Herbie vs BeanAnimal overflow method?

[Chris-tico]

hey guys in about to start a new project. (85 galons) and i want to know which is the most quiet overflow method out there.

i have a nano right now, so this in going to be the first time ill use an overflow.

i need it to the more silence possible cuz ill have the tank in my room.

any suggestions?

 

[Greengny]

Can't speak to the Herbie, but my 93g Cube B/A is completely silent. It makes a bit of noise on system pump restart but then settles down in 5 minutes or so.

 

[Chris-tico]

thanks!

do you have any pic of your overflow?

 

[mtfish]

They are both silent. Bean just has more safe guards than Herbie

 

[blackz151]

I have an 80 gal with the Herbie. Not a peep out of it never had a problem. The only time I hear noise from it is when I have to change the socks

 

[KoleTang]

Beananimal is just a more advanced version of Herbie. They are both silent, Bean just gives you some more control.

 

[Chris-tico]

i think that the herbie its easier to do.. or am i wrong?

 

[Chris-tico]

I have an 80 gal with the Herbie. Not a peep out of it never had a problem. The only time I hear noise from it is when I have to change the socks

do you mind to share a photo.. to see how many drains are you using?

 

[Trex]

i think that the herbie its easier to do.. or am i wrong?

Just speaking from my experiences --- An Herbie is easier to do on a Reef Ready tank. In fact, pretty sure a Bean won't work on a reef ready without some (( perhaps major )) modifications to the overflow(s).

I just reset up a RR 75, and plumbing the Herbie part took maybe an hour; including cutting the PVC and bonding them together.

Have had an Herbie on my 210 since December and still silent.

 

[TaylorPilot]

The Bean is probably the easiest to tune and offers the most redundancy. The siphon handles all but the very last little trickle of water. The open channel handles that last little trickle of water, and also sets the height of the water level in the overflow chamber. The emergency overflow is used ONLY during startup or if something happens to cause one of the two other drains to become clogged. Mine is actually setup in a way that the emergency only sees water if a clog occurs on both other drains. During startup it purges the air fast enough that it never reaches the emergency channel. There are really two versions of the Herbie that people use. Both are setup exactly the same, it is just how the end user adjusts the system when it is running. There is the original idea that has to be very fine tuned, where all of the water is processed down the main siphon line. The few inches of variation in the water level is enough to adjust for the tiny variations in flow from the return pump. The emergency is used just like on the Bean, where it only engages if the siphon line becomes either partially or fully clogged. However, because it is sometimes hard to get perfectly tuned, people would use the dry emergency as you would an open channel for a bean. It doesn't have to be as finely tuned because the emergency drain handles the last bit of flow, and sets the water height inside the overflow box. They are said to not be as safe, but are still safer than just a single drain line. If I was running a Marineland style RR tank that had 2 separate overflow boxes (doubtful on an 85 gallon system), I wouldn't have a problem using the second Herbie style drain (wet emergency) because you have more redundancy.

Long story short is no matter how you set it up the bean system offers more control and a larger safety margin. If you are having it built, then there really isn't any downside. Except that you may need a little larger overflow to accommodate 3 bulkheads. How much flow do you plan on running to your sump? HTH

 

[Chris-tico]

Long story short is no matter how you set it up the bean system offers more control and a larger safety margin. If you are having it built, then there really isn't any downside. Except that you may need a little larger overflow to accommodate 3 bulkheads. How much flow do you plan on running to your sump? HTH

I have no idea.! you could suggest me something

 

[TaylorPilot]

LOL, you could write a book on that. Some people say you only need about 4-6X turn over. On an 80 gallon tank that is 320-480 GPH. The reasoning is that because you have to battle against head pressure from the pump, you are wasting electricity and adding heat. So the powerheads are a much better solution for creating the water movement inside the tank. I personally like to run mine higher at about 10-15X turn over.

There are a few things to consider:

Firstly, by keeping a higher flow moving through the sump, you can keep detritus from settling in the sump. Some people will use powerheads for that, but they cost money (typically more than purchasing 1 larger return pump), and use electricity. Maybe not allot, but it all adds up. Plus you have many more pieces of equipment to maintain and clean.

Secondly, heat. Some would say that you are adding extra heat to the system with a larger return pump. That is true, but typically my tanks have always stayed within temp and the heaters cut on and off through out the day no matter the time of year. Even when running large MH bulbs, my heaters would still start coming on around 2-3 hours after the lights cutting off. I was always able to keep my tanks below 80 because we live in Texas and run AC almost all day everyday. So since 99% of electricity that goes into a submersible pump is transferred back to the water as heat, I just had heaters that ran less. It is still a watt of heat whether it comes from a pump or a heater. I would much rather have it be heat generated from water flow, as opposed to a heater. It is even less of an issue today with most people running LEDs.

Finally, noise. Larger pumps make more noise. Typically if you take two pumps of the same model or quality, the larger the pump the more noise it will make. Although many of today's premium DC and/or standard submersible pumps like the Sicce models are very quiet. If the overflow is designed properly with flow in mind, they are completely silent as well.

It really depends on what your needs and situation are. If you live up north where you don't have or use AC during the day where it can get warmer in your house, then you would probably want to avoid extra heat at all cost. If the tank is by your bed and any large pump is going to be more noisy than you can bear, then use a small pump. There really is no right answer, it is about preference. For me, my tank is always in my living room and we run a tank heater year round, so the extra flow is a plus. Without having to have redundant powerheads in the sump, plus the ability to process more water through a filter sock quicker all while skimming the water surface better, I feel higher flow works better for me in my situation. HTH

 

[Chris-tico]

Thanks a lot Taylor. all that info its going to help me a lot!

do you guys think this is kind of overflow are loud?

 

[TaylorPilot]

Depends on flow levels. It will operate just like a "durso" standpipe. The tube sticking out creates an open air vent so that as the water speeds up it wont create a siphon and rapidly drain creating allot of noise. But it keeps it from being as loud because the small air vent baffles allot (not all) of the noise coming from the water draining down the pipe. The deal is it won't be loud if you can keep the flow low enough that the water adheres to the pipe walls. If it starts to churn and create vertices in the middle of the pipe as it goes down it will create the gurgling noise. I have no idea what that flow level would be. I think for a 1 inch pipe it probably wont be more that 300 or so. But don't hold me to it. That is just a very uneducated hearsay guess. I have no direct experience running a durso.

 

[Ebone]

I have a herbie and it is silent and awesome for my 40 breeder... if I was going to do a larger tank and could do it my way I would to bean animal because why not!.... never hurts to have redundancy.

 

[blackz151]

do you mind to share a photo.. to see how many drains are you using?

I dont have a photo on me but I can try to get you some. I have the 3/4 as the main drain. I have the 1 inch as the emergency drain. Before I cycled my tank I tested it very way possible to try to get it to over flow and I couldn't.

 

[TheEngineer]

I've used a herbie on my last two tanks and love it. I can easily tune it with a simple ball valve and it is dead silent. A durso (your picture) will run silently until the water hits your sump and you'll hear a constant whooshing of water. The bean and herbie have laminar (smooth) flow so you won't hear the sound of water draining into the sump.

 

[TheEngineer]

I dont have a photo on me but I can try to get you some. I have the 3/4 as the main drain. I have the 1 inch as the emergency drain. Before I cycled my tank I tested it very way possible to try to get it to over flow and I couldn't.

You know, I've always had my drains reversed from this. Reading your post, I think I've had it all wrong this whole time. Makes sense to have the larger drain be the emergency. (Note to self to switch drains tonight)

 

[Chris-tico]

I dont have a photo on me but I can try to get you some. I have the 3/4 as the main drain. I have the 1 inch as the emergency drain. Before I cycled my tank I tested it very way possible to try to get it to over flow and I couldn't.

that works perfect! thanks a lot!!

I've used a herbie on my last two tanks and love it. I can easily tune it with a simple ball valve and it is dead silent. A durso (your picture) will run silently until the water hits your sump and you'll hear a constant whooshing of water. The bean and herbie have laminar (smooth) flow so you won't hear the sound of water draining into the sump.

i think im going Herbie method.! thanks for the detailed information!

 

[Ebone]

I have 2 one inch drains....one emergency and one with gate valve and my return is 3/4 inch