DIY BeanAnimal Overflow and Sump Build ! PICTURES!

Discussion in 'I made this!' started by mati_L, Jul 18, 2011.

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  1. mati_L

    mati_L Fire Shrimp

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    Okay so im going with the BeanAnimal style overflow and i made one change to his setup which i would like an opinion on, the change was made just to make it easier to clean down the standpipe

    In his setup there is a pvc piece between the sanity T and the top cap, well i changed the top cap for a sanity clean out cap which eliminates the need on the pvc piece, as shown in the pictures
    Now my main concern is that removing the piece between the cap and T mad the setup shorter..
    The question #1 is: Does the standpipe have to be taller than the water level? by much? some? or not at all ?

    Basically i want to know if my change will work and not change the performance

    Question #2: what parts must be glued and what can i leave unglued so i can actually remove the pipe from the bulk head ? can i just not glue the 1" piece of pvc that is forced into the slip of the bulkhead?



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    http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s343/mlanza44/IMG01447-20110718-2037-1.jpg
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2011
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  3. insanespain

    insanespain Ocellaris Clown

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    Your change to the clean out cap wont affect it at all. I actually wish I would've done this same thing.

    You will want to glue every joint except the piece that actually extends below the water line in your sump, for example the piece that would dump into a filter sock. If you need the assembly to come apart, then you should use a union fitting wherever you want to break apart the assembly.
     
  4. mati_L

    mati_L Fire Shrimp

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    Yeah you know i was standing there in home depot just looking at all the connections and i saw this clean out cap and well the light bulb went off, i imagined how much easier to clean the system can be with this change added

    so im going to glue it all and just add unions near the sump.. i guess if i ever do need to pull it apart then ill cut the bulkhead and start over.. pvc is cheap

    i went with 1.5 pvc for the stand pipe i know my flow will be like 300 gph not the 2000 its rated for but he did say it works for all flow rates lol i didnt want to change the setup much and have a noisy tank
     
  5. insanespain

    insanespain Ocellaris Clown

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    Yeah, I went with 1.5 inch also. One thing I messed up on, and I will warn you about. Buy a GATE VALVE!!!!!!!!!!!! I used a 1.5 inch ball valve and it is a complete nightmare to tune the full siphon. I read a couple posts after the fact of people having the same problem and switched to a gate valve. If it werent for my tank already being setup I would cut that junk a** ball valve out and put a gate valve in its place, but live and learn I guess.
     
  6. mati_L

    mati_L Fire Shrimp

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    oh wow and this whole time i thought the gate valve would be a bad idea... lol thank you so much for telling me that

    do you have a valve for all 3 or just the main center one?
     
  7. insanespain

    insanespain Ocellaris Clown

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    I only put a valve on the full siphon. Putting valves on the other 2 standpipes is a waste of money IMO

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  9. mati_L

    mati_L Fire Shrimp

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    Yeah i was thinking the same, looking at the setup i found it pointless to have the other 2 valves, just more money..Now to find a 1 1/2" gate valve around here, i hate ordering things like this online.. hey by the way what size elbow did you use for the tank side, intake
     
  10. insanespain

    insanespain Ocellaris Clown

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    Those are 1 inch street ells. The 2 down turned ones fit tight against the bottom of the overflow box, and then I drilled small holes around the sides for the water to flow through.

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  11. mati_L

    mati_L Fire Shrimp

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    i got 1.5" x 1" street elbows.. i think 1.5 might to big... but i went by the pluming store and found a gate vavle 16 or a true union valve for 20 bucks which is super cheap, the ball on it was easy to turn.. what do you think tru union or gate ??
     
  12. insanespain

    insanespain Ocellaris Clown

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    Those street ells will work depending on the size you make your overflow box. Is the true union valve a ball valve? If so I would stay away. I thought my ball turned easy too, until it came to crunch time and I realized that the adjustments to the siphon are ridiculously hair trigger. Its up to you really, but I would venture to say once its done you will be cussing like I was lol.

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