It's Time To Piece My Plumbing Together....

[Easto]

... I am going to try and following the bean animal plumbing plan. I have 1" bulkheads and I'll be using 1.5" PVC because that's what BA used, LOL.

1" Bulkhead
1" PVC Pipe
1" to 1.5" slip PVC Bushing
1.5" PVC T
1.5 PVC with a 1.5" PVC cap
1.5" PVC
1.5" Union or 1.5" Gate Valve
1.5" PVC into sump (maybe a few elbows in there to get the water in the right spot)

I'd need to make 3 of these.

Am I missing any pieces on the shopping list before I head out?

and.... should I just used 1" PVC instead of bumping up to 1.5"?

I have an Eheim 1262 return pump on a 75 gal display and 40g breeder for a sump.

 

[Sewerat]

Here's my take on it. 1 1/2" will cost you a fortune more in every fitting and pipe. And secondly you will find limited amount of stuff in that size locally.

Unless you have a turnover of 2-3000 gals you don't need 1 1/2" so save your self some money. Second of all you will not find gate valves locally. You need to order them in.

Also don't forget you need to have a return line as well so 4 lines.

The drain safety line does not need any valves, just have it as short and straight as possible, remember it's a safety line to prevent overflowing. If tank is set right will never get used anyways.

 

[Jewel]

Yup gotta agree on the Emergency drain, I never used it but glad it was there.

 

[camps23]

I just plumbed my 70g and went with 3/4 main drain, 1" emergency drain and Return. Running like a charm. I have a true union ball valve on the main drain. I will be changing it to a gate valve once I order it.

 

[Easto]

Sweet, thanks guys. I'll stick with the 1" drains and return.

 

[reefgeek]

Unless you have a turnover of 2-3000 gals you don't need 1 1/2" so save your self some money.

To further this quote you really don't need much of a turnover through your sump, what you need is circulation in the display. I see a lot of people worry about getting an insane return flow to their display via large diameter pipe and monster return pumps, its not necessary invest in a quality circulation pump (gyre, vortech, tunze) and downsize the plumbing and return pump, it saves money in the long run.

 

[Easto]

Alright:

1" Bulkhead
1" PVC Pipe
1." PVC T
1 PVC with a 1" PVC cap
1" PVC
1" Union or 1" Gate Valve
1" PVC into sump (maybe a few elbows in there to get the water in the right spot)

I'll grab a 1" gate valve for the full siphon and a 1" ball valve for the return line.

The trickle and emergency drain I will put 1 or 2 unions in just for ease of maintenance down the road. I'll also do the same with the return and along with the union gate valve on the siphon I will throw another union on that line as well.

Decent plan?

With the trickle drain that has the 1/4" line coming off the cap, do I really need to thread the cap and get a John Guest fitting? Can I just drill a hole in the top of the cap, feed the tubing throw and seal it with some silicone?

 

[jeffopentax]

I didn't bother threading. Don't even think i sealed it! I think the beananimal site says to have the airline running into the overflow to turn trickle into syphon if drain gets clogged. I find if you do that, it's a pita to restart if you need to adjust. Make sense? Kinda hard to explain what i mean. Come to think of it, the way mine has been running, the tubing isn't even serving a purpose! Still need the hole of course.


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[100gallon]

I sealed mine using the thread and Teflon tape. I don't think you would have any issues with drilling and tight fitting and then silicone sealing it. I have personally never had any issues with the re start and airline...it sits at your max high water level and is full siphon if needed.

Sent via Samsung Galaxy S4 on Tapatalk

 

[Easto]

Does anyone drill their sump?

I was wondering if it's a good/bad idea to drill the sump, so the 3 drain lines on the Bean Animal go through a bulkhead into the sump. The only real additional cost would be the cost of 3 bulkheads.

 

[100gallon]

I didn't but adding more elbows will decrease overall flow. It would look nice but I just have mine dump in 1 inch below high water line in sump.

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[Sewerat]

I had thought about it, reason of making the sump easier to seal lid to help evap but.......

 

[Easto]

Totally off topic ....

I am going to drill my tank this week. I don't have an internal overflow box yet.

With the Bean Animal drians, 1" bulkheads, how far below the black trim at the top of the tank should I drill the holes?

 

[Neopimp]

I would just drop the drains into the sump... wouldn't bother drilling more holes than needed. But I cant really think of a reason why that setup wouldn't fuction.

 

[Sewerat]

Totally off topic ....

I am going to drill my tank this week. I don't have an internal overflow box yet.

With the Bean Animal drians, 1" bulkheads, how far below the black trim at the top of the tank should I drill the holes?

I try to stay about 3" from centre to top away when I drill. Gives room for elbows up and a cap or screen top.

 

[reef keeper]

4hummer has a great thread on how he did his.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2379295

 

[4Hummer]

1

 

[Easto]

4Hummer, "After spending lots of time mocking up the pluming, and building the overflow box from cardboard (you can see it to the right of the first picture), I came up with drilling the holes at 5" below the top of the trim, (Center Line) this would mean that the Upturned elbow (emergency Drain) would sit at 3/8 of an inch BELOW the top of the over flow box. and would put about 6" of head pressure on the full siphon and open drain."

I took that from the link on Reef Central. Most places I look they suggest drilling the tank so the top of the hole is 1.5 x the size of the bulk head from the trim. That would mean drilling the top of the hole 1.5" (I have 1" bulkheads) from the trim. I would think if I drill this high, then by the time I add the upturned elbow I may be pretty damn close to the top of the overflow box. Is this why you went with the 5", so the top of the hole would be around 4-4.5" below?

 

[MrHermit85]

Why would you need valves on the return lines? Just curious... unless I read incorrectly. Unless to avoid back syphon when you turn pumps off?

And you can get gate valves locally... there is a place called plasco welding in london. They have everything you will need except the overflow.

My drains also run directly into sump with no holes... just a few inches below water line so as to avoid splashing

 

[Sewerat]

A valve on return line for servicing the sump, or control return flow.