Bean Animal overflow adjustment - does this seem OK?

[ChadO]

Greetings,

I am beginning to run my plumbing for the Bean Animal overflow, and it is going to be a decent amount of work to run the emergency drain (3rd and final pipe in the BA setup) over to skimmer section of my sump. The skimmer section is where the first two pipes of the system drop into. It would, however, be quite manageable to run the emergency drain line into the return pump section of my sump.

So, my thoughts are this: The emergency drain always stays dry until either the first two drains are plugged or obstructed. Worst case, they are both obstructed, and we have to go full on the emergency drain. In this situation, the water would basically cycle right from the tank to the return pump section and go back to the main tank - until the siphon is broken. Hopefully, that system wouldn't run this long in this scenario since I would - if possible - attend to the situation since my emergency drain was engaged, and that would mean something needed to be fixed. However, if I wasn't readily available, it should - in my mind - simply cycle the water through the system, but not flood.

For those with much more experience than I, does this logic hold up? Is there something that I am missing and need to consider? I would rather have a optimal drain path (into the return pump section) for that drain, than a sub-optimal routing just to get it over to where the other pipes are at.

FWIW, my sump setup is pretty standard. From left to right, the fuge, return pump section, the skimmer section. The traditional 3 baffle setup, and a 4th baffle separating the sections. The DT is a 75 gallon, the sump a 30 gallon long w/ 10.6 gallon reserve space.

Thanks!

ChadO

 

[1guydude]

On mine which is a 75gal penninsula with a 50b...I've got the full siphon and the emergency dumping into the skimmer right below the water lime and the partial dumps into the fuge...you might wanna glance at my tank video in the member section for more clear up.

 

[eww]

This all sounds good Chad. I would recommend holding the emergency drain slightly up out of the water in the sump so if it ever becomes active you will hear the splashing water and know there is something wrong.

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[Aquanaut]

Sounds doable just keep in mind that it will push alot of air turbulence directly at the return moter intake and may prevent propper return on the pump and lose the vertical push needed. My BA activates the 3rd drain durring start up of an off line occurance. Ex: system restart, power glitch ...
Another thing to consider is regarding the skimmer upon the flooding of the compartment, and the eventual response of the skimmer to overflow its skimmate to the system unless you set up a ATO shut off of skim pump, or use a high water sensor to do this and prevent future issues. If Q, you are welcome to see my system.

 

[ChadO]

Thanks folks, these are all great replies!

My initial plan was to split water off the return to feed the fuge, but using the 2nd pipe might be something I need to look at.

Good call on cutting that pipe shorter to make noise. I had read that before, but forgot about that. Good reminder!

A good point brought up about the emergency drain activating on startup. I hadn't considered that. I do have an Apex system I will be installing, and was going to add the fail safes on high water conditions. Good point making sure the skimmer is covered.

ChadO


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