125 Gallon Reef w/ Bean Animal Overflow Build

[josho923]

- John K: after reading that, I think I have a pretty good vision in my head of what I'll be working with. Can't wait to have them in hand and to keep the ball moving on this project!
- ccc946: I've looked at the ghost overflows in the past and had forgotten about them until your post. Only issue is that, at least online, it looks like their longest ghost overflows are 24". I'd need one closer to 36" (or even 72" to be CTC), since the 3 holes that I just drilled are about 8" apart. Maybe I can give them a call during business hrs. and see if they could hook me up with a longer box.
- choff: I was thinking of doing that very thing with the lowest hole being the backup drain, with the upturned elbow and any other necessary elongators. Only problem is, if my memory serves me right, the hole farthest to the left is the culprit lower hole, and position-wise, that would be most ideal for the full siphon standpipe, since it would be the easiest to make a straight shot down into the first portion of the sump that is set up to be the receiving end. I'll figure out a way to make it work. With re: to your questions about the overflow itself, I wasn't planning on having teeth cut into it. The more I've read about it, the more people that are really in the know seem to believe teeth aren't necessary/the best idea. I hadn't settled on a specific plan, but couldn't you do a toothless setup with some fancy mesh/netting covering the overflow to keep critters, etc. out? Haven't priced it yet. I don't have much disposable income, but I'm trying to take it slowly and save the money for the gradual purchase of great pieces of equipment (the custom made stand, sump, protein skimmer, lights, controller, etc.), which will make this build move slowly, but hopefully result in a much better and more enjoyable finished product, rather than rushing it and settling for inferior stuff. Thanks also for your input on the CTC - I'll try to read up on it a bit more before I pull the trigger either way.

 

[josho923]

Aha, yet again, I took forever to type up my response and John K managed to sneak in a much more succinct answer before me, that I then read after posting mine. Thanks for corroborating this John!

 

[josho923]

Anybody with advice on the most ideal online vendor to buy as much as possible of all of the necessary plumbing parts for the Bean Animal setup? I'm OK with spending a little more in order to get the best bulkheads and gate valves, etc. Even if a little overpriced, it's still such a tiny piece of the huge money pie for the tank and maintenance overall, ha. Planning on schedule 40 PVC for the most part. BRS? Savko? What positive/negative experiences have you had with various vendors? Below is Bean Animal's exploded standpipe layout that he posted on his site; full credit to him. I am just posting here as a reminder of some of the parts needed.

 

[JohnK]

I'm sneaky like that

The ghost overflow is really an external bean with internal weir, installed gla - ss holes style. It could be DIY'd if you wanted to go that route. It is a great evolution on the bean design. Less shadow, less wasted space in the display, same function.

 

[JohnK]

Mcmaster and usplasics are both good to deal with and both stock just about everything, but the problem is that something is usually out of stock from either vendor. If you hope to source out everything in grey sch40 good luck, it can be done but you may need to place about 10 seperate orders to find everything

 

[josho923]

I'm OK with having to place 2+ orders or whatever, just figured I'd get a feel on where the highest yield places might be to make things easier, thanks for the help I was considering doing the ol' white schedule 40 PVC, then scuffing it up a bit and painting it with the black Krylon Fusion paint to make it look prettier. The standpipes should be fairly well out of sight, but I would love to make even the back of the tank and the inside of the cabinet below look pretty also, ha!
Based on Bean's list above, it looks like he uses all slip x slip pieces, rather than thread ones. Guess I'll go for the slip x slip pieces (simply because I lack the knowledge to discern the pros/cons of each, ha), unless anybody has a preference that would steer me more in the thread direction (reusability?)?

 

[choff]

Curious why more than one of you said no teeth on CTC? I never gave it much thought. I have an rsm 650 so my CTC is behind the dt so I have no overhang. My FT in the basement i siliconed a couple of rows of the black egg rate on top of my CTC overflow, but I don't care much for looks on that tank.

As for PVC supplier i use flexpvc.com . They were the only place that I could find that had the street 1" x 1-1/4 elbows . They also had the metric to English conversions I needed for my RSM pipes. Web site is not the best, but have ordered from them many times and they ship out the next day.




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[Docstach]

Curious why more than one of you said no teeth on CTC?

As John said, Teeth in glass would be a major PITA. You could make an acrylic cover, but I don't think the teeth are needed. Theoretically, no teeth=more surface area=better surface skimming. However, on an overflow this long I don't think that will be an issue. I gave serious thought about a CTC but in the end decided all the length wasn't needed and got in the way of where I wanted to put my wavemakers.

 

[choff]

Oh I know it would be a pita to have it made and would probably cost a fortune. I'm just picturing fish ending up in the overflow.


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[josho923]

- Thanks choff, I had seen flexpvc.com before but didn't know they had the street 1" x 1-1/4 elbows. Wasn't having any luck on finding them thus far. As far as the overflow issue w/o teeth - I'm going to brainstorm about a really clean-looking way to cover it with netting or something to keep all critters/large detritus, etc. from getting into the overlflow. I want this tank to look really sharp/prestine.
- Docstach: been wondering about the same issue - that a CTC would get in the way a bit when it comes to wavemakers and other layout issues. 125 gallon tanks are already a bit limited w/ regard to their height and depth (compared to the 150 and especially 180, which I really wish I had!), so tank real estate is important to me when it comes to the aquascaping plan and equipment placement.

 

[josho923]

In looking at Bean Animal's schematic above: I was planning on having gate valves (rather than true-union ball valves" as is shown in his diagram) on the two main standpipes. Is this a good plan?
Do I also need the true-union ball valves as shown above?
I have read about having spots along the PVC where you can safely remove/disconnect the PVC for cleaning and changing out parts, etc. (I forget the name for these junctions). Should I build these into each of the standpipes and if so, where should they be? And what specific parts would I need to order for this?

 

[choff]

I went with just a single gate valve on the full siphon line and separate unions on all 3 because my gate was not a union. If you have the space I would put the unions on the horizontal run so that you can remove the vertical sections for cleaning, otherwise put them right after the vertical 3 ways.

Here is an old pict of mine that shows the gate valve. I didn't yet put in the airline.



Here is a current shot




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[josho923]

Been looking on flexpvc.com for a while and can't find the street elbow you mentioned. The only elbow that seems to resemble the needed piece is item #: 407-168, which is a "1.25 inch slip socket x 1 inch FPT," but in looking at this closely, the 1.25" end is a slip socket and the 1" end is a female connector; in Bean's diagram, it looks like you'd need an MPT to hook into the bulkhead, right? Could you steer me in the right direction? My search results are here: http://flexpvc.com/cart/agora.cgi?product=PVC-Elbows-90

 

[josho923]

Also on flexpvc.com, trying to decide between these two bulkheads:

92010-SS PVC BLACK SLP x SLP 1 Bulkhead
1" PVC Bulkhead with 1" slip socket on the front and the back of the bulk head (aka tank adapter). Comes with one gasket and one nut. Extra nuts and gaskets available on the bulkhead fittings parts page. Hole size is 1.75" to 2". Flange diameter is 2.7" Wall thickness is up to 1.5". Made in the China.

vs.

10-2107BLK BH 1 inch BLACK PVC
1" BLACK bulk head (aka tank adapter) fitting. Front, flange side is slip socket. Back side is standard 1" slip socket, about 1" deep. Wall thickness up to 1-3/4". Hole saw size is 1-5/8 to 2". Front flange diameter is 2-1/2". Heavy duty fitting. This is the last PVC bulkhead fitting available. All others are not either ABS or a abs/pvc hybrid material. Limited to stock on hand.

The second choice is supposedly much more heavy duty and less cheap, but my main concern is fit within the drilled hole, which is 1.75". Based on the descriptions above, I'd surmise that the first option (hole size 1.75-2") would fit more snugly than the second option (1 5/8-2"). What do you guys think? It's awful that I have so many questions, but I've never plumbed anything or even set up a reef tank, so I have no idea how anything works!

 

[josho923]

choff: I am definitely going to get a nice gate valve for the full siphon pipe. When you say "separate unions on all 3," do you mean just plain old unions to allow for disconnecting at that point? Or do they have to be some kind of valve there, like a ball valve, etc. so that you can "shut off" that section of pipe before disconnecting? If you do need a valve in between the union, what kind do you get? The ball valve ones I've been looking at warn that they are not full flow, so you'd need to buy one larger size and bush down - I'm assuming non-full flow is not desireable, since flow rates seem important for these setups...
Do you guys also recommend other valves like a check valve on the return line to help prevent a flood in the event of a power outage/pump failure? If so, what kind?

 

[JohnK]

Choff - did you run into any restarting issues with those horizontal runs?

 

[P-Nut]

Anybody with advice on the most ideal online vendor to buy as much as possible of all of the necessary plumbing parts for the Bean Animal setup? I'm OK with spending a little more in order to get the best bulkheads and gate valves, etc. Even if a little overpriced, it's still such a tiny piece of the huge money pie for the tank and maintenance overall, ha. Planning on schedule 40 PVC for the most part. BRS? Savko? What positive/negative experiences have you had with various vendors? Below is Bean Animal's exploded standpipe layout that he posted on his site; full credit to him. I am just posting here as a reminder of some of the parts needed.

View attachment 99443

Why do you need the adaptor going to the cap? You can place a cap right on the pipe.

Edit: saw that it is threaded.

 

[choff]

Yes, I do have restart issues. I get air trapped in my siphon line all the time. The vertical pipe that is attached to the final elbow that drains into the sump is not glued in. I have to pull that off and on to purge the air bubble that forms. I'm going to add an airline with shutoff to fix that. It will still require manual intervention, but easier than pulling that pipe. I shut my pumps off daily to feed and I'd say once a week I get the air bubble. There is no threat of overflow when this happens, its just an annoyance and my ft water level runs a bit higher dropping the water level in my sump causing the ato to dump a quarter gallon of water into the system. Not a big deal with 350 gallons of total water volume.

I'll poke around tomorrow and see where I got those elbows. I know I used flexpvc a lot, but I have a few others I use and maybe it was them.

As for the bulkheads, go on bulk reef supply and look at their bulkheads. In the description they give the hole diameters for both the regulor and heavy duty. The regular are fine though. These are drains and not under pressure. The only place I used the heavy duty was in my sump connected to my big return pump and I doubt even that was necessary. Get the ones that fit your current holes.

 

[choff]

Missed a few questions.

I did just put the cap right on the tube. I didn't buy threaded caps.

I got slip bulkheads so those are the elbows I used.

I just used regular unions without any kind of valve, but mine is in the basement and I don't care about a little spilled water. They are a lot cheaper and I simply won't use those crap valves at home depot. The good 1.5 union ball valves are 50 bucks or more. I already have 6 on my system so I cut my losses there.

 

[choff]

One more..

Check valves fail. All of them. You should leave enough room in your sump to handle all the access water that will flow from your DT into your sump when the power is totally off.


I buy the good union ball valves and spears gate valves from bulk reef. If those are the ones you are saying are not full flow, its fine. Remember the glass hole is 1 inch and you are running 1.5 inch pipe. You are already covered.