How to Make a Bean Animal Overflow
- #2
im currently running it on my 5x2x2 and very happy. Its silent and easy to set. I think I have pics of my pipework in my thread (http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?762122-MiddletoM-s-5x2x2/page5)
I think the key things to bear in mind for the bean set up to work properly are:
Use a gatevalve - Very important for accurate siphon setting
Avoid horizontal pipes - This creates air pockets which can create slushing sounds
Keep the drain outputs 1 inch below the working water level in the sump
The heights of the inlet pipes are fairly important - Full siphon lowest, emergency 1 inch from top of overflow, open channel air inlet hole half an inch below that.
In the sump I would have the pipes enter a small section where the water overflows into filter socks. I currently have filter socks hanging off the pipes themselves which is a bit awkward so plan to have a small "settling chamber" which overflows to two filter sock holders.
Using the setup is easy. This is what I do to set mine...
1. Turn return pump on
2. let the overflow fill up with water (water will pass through the emergency pipe for a short while)
3. it will be loud at this stage because air will be trapped on the top of the full siphon and at the gatevalve. This needs to be purged, It will do it on its own but you can speed it up a lot by doing the following...
4. Open the gatevalve rapidly, the water level in the overflow will drop, before it gets to the full siphon intake close the gatevalve quickly so the water starts rising. Repeat until you cant hear water rushing in the full siphon.
5. Once you cant hear the water you can tune the gatevalve so the water trickles into the open channel enough to not be heard. You can look in the sump and adjust the gatevalve so no bubbles are coming out of the open channel outlet.
I hope that makes sense. I did a lot of reading on this set up before I made it and decided it was best. I had a fish get caught in the gatevalve and block it once, the open channel took most the water with only a bit getting into the emergency pipe. So I really don't worry about this set up causing me grief.
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- #6
Here you can see the ball valve on the open channel. from left to right it goes Full siphon, emergency, open channel.
Emergency is purposely above the water line so I can hear the splashing. It doesn't have a ball valve because I didn't think it needed one. Just stick in plenty of unions and you'll be good. I have a union on each pipe directly under the overflow box.
You can also see how my filter socks are. far from ideal, this is why I was a settling area with an overflow into the socks.
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- #8
Bust at work today Tom?? 
Bean animal is just a twin standpipe setup with an additional emergency pipe. Depending on how big you want your weir & how much plumbing you want to buy that's also worth consideration.
Pipe one: Lower has a valve on it to tune the air out.
Pipe two: Taller handles the trickle left over from the first pipe & should the first pipe block acts as the emergency.
The bean animal is as above but with a 3rd taller emergency pipe, should the lower pipe & the taller pipe both block (believe me you'll know if the first pipe blocks as the water crashing sound will be very obvious) 
- #11
Take a look at Bean Animals website and also GMACreef for how to do it advice. There's a general view that the only drain that should have a valve is the siphon - mainly because that way you can't accidentally close a valve that will be needed in an emergency if it's not there.
Mark
- #13
Glad you are looking to BeanAnimal that I mentioned Olivia.
I did a LOT of research and it seems the safest answer with the benefit of silence. My build currently underway will run 3 x 40mm drains with a spears gate valve on the full siphon. (My wallett burns!).
As I understand it, the ONLY con is the cost of additional plumbing (required) and the strong recommendation of gate over ball valve. The pros are silence and the safety of in effect 2 backups, also once set it self primes.
Are you sure you need 40mm drains? You can shift a truly gigantic volume down a 40mm siphoning drain! Unless you've got a supersized tank on a very short drop to the sump I'd double check the calculations, there's no point in paying for a 40mm gate valve if a smaller one will be enough, and the elbows and tank connectors will cost a load more too!
Mark
- #17
I think almost all points are well covered, one thing I'd add though is not to glue up the inlet and outlet final tubing, especially the inlets. It's hard to guess at the water height in a weir so easier if you guess the inlet tube heights, then add a bit, run it and then cut them down as required. Actually all my inlet (wet side) parts are not glued so I can take them off if required.
How to Make a Bean Animal Overflow
Source: https://www.ultimatereef.net/threads/beananimal-overflow.802434/
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