Thanks for the suggestion. I like it. Definitely better than tuning two beananimals and having six 1 1/2" drains going to my sump.

[125mph]

Hi guys,

So let me see if I'm understanding this correctly.

1.) The bean animal system is basically two durso standpipes and a fail safe stand pipe

2.) One of the durso standpipes has no hole in it so it acts as a full siphon while the other durso standpipe has a hole in it and is placed slightly higher than the full siphon one

3.) The failsafe pipe is the highest and acts as a failsfe

4.) There needs to be one gate valve on the siphon pipe in order to adjust the siphon correctly

Is the above 4 correct?

My question is, can the gate valve be placed at the bottom near the sump rather than by the overflow

[woodnaquanut]

Originally Posted by 125mph

Hi guys,

So let me see if I'm understanding this correctly.


Is the above 4 correct?

My question is, can the gate valve be placed at the bottom near the sump rather than by the overflow

Yes and yes

[GROSSR]

I don't have a synery overflow, but basically the same ghost (modular marine). I have the water level in the external about 2/3rds of the way up from the bottom.
One bulkhead has a 3"tall pipe, it is about 3/4" above the water level, that is the emergency.
Second bulkhead has a elbow on it to handle the overflow.
Third has nothing on it, but does have the valve. I control the level in the external overflow with this valve, keeping the level beneath the emergency and about 1/2" above the bulkheads drilling into the tank. (I don't want falling water, which makes noise).

with nothing but bulkheads, it was so noisy we could hear the overflow downstairs.

rich

[WLachnit]

I did something similar. For me the key was also keeping the level pretty high in the external box. Otherwise, it is pretty noisy if the water is not above the aquarium bulkheads.

[MelloW33]

Originally Posted by 125mph

Hi guys,

So let me see if I'm understanding this correctly.

1.) The bean animal system is basically two durso standpipes and a fail safe stand pipe

2.) One of the durso standpipes has no hole in it so it acts as a full siphon while the other durso standpipe has a hole in it and is placed slightly higher than the full siphon one

3.) The failsafe pipe is the highest and acts as a failsfe

4.) There needs to be one gate valve on the siphon pipe in order to adjust the siphon correctly

Is the above 4 correct?

My question is, can the gate valve be placed at the bottom near the sump rather than by the overflow

BeanAnimal actually recommended that the gate valve be placed near the sump.

[janci]

I have the 16" Shadow overflow and that comes with 2 180 degree bends, ready fo installation. Both bends have a hole in the top and from what I understand from the installation videos from Synergy, the durso standpipes have different lengths and the waterlevel in the overflow box should be adjusted with 1 gate valve for the level to submerge the lowest durso bend.
So they actually use a different system or not?

[fishresponse]

Originally Posted by boudster

Is anybody running the 20" version of the overflow box? I will be using this on my 270G and I'll likely need to be running this at more than 600GPH. The box handles 2500GPH which is obviously way too much, but what modifications would you recommend to the OPs setup which would give me the appropriate level of flow-through for a larger tank?

I just setup a 265g with a 20" synergy overflow. Remember the box has 3 1.5" bulkheads. If you set it up as a true durso, you'll be able to push a ton of water through it. I didn't set mine up with one line going full siphon and I'm around 1200gph. Maybe more. This was the exact reason I didn't get the 16" version. I wanted some overkill and didn't want to risk having it fail and flood the floor. Well worth the money.

[BlueRoofTang]

I agree on the posts about keeping the water level in the external box up high enough there's no water drop happening. I have my setup plumbed with all three lines going into one 1.5" drain header, which runs down to my basement. I didn't want to run a total of 4 lines through the floor. I have it running so quiet that the water falling from the tank into the inside box is the noisiest thing there is.

I don't think there's any way a person would be able to run 2000gph through one of these and not make any noise at all.

[WLachnit]

Originally Posted by BlueRoofTang

I agree on the posts about keeping the water level in the external box up high enough there's no water drop happening. I have my setup plumbed with all three lines going into one 1.5" drain header, which runs down to my basement. I didn't want to run a total of 4 lines through the floor. I have it running so quiet that the water falling from the tank into the inside box is the noisiest thing there is.

I don't think there's any way a person would be able to run 2000gph through one of these and not make any noise at all.

Doesn't the 3 lines converging into one defeat the purpose of the Bean overflow?

[neilp2006]

Originally Posted by WLachnit

Doesn't the 3 lines converging into one defeat the purpose of the Bean overflow?

Not really any different from the 3 lines flowing into a sump.

As long as the upper parts are arranged correctly, it'll probably function the same. Will be a bit noisier since the drain line don't be 1 inch under water, but the syphon etc should still form the same way


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GROSSR]

neilp2006, having been using the Bean for close to 3 years, and within the last 6 months using it on an external, I have to disagree with you. The point of the emergency line is if something clogs up the other two lines. If the clog, snail or whatever happens at merge of the 3 pipes, you don't have an emergency.

Another point is you want one of the pipes completely full of water. Hence the reason to have the pipe about 1" under the water, you want ZERO air in that pipe, joining the 3 pipes defeats that purpose and air will be sucked in from the emergency line, air mean noise.

I have never had a failure in 3+ years with this setup. I turn my system off daily and never even worry about how it will start up, nor how much noise, it always starts up. As others have said, 3 separate pipes, each designed for a specific purpose. Don't change the design.

rich

[BlueRoofTang]

Originally Posted by neilp2006

Not really any different from the 3 lines flowing into a sump.

As long as the upper parts are arranged correctly, it'll probably function the same. Will be a bit noisier since the drain line don't be 1 inch under water, but the syphon etc should still form the same way


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yip... I agree. It works very well. My sumps are in the basement. When I change sock filters, I turn off the return pump. I can't even see or hear the tank upstairs upon startup. It takes probably 45 seconds after startup before I can hear water coming back down into the basement.

[rickztahone]

Originally Posted by GROSSR

neilp2006, having been using the Bean for close to 3 years, and within the last 6 months using it on an external, I have to disagree with you. The point of the emergency line is if something clogs up the other two lines. If the clog, snail or whatever happens at merge of the 3 pipes, you don't have an emergency.

Another point is you want one of the pipes completely full of water. Hence the reason to have the pipe about 1" under the water, you want ZERO air in that pipe, joining the 3 pipes defeats that purpose and air will be sucked in from the emergency line, air mean noise.

I have never had a failure in 3+ years with this setup. I turn my system off daily and never even worry about how it will start up, nor how much noise, it always starts up. As others have said, 3 separate pipes, each designed for a specific purpose. Don't change the design.

rich

+1. All lines should be independent of each other.