180 gallon filtration setup

[jaws7777]

James -- Frank --

Option 2, with the "balance pipe" is what I did. I had never done a Herbie before, JC1119 mentioned he'd had trouble trying to get 2 siphon drains to drain at roughly the same rate, so I just did it like he did.

I'd never built a Herbie setup, never had a 540 gallon tank, and I was focused on doing what I knew would work at the time. If I had it to do over, maybe I'd try 2 independent siphon drains since Travis says he's had no trouble with it. Maybe not, I don't know.

I have the "balance pipe" running silent, but it does have some air in it sometimes that won't come out, and that does make some noise--a quiet popping sound kinda. After a few days, it goes away. Careful tuning of the gate valve and it goes away. But it takes some care to get it quiet.

Once it gets quiet, and the gate is set right, it just runs quiet. I USED to mess with the gate valve all the time. Now, I don't need to--I might move a couple times a year just to make sure it still moves.

If you have a good build thread showing a Beanimal, post a link. I'd like to see it.

David why do you think jc had issues setting two seperate gates ? I dont remember him saying what the issues were.

Im wondering if inshould go with seperate gates ehile i still have time to make the change. In theory lets say both overflows cant be tuned to be the same height say they are slightly off could that cause an issue ?

 

[ragin_cajun]

You'd have to read through is thread very carefully (for the 100th time). I think he said he got tired of trying to get it to work with 2 gate valves. But, keep in mind, he started out with a ball valve under each siphon drain, which had nowhere near the same fine adjustment as a slice gate valve.

So, he could have had trouble getting them to drain at the same rate because his valves weren't good enough. Or it could have been because it was just 2 different drains.

I'd rather set one gate valve than two. And, if you had 2 gate valves and two overflow boxes, they'd have to both be kinda close or you'd definitely have issues.

but, I've never run a Herbie with 2 gate valves, never tried. Travis has, I'd be interested to hear his experience with it.

 

[jaws7777]

For what it's worth, I have two 1.5" siphon drains on my tank that don't "T" together. Instead, they just drain down to the tank and into the sump completely separate, and each has its own ball valve. I have not had any trouble tuning the herbie style overflow with the two of those. I then have a third 1.5" drain that stays dry for my emergency drain.

I cant remember but do you have overflows ? Or the h20 thing

 

[jaws7777]

jvc66 we'll use my build as test dummy. Sonce im putting unions every where i go with two seperare gates see how i like it. If no likey wont be a big deal go with the original plan. Just swap out unions and re plumb

 

[jvc66]

James --

The pic above of the external overflows. If I had overflows like that, I'd do a Beanimal. Or 3 Beanimals. With the Beanimals, you get the gate valve on the siphon kinda close, and then 3 drains in Beanimal system stay adjusted themselves automagically.

So, if you had 3 independent Beanimals, you'd set and forget the 3 gate valves, and that'd be it. You'd also have LOTS of pipe to run.

But, I wouldn't want to set 3 different Herbie drains with 3 different gate valves on a tank.

If you wanted to do Herbie with external overflow boxes like those in the picture, I think you'd want them to be at least 12 inches deep. The Siphon drain should have 5-6 inches of water above it so it catches siphon real easy. And I'd just want some room to play with different size standpipes and stuff in an overflow box. 12 inches I think.

Awesome advice david i appreciate the help! Like you this is my first acrylic, and sump tank. Still a ton of learning in such a short window of time that i have had with this move coming up in a month. But i was thinking those boxes had ne roughly 6" wide by 12" deep if i wanted to fully submerge the siphon train enough to not get the vortex coming from the water surface. Will talk about it with chris from Midwest a little more if hes got any other information that might help.

But with that balamce beam you say the slice gate gives you a better handle on everything? Also does it get noisey at all once it passes thrrough the second tee and then teed off again simce you have four socks instead of two like jcs?

I think i understand the concept alot better now. Guess it will just be figuring out the pipe sizes and unions and nonsesnse. Thats the next research!

 

[jvc66]

jvc66 we'll use my build as test dummy. Sonce im putting unions every where i go with two seperare gates see how i like it. If no likey wont be a big deal go with the original plan. Just swap out unions and re plumb

Hopefully yours a big success right off the bat! Looking forward for your tank to finally come

 

[jvc66]

jvc66 we'll use my build as test dummy. Sonce im putting unions every where i go with two seperare gates see how i like it. If no likey wont be a big deal go with the original plan. Just swap out unions and re plumb

I think i actually understand how all this plumbing works now with the different size pipes and unions and valves. I do have a question about unions, i understsnd that your able to take them apart, but do you need to glue the ends of the pipe to the section on each side or does it just seal itself?

 

[deeda]

Anything not threaded needs to use PVC cement to permanently bond the fittings and pipe.

 

[jvc66]

Anything not threaded needs to use PVC cement to permanently bond the fittings and pipe.

Got it thanks!

 

[jaws7777]

Yes. So a length of pipe is glued to both ends of the union.

I think i actually understand how all this plumbing works now with the different size pipes and unions and valves. I do have a question about unions, i understsnd that your able to take them apart, but do you need to glue the ends of the pipe to the section on each side or does it just seal itself?