Quick Question About Plumbing "Bean Animal" Overflow Into Sump

[Fish Fan]

Hey guys! I'm pretty sure that when you plumb your drain pipes coming off a Bean Animal styled overflow, that you want the main two drain pipes to connect to the sump's input so the flow is basically as quiet as possible. But, then you want to run the third, emergency drain pipe into the sump in like the skimmer section and in such a way that if water is flowing through it, it has to 'crash' down into the sump water, serving as something of an audible alarm for when the emergency drain is in use. I'm asking because I'm looking at a sump where they have three 1" input holes for water coming from the overflow and all going into the filter socks. But, if water from the emergency pipe is plumbed in this way, it will be more or less silent, and I won't have any idea that one of the main two drain pipes is blocked up. The sump maker does offer a version with only 2 input holes going into the filter socks. Would I be better off to go with the two hole option, and plumb my emergency drain pipe in such a way that I'd hear it if it was in use? Or am I making too much out of this?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[C_AWOL]

You're fine with all 3 going into the same chamber if the build already accommodates for 3 drains. The primary source of the noise isn't from the water cascading down but when the emergency (and even the secondary to some degree depending on set up) making a horrendous air sucking noise.

 

[Fish Fan]

You're fine with all 3 going into the same chamber if the build already accommodates for 3 drains. The primary source of the noise isn't from the water cascading down but when the emergency (and even the secondary to some degree depending on set up) making a horrendous air sucking noise.

Thanks for your reply!

My question is that I am pretty sure you actually do want your emergency drain pipe to make as much noise as possible, this way you know something is wrong with the first two drains. Is this correct?

 

[slythy]

I mean its a nice feature i guess but totally unecissary. depending on the sump you can change the pipe to a shorter one and not run a sock thats what I did on my 70. My 180 just goes into the water, without a gate valve or anything its going to make bubble rushing noises.

I actually have plumbed both those tanks into 1 sump now. 2 bean animal tanks plumbed into a single sump so 4 go into socks 2 pour into my skimmer chamber. Only reason the emergencies go into the skimmer is I ran out of spots to put pipes lol.

I think your over thinking it lol

 

[C_AWOL]

Thanks for your reply!

My question is that I am pretty sure you actually do want your emergency drain pipe to make as much noise as possible, this way you know something is wrong with the first two drains. Is this correct?

The cascading noise in the sump will be irrelevant in comparison to the sucking noise of any drain I can assure you.

 

[Solo McReefer]

.

 

[MnFish1]

Hey guys! I'm pretty sure that when you plumb your drain pipes coming off a Bean Animal styled overflow, that you want the main two drain pipes to connect to the sump's input so the flow is basically as quiet as possible. But, then you want to run the third, emergency drain pipe into the sump in like the skimmer section and in such a way that if water is flowing through it, it has to 'crash' down into the sump water, serving as something of an audible alarm for when the emergency drain is in use. I'm asking because I'm looking at a sump where they have three 1" input holes for water coming from the overflow and all going into the filter socks. But, if water from the emergency pipe is plumbed in this way, it will be more or less silent, and I won't have any idea that one of the main two drain pipes is blocked up. The sump maker does offer a version with only 2 input holes going into the filter socks. Would I be better off to go with the two hole option, and plumb my emergency drain pipe in such a way that I'd hear it if it was in use? Or am I making too much out of this?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Have never separated the 2.

 

[MnFish1]

Thanks for your reply!

My question is that I am pretty sure you actually do want your emergency drain pipe to make as much noise as possible, this way you know something is wrong with the first two drains. Is this correct?

The Emergency drain it self when overflowing makes a large noise.

 

[Fish Fan]

I mean its a nice feature i guess but totally unecissary. depending on the sump you can change the pipe to a shorter one and not run a sock thats what I did on my 70. My 180 just goes into the water, without a gate valve or anything its going to make bubble rushing noises.

I actually have plumbed both those tanks into 1 sump now. 2 bean animal tanks plumbed into a single sump so 4 go into socks 2 pour into my skimmer chamber. Only reason the emergencies go into the skimmer is I ran out of spots to put pipes lol.

I think your over thinking it lol

I am without question overthinking it, this is all I do lol ;-)

But I think the reason you "ran out of spots" for your plumbing is because your sump only accommodates a Herbie style overflow, or that the third, emergency pipe coming from the Bean Animal setup should indeed make noise when in use.

Best sump design does not have the pipes going into socks

But in a chamber before the socks

And then the water flows into the socks from there

I put that in my second DIY sump back in 2013 or 14. The first sump the drain going into the sock, "Well, that's a stupid design, PITA to pull the sock out"

Now lots of sumps have the improved drain chamber, detritis trap, bubble chamber, whatever you call it design

Thank you for your reply!

To clarify, I don't want the input flow going directly into the socks. The sump I'm considering has the input tubes that go down near the bottom, then the water flows up and over the filter sock section.

That said, I have NO INTEREST in using filter socks. I just HATE them, lol! For this tank, which is just a frag/observation tank, and doesn't need to run for years and years, I want to use the little cups that I can load with filter floss and and just pull the floss, toss it, and replace it. That kind of maintenance I might actually do ;-)

 

[Fish Fan]

The Emergency drain it self when overflowing makes a large noise.

Yes!!!!

You seem to know what I mean. Where should the emergency overflow pipe come into the sump on a Bean Animal overflow?

Thank you very much!

 

[Fish Fan]

Guys, I really appreciate all the help here, but I sincerely thought this would be a very easily answered question.

Could I please ask, @BeanAnimal if you're out there, how should the third, emergency pipe be plumbed into the sump? Doesn't it make sense for it to intentionally be as loud as possible?

Thanks again to everyone, I very much appreciate your help!!!

 

[tbrown]

So if you plumb the emergency under the water in the sump, as mentioned above, the air it sucks with it makes large gurgle gulp sounds in the sump. If you don't plumb it under water in the sump the pipe itself will make loud enough air gulping noises in the overflow that you'll notice.

Bear in mind that if you don't adjust the valves on the primary and secondary drain tubes you'll get lots of splashing and air gulping noises anyway.

 

[Fish Fan]

So if you plumb the emergency under the water in the sump, as mentioned above, the air it sucks with it makes large gurgle gulp sounds in the sump. If you don't plumb it under water in the sump the pipe itself will make loud enough air gulping noises in the overflow that you'll notice.

Bear in mind that if you don't adjust the valves on the primary and secondary drain tubes you'll get lots of splashing and air gulping noises anyway.

Thank you. Are you saying that if I run my Bean Animal setup, and I have a Synergy Shadow 16" overflow (should have mentioned that), that the emergency drain pipe will make noise due to airflow even if there's no water flow through it?

To clarify, noise reduction in general is not my biggest goal here. This is for a frag tank that will run in my basement. I just thought that when one of the two primary drains got blocked that it was important that the emergency drain was as loud as possible coming back into the sump. This would in theory alert you that something is wrong with the first two drains. This is my question.

If you plumb your third, emergency drain pipe into your sump in such a way that it's silent when running, how would you know there's a problem with your first two drains?

 

[MnFish1]

Yes!!!!

You seem to know what I mean. Where should the emergency overflow pipe come into the sump on a Bean Animal overflow?

Thank you very much!

I answered it already - I said 'I never separate the 2', meaning, that whether the emergency drain or the main drain - both should go into the first chamber. It should be exactly the same - that way water continues to Flow through your sump in the same manner during normal operation and 'emergency'

 

[Solo McReefer]

The emergency drain doesn't have water

Until you have a plug up in drain 1 and 2

Of course it will be silent when operating properly. It's empty

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if many poster here take offense at your tone. "Answer me, answer me"

When it was answered

 

[C_AWOL]

Guys, I really appreciate all the help here, but I sincerely thought this would be a very easily answered question.

Could I please ask, @BeanAnimal if you're out there, how should the third, emergency pipe be plumbed into the sump? Doesn't it make sense for it to intentionally be as loud as possible?

Thanks again to everyone, I very much appreciate your help!!!

As long as the emergency goes into the sump, it won't matter where since it will be dry under normal operation 100% of the time.
In some of my systems it runs straight down directly into the sump and in others it goes to the sock area depending on what options I have based on space.

 

[tbrown]

Thank you. Are you saying that if I run my Bean Animal setup, and I have a Synergy Shadow 16" overflow (should have mentioned that), that the emergency drain pipe will make noise due to airflow even if there's no water flow through it?

To clarify, noise reduction in general is not my biggest goal here. This is for a frag tank that will run in my basement. I just thought that when one of the two primary drains got blocked that it was important that the emergency drain was as loud as possible coming back into the sump. This would in theory alert you that something is wrong with the first two drains. This is my question.

If you plumb your third, emergency drain pipe into your sump in such a way that it's silent when running, how would you know there's a problem with your first two drains?

Nope, I'm saying when water does make it's way into the emergency overflow it'll suck a bunch of air with it.

If noise reduction isn't a goal you'll want to ensure that the emergency drain makes even more noise so you can definitely do what you suggested and plumb into the middle section of the sump and let it really cascade in. However, that could also cause some splashing which may not be a huge deal in the basement.

 

[tbrown]

Here's how @F i s h y plumbed his. Different overflow but same idea.

Outside pipes are returns. Then 3 drains in the middle. Returns are 1 inch. Returns are 1.5. Front to back is return, emergency, main, secondary, return.

 

[Solo McReefer]

goes to the sock area

He hates socks, he won't have those

He's going with cups with floss

I'm out

 

[tbrown]

He hates socks, he won't have those

He's going with cups with floss

I'm out

What's wrong with cups with Floss?