AlanM January 31, 2013 Share January 31, 2013 I think I remember a post that said that either BRK or F&F has lots of plumbing parts. I'd like to buy parts for a BeanAnimal setup from some place local and also visit some VA fish stores instead of ordering a pile of stuff from BRS that I can't fit together and see and measure and will probably have to return half of. I'd ideally like some street 90s which aren't readily available at the big boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBVette January 31, 2013 Share January 31, 2013 Just go to Home Depot they will have everything you need. But I know brk has a great selection of fittings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin January 31, 2013 Share January 31, 2013 i would go to brk or ff just because they know what you need for the setup you are looking for and able to answer questions as well unlike home depot or lowes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F&Fmgr January 31, 2013 Share January 31, 2013 i dont stock parts, but can help with what you'd need if you were shopping around. But BRK definitely has the best selection of hard to find parts and essentials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djplus1 January 31, 2013 Share January 31, 2013 Have you tried Aquarium One? They do have plumbing parts and stuff in the back. I've gotten some stuff from them before. May not be everything you need, but if you're in Gaithersburg, they're right down the street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM January 31, 2013 Author Share January 31, 2013 Will try them. I've been wanting to go there since their big changes anyway. I'd gone in multiple times over the past year while thinking about setting up a tank and talked to Paul a few times, but now that I've got the stuff I should go again. Thanks for the reminder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decadence January 31, 2013 Share January 31, 2013 Home depot/Lowes for all of the PVC pipe, valves, bends, etc.. Aquarium one has bulkheads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country January 31, 2013 Share January 31, 2013 Lowes has a much larger selection of plumbing parts in your area than the HD's do although you with the diameter you are looking for HD might work also. With the smaller 1/2" and 3/4" stuff Lowes is definately better. You might try the fish store, think it is called Aquatic Obsession or something like that, it's on 355 up in Urbana, MD they have a back room full of plumbing parts. If you want to go visit a great shop that has plenty of plumbing parts go to BRK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech January 31, 2013 Share January 31, 2013 You will want to get the gate valve and bulk heads from an LFS or BRS. Everything else can be found at HD or Lowes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosco's Reefs January 31, 2013 Share January 31, 2013 (edited) Aquarium One generally has a few bulkheads in stock. I have bought there before. Edited January 31, 2013 by Rosco's Reefs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM January 31, 2013 Author Share January 31, 2013 Aquarium One had ABS bulkheads and a few fittings. After looking there and Lowes I think I have a plan. The guy at Aquarium One, not Paul, one of the workers said that they would be organizing their stock of them and refilling the bins soon. I have a 1-1/2" gate valve in my cart at BRS, but can't bring myself to pull the trigger on a $56 valve. I'll do it eventually. I missed getting in on the BRS group buy too, oh well. I already have some 1" Schedule 80 bulkheads that I had Quantum Reefs order for me from BRS since they were already bringing me a bunch of stuff which are SlipxThread with the thread on the back side. BRS doesn't have SlipxSlip schedule 80 bulkheads. In retrospect these bulkheads are not the ideal ones for this setup. They have a very pronounced slope on the flange side input which makes putting a street 90 on them basically impossible. I'm not convinced that they're even designed to take a a fitting or pipe on the flange side, actually. It just rattles around in there. Also, the street 90 I tried at Lowes was a schedule 40, so that's probably why it rattled around, because it's not as thick. Hmm. I should have gotten 1" Slip x Slip ABS bulkheads instead which have a shallower in-tank profile and are still plenty beefy enough to seal well. The good news is that Aquarium One carries those. I'm trying to picture how to use what I've already got and do a horizontal BeanAnimal drain with the minimum amounts of fittings and minimum depth behind the tank. I'm thinking I can get a 1" nipple on the threaded output of this bulkhead, and then get a 1"NPT x 1.5" spigot coupler and fit that into a 1.5" sanitary Tee that BeanAnimal calls for. I'd thought about just putting an elbow down off the back of the bulkhead, but I buy his argument that the Tee makes it much easier to clean out or see what's happening. I also discovered that the hole saw I had from a GlassHoles overflow kit I bought from a member is too small for a 1" Schedule 80 bulkhead. It's 45mm, and I need a 48mm according to what I measure and what BRS says. In non-plumbing news Aquarium One also has some huge huge frag bins that have water circulating, but no coral in them yet because no lights. They said they are getting some nice SPS ones in the bin in the front and lots of others in the bin near the back. Also some teensy triggers in the fish tanks (I think that's what they were) which were fun to see and a monster of a mantis shrimp that looked like a lobster it was so big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech January 31, 2013 Share January 31, 2013 Sched 80 bulkheads are a different size than sched 40. So, if your tank is already drilled, make sure you know what fits in the holes you have. I'm not sure I understand why you need to go from a 1" drain to a 1.5" valve. You could do a herbie with 2 drains (a main and an emergency) and not have to incrase the size. This will be more compact and less expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM January 31, 2013 Author Share January 31, 2013 Not drilled yet. On sizes, I'm not doing a herbie. I'm doing a Bean Animal which is a herbie plus one. I'm going with different sizes to duplicate his diagram. http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx His sizes were dictated just by the holes he already had, nothing more, but it worked really well, so I'll just do what he did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech January 31, 2013 Share January 31, 2013 A herbie seems to fit your objectives better. I've looked at the bean animal a couple times and have yet to see a real benefit over the herbie. The herbie is silent, it is redundant, and it is not as complicated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM January 31, 2013 Author Share January 31, 2013 A herbie seems to fit your objectives better. I've looked at the bean animal a couple times and have yet to see a real benefit over the herbie. The herbie is silent, it is redundant, and it is not as complicated. I like the Herbie too, and I'd use it for sure if I had a cornerflo or some other "reef-ready" tank. But a couple of things. One is that I've never seen a herbie done with rear overflows and an internal overflow box like this at the top of the tank. Seems like it could work, just haven't seen it, and I don't want to lose the sandbed of a top to bottom overflow section. Herbie was developed to retro fit into "reef-ready" tanks to allow people to use the durso drain and the return as a siphon and open channel/emergency, respectively. Other is that BeanAnimal is only more complicated if you do the sanitary tees and threaded caps and stuff like in his page diagram. Those things make it easier to maintain, and I'd probably want to do them on a Herbie coming out the back too, so the fittings would be similar on a rear-herbie design. Just two bulkheads instead of three. It's certainly possible to do a BeanAnimal with much less complicated fittings. Is this what you'd been picturing the Herbie to be like, minus 1 pipe? http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16040282&postcount=1121 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 February 1, 2013 Share February 1, 2013 1" is good for beananimal... The gate valve will be the limiting factor on the full siphon, and I promise a 1" full siphon will have more flow than you ever need. I have a beananimal with all 1" standard sched 40 pvc. Works like a charm, and the 1" gate valve is substantially less $. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM February 1, 2013 Author Share February 1, 2013 1" is good for beananimal... The gate valve will be the limiting factor on the full siphon, and I promise a 1" full siphon will have more flow than you ever need. I have a beananimal with all 1" standard sched 40 pvc. Works like a charm, and the 1" gate valve is substantially less $. Thanks. I know he says to use a sanitary tee so that the open channel has a more gradual fall and doesn't have as much turbulence with the gradual taper. 1" sanitary tees basically don't exist, though. Does your open channel make noise? He says that the alternative is to tilt the open channel a bit so that it runs down the side of the pipe. Are you using a sched 40 gate valve, or a sched 80? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech February 1, 2013 Share February 1, 2013 All you need for a herbie is the full siphon and the emergency of the bean. Just drop the whole drain with the sanitary tee. The difference is that you tune a herbie to balance so that the flow matches. This works surprisingly well with a good gate valve and only needs a little tweak now and then. With the bean you close it a little more so you get a trickle down an extra pipe. One thing I don't like about the bean is that it hides small issues from you. For example, if my herbie starts to suck a little air, I know the return pump is dirty and needs cleaning because it isn't flowing as well. IF the emergency drain starts to trickle (since it is cut high so its noisy), I know I have something to clean like algae in the overflow or something got in the valve. On the bean, you would just get a little more or less water down that trickle pipe and you'd never know the difference till the problem got bigger. If I were you, I'd drill two holes and setup 2/3 of your bean as a herbie and try it out. If it doesn't work, drain it and drill the third hole and switch it to a bean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 February 1, 2013 Share February 1, 2013 (edited) Thanks. I know he says to use a sanitary tee so that the open channel has a more gradual fall and doesn't have as much turbulence with the gradual taper. 1" sanitary tees basically don't exist, though. Does your open channel make noise? He says that the alternative is to tilt the open channel a bit so that it runs down the side of the pipe. Are you using a sched 40 gate valve, or a sched 80? With the gate you can tune it where very little water goes down open channel. I have a "U" at the exit, and it's dead silent. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/economy-gate-valve-slip-x-slip-2.html the $21 one. Here is a video of mine: http://flic.kr/p/deqUnY Goodluck! Edited February 1, 2013 by BowieReefer84 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM February 1, 2013 Author Share February 1, 2013 If I were you, I'd drill two holes and setup 2/3 of your bean as a herbie and try it out. If it doesn't work, drain it and drill the third hole and switch it to a bean. Good idea. I may just try that. Would be easier to run two holes to the basement than three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy G February 1, 2013 Share February 1, 2013 I like the Herbie too, and I'd use it for sure if I had a cornerflo or some other "reef-ready" tank. But a couple of things. One is that I've never seen a herbie done with rear overflows and an internal overflow box like this at the top of the tank. Seems like it could work, just haven't seen it, and I don't want to lose the sandbed of a top to bottom overflow section. Herbie was developed to retro fit into "reef-ready" tanks to allow people to use the durso drain and the return as a siphon and open channel/emergency, respectively. Other is that BeanAnimal is only more complicated if you do the sanitary tees and threaded caps and stuff like in his page diagram. Those things make it easier to maintain, and I'd probably want to do them on a Herbie coming out the back too, so the fittings would be similar on a rear-herbie design. Just two bulkheads instead of three. It's certainly possible to do a BeanAnimal with much less complicated fittings. Is this what you'd been picturing the Herbie to be like, minus 1 pipe? http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16040282&postcount=1121 i have a Herbie on my tank and it has 2 1" bulkheads in a drilled 40 gallon Breeder drilled in the top center of the tank with a BRS overflow box. Works great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaguy February 1, 2013 Share February 1, 2013 Just an FYI. I know most wamas members are not up this way but if ever in a pinch solenberger hardware in Winchester, va.literally stocks everything schedule 80 you could ever possibly need in all sizes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.png.40db71e145957fbc22a7d873e5f3065b.png)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now