Converting a durso to Bean Animal

[Skimmerking]

in the first pic where the TEE is couldnt you, bring that pipe lower from the cabinet then have that TEE turned around like a actual Durso. and then have it carry on to the sump area. or have both pipes connect into a larger TEE. i hope this make sense.

[Seriak]

I would have the full siphon with an emergency on one end and a trickle with an emergency on the other. Not sure why this wouldn't work. For my trickle I essentially made it a durso for quiet operation.

You would not be able to tie the full siphon into the trickle, but when you needed to divert the water you could open the full siphon all the way so the trickle was no longer in use and then divert the full siphon where you need it to go. However, I am not sure if it would be a full siphon at that point unless your diverted pipe was also under water at the destination point. Can't quite picture this one in my head yet.

[FishyFishy!]

Originally Posted by Seriak

I would have the full siphon with an emergency on one end and a trickle with an emergency on the other. Not sure why this wouldn't work. For my trickle I essentially made it a durso for quiet operation.

You would not be able to tie the full siphon into the trickle, but when you needed to divert the water you could open the full siphon all the way so the trickle was no longer in use and then divert the full siphon where you need it to go. However, I am not sure if it would be a full siphon at that point unless your diverted pipe was also under water at the destination point. Can't quite picture this one in my head yet.

I think that the flow in the 'trickle' overflow would be so minimal that it would create a dead zone. It would be nothing but a nirate factory over time. Mind you, there are ways around that I guess (keeping the water moving/circulating), but they are more of a PITA than anything else.

The most probable scenario here would be to make two durso's with seperate drain plumbing. Same could go for Herbies, it would just be a little harder to fine tune. Get rid of the 2-into-1 valve there, and just make two different drain pipes into the sump.

[Seriak]

Originally Posted by FishyFishy!

I think that the flow in the 'trickle' overflow would be so minimal that it would create a dead zone. It would be nothing but a nirate factory over time. Mind you, there are ways around that I guess (keeping the water moving/circulating), but they are more of a PITA than anything else.

The most probable scenario here would be to make two durso's with seperate drain plumbing. Same could go for Herbies, it would just be a little harder to fine tune. Get rid of the 2-into-1 valve there, and just make two different drain pipes into the sump.

That's an interesting thought. I thought all Bean Animals had a trickle overflow (Mine does) Has there been any reports on RC on nitrate buildup based on this? How would nitrates build up in the pipe? Mine has a constant, but very minimal flow going down the trickle pipe.

I still think you could do it my way.

[mseepman]

My Bean Animal has a trickle and you would be surprised how much flow comes down the trickle. The key is that it all comes down the sides...that can be a lot (in my case it is) and yet everything is safe and dead silent. It even falls an entire floor for me. I think the above idea would be the best way to go. Full and emerg on one end, trickle and emerg on the other.
Obviously the trickle isn't going to do a lot to surface skim, but it can be greater than you think. What size are the holes?

[FishyFishy!]

Am I totally out to lunch thinking that normal internal overflows (top to bottom) with two holes shouldn't be used as a beananimal?

I just think that with 24"-ish height of the overflow, and very minimal flow going into the overflow itself, there would be detritus buildup at the bottom of the overflow.

Realistically all three pipes should be in the same overflow.

[FishyFishy!]

Originally Posted by Seriak

That's an interesting thought. I thought all Bean Animals had a trickle overflow (Mine does)

Of course all of the bean animal setups have trickles... but in the same overflow! (I'm sure you only have one overflow with 3 pipes in it)

[Seriak]

Originally Posted by FishyFishy!

Of course all of the bean animal setups have trickles... but in the same overflow! (I'm sure you only have one overflow with 3 pipes in it)

You would be correct. If most of the flow was then going down the full siphon side, there would be minimal turnover on the trickle side. I am not sure if this would cause enough of a problem that nitrates would buildup as it would still surface skim just at a really slow rate. I would be interested to see this in action.

So what if you put the trickle in the same side as the siphon and essentially only surface skim from one side and raise the overflow height in the other side a bit and turn it into an emergency side or

Have two full siphons with trickles and forget the emergency. Would also have to forget about combining any pipes below as full siphons cannot be connected to anything else.

This is why I hate multiple overflows. I prefer one big external.

[nerdz]

Originally Posted by FishyFishy!

I think that the flow in the 'trickle' overflow would be so minimal that it would create a dead zone. It would be nothing but a nirate factory over time. Mind you, there are ways around that I guess (keeping the water moving/circulating), but they are more of a PITA than anything else.

The most probable scenario here would be to make two durso's with seperate drain plumbing. Same could go for Herbies, it would just be a little harder to fine tune. Get rid of the 2-into-1 valve there, and just make two different drain pipes into the sump.

If you made each overflow have a full siphon there would be no detritus buildup and full surface skimming. they could have strainers and be at bottom of overflow, (no stand pipe). there would be good water turnover and any detritus would end up in the sump/skimmer.

if the return pump ever failed you would only need enough volume in the sump to handle the volume of the overflows

[asylumdown]

Thanks for the responses guys!

To answer the main questions - yes, I only have two holes per overflow, and one of them is dedicated for the return line back to the tank, so only three holes to play with getting water in to the sump. I might be able to re-jig the return line and run it up the side of the tank in the joist space in the wall, but I'm not confident I can do that with the amount of access I have in there now.

And I'm not really thrilled with the idea of just separating the pipes to have two separate dursos, as it is now it works just fine for what I need it for, the problem is the mice-bubbles durso's produce. The water in my sump travels in a giant U, it enters and exits the sump on the same side. I didn't realize when I designed it that for a small amount of the water (and thus bubbles), they're able to "turn the corner" between the entrance and exit really tightly which doesn't give the micro-bubbles enough time to float to the surface. Hence the filter socks that I have to change every 24 hours.

I also don't think I'd be OK with going back to a Herbie - in principal they work fine, but I've got a super sized auto-top off pump to bring water all the way up from my basement, and a smaller-than-it-should-be return chamber, so the water level in the return chamber fluctuates a little bit on it's own anyway. My experience with the Herbies if they're not tuned properly is that can lead to a gradual over-filling of the display tank.

I hadn't really thought about the amount of build up that would happen in the trickle only overflow.... hmmmmm. Oh for the power of foresight! Changing the plumbing on this beast is not going to be a small job, perhaps I'll just live with what I've got if the general consensus is that an bean-animal style would be sub-optimal in this arrangement.