The Shadow™ Overflow from Synergy Reef has arrived!

[arju]

what is the water level from the tank. measure from the top. thank you

 

[Water Dog]

what is the water level from the tank. measure from the top. thank you

The water level will depend upon where you drill. On the drilling template, there is a water level indicator so based on that, you can determine where to set your water level.

 

[arju]

The water level will depend upon where you drill. On the drilling template, there is a water level indicator so based on that, you can determine where to set your water level.

Thank You for fast replied. Template show red line and 1 inch from top.
what is the optimal range setting from the top of glass tank.

 

[Water Dog]

When drilling my tank for a ghost overflow, I wanted to mimic the look of a Red Sea Reefer tank so I made my water level about 1-1/4” from the top edge of the glass.

 

[zyer1090]

I'm looking for a small overflow like this so it doesn't take up too much space in the tank leaving more for coral can any speak to how quiet this overflow is?

 

[Ryan420r6]

If you have turbulent flow on the water surface you will get a small amount of noise (not a gurgle, more of babbling brook). In contrast, if you aren’t breaking too hard on the surface it’s dead silent.

 

[Ryan420r6]

Oh, forgot to add...I did add a small piece of tubing (couple inches) to the hole on the main drain in the overflow to reduce noise.

 

[zyer1090]

If you have turbulent flow on the water surface you will get a small amount of noise (not a gurgle, more of babbling brook). In contrast, if you aren’t breaking too hard on the surface it’s dead silent.

Overall would you say this is better than the traditional herbie overflow boxes that are drilled from the bottom? I have a new tank upgrade that I want to consider doing this to and weigh in the pros and cons.

 

[Ryan420r6]

Overall would you say this is better than the traditional herbie overflow boxes that are drilled from the bottom? I have a new tank upgrade that I want to consider doing this to and weigh in the pros and cons.

I like having the extra space in the tank that the bean animal affords you vs cutting off a corner for drains.

 

[Reef Jedi]

Super happy with my ghost style overflow from modular marine for half the price if anyone is in the market.

how quiet does it run? i'm in the market for a silent overflow. and i mean silent, no waterfall noise what so ever.

 

[Reef Jedi]

More info and Pre-sale is here

http://synergyreef.com/product/16-shadow-overflow/

how quiet is this? no gurgle, waterfall noise?

 

[ca1ore]

Most of these ghost-style overflows can be made silent - it's all in how you configure the external side. There are some of them where the external box is materially lower than the internal skim section that I would avoid.

 

[mixer911]

Most of these ghost-style overflows can be made silent - it's all in how you configure the external side. There are some of them where the external box is materially lower than the internal skim section that I would avoid.

@ca1ore Why would you avoid these?

 

[mixer911]

how quiet is this? no gurgle, waterfall noise?

Yes these can run completely silent with no gurgle, waterfall noise. It is when they are not tuned properly that you can have noise issues. This can be said about any of these style overflow.
here is a video of one running

 

[ca1ore]

@ca1ore Why would you avoid these?

Because as you approach the rated maximum, it becomes necessary to raise the water level in the external box to quieten the trickling sound from the skim box. If the external side sits too far below the internal skim box, you won't have enough clearance. I had this problem with my eschopps unit.

 

[mixer911]

Because as you approach the rated maximum, it becomes necessary to raise the water level in the external box to quieten the trickling sound from the skim box. If the external side sits too far below the internal skim box, you won't have enough clearance. I had this problem with my eschopps unit.

It may be an issues with the Eshopps units but not with our design. Our overflow utilizes the lower rear box to maximize surface skimming. It is known that the Eshopps overflows were not designed properly (water level inside the tank, exterior box, ect.) They wee rushed to market to compete with our overflows and unfortunately some people bought into the cheaper, badly designed overflow. To blanket statement that they all have issues and to avoid them is nonsense. We have over 4000 units in service and do not have issues with what you described when setup properly. Our original design, when we designed the first Ghost overflow, utilized the boxes being even and this was changed on the Synergy Overflow as we found that the you lose a significant amount of surface skimming to the point where the water becomes stag-net on the surface. Plus it interferes with plastic trimmed tanks.

 

[ca1ore]

It may be an issues with the Eshopps units but not with our design. Our overflow utilizes the lower rear box to maximize surface skimming. It is known that the Eshopps overflows were not designed properly (water level inside the tank, exterior box, ect.) They wee rushed to market to compete with our overflows and unfortunately some people bought into the cheaper, badly designed overflow. To blanket statement that they all have issues and to avoid them is nonsense.

I'm sorry, but would it be asking too much for you to actually read what I wrote rather than misrepresenting it! I did not specifically say that it was a problem with your overflow and please show me where I said 'they all have issues'? I think the word 'some' quite clearly does not mean all.

We have over 4000 units in service and do not have issues with what you described when setup properly. Our original design, when we designed the first Ghost overflow, utilized the boxes being even and this was changed on the Synergy Overflow as we found that the you lose a significant amount of surface skimming to the point where the water becomes stag-net on the surface. Plus it interferes with plastic trimmed tanks.

I accept your claim. I have not personally used one of yours, thus I'm not going to specifically criticize, or laud, it. When I was looking for one of these overflows last year I went with another brand, not because I did not think your design fine, but because I wanted mine customized to my specific requirements. While I can certainly appreciate that plastic trimmed tanks present a challenge, I fail to see exactly how a lower external box would make any difference at all to surface skimming inside the tank .... speaking of nonsense!!
.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

It may be an issues with the Eshopps units but not with our design.

Eshopps makes a BA type overflow? Yeah I bet that went over great....

 

[mixer911]

I'm sorry, but would it be asking too much for you to actually read what I wrote rather than misrepresenting it! I did not specifically say that it was a problem with your overflow and please show me where I said 'they all have issues'? I think the word 'some' quite clearly does not mean all.

I accept your claim. I have not personally used one of yours, thus I'm not going to specifically criticize, or laud, it. When I was looking for one of these overflows last year I went with another brand, not because I did not think your design fine, but because I wanted mine customized to my specific requirements. While I can certainly appreciate that plastic trimmed tanks present a challenge, I fail to see exactly how a lower external box would make any difference at all to surface skimming inside the tank .... speaking of nonsense!!
.

I re-read what you wrote and I will admit it did say "some" as you stated "There are some of them where the external box is materially lower than the internal skim section that I would avoid." I guess I miss read it as you saying to avoid these types of designs. Maybe it was just me, but that was what I interpreted. But by posting it on this specific thread about our overflow, I have to feel that it was directed at it specifically. If you would have stated it a little more clearly that you do not have any experience with our product and no "data" on it, I would not have called you out on it. I will agree that there are some of them out there that I would avoid as well, so you are correct. But we invented the ghost and have many years of testing and design data to back it.

I totally respect your choice as to which product you choose to use. I was just making it clear as to why this overflow is designed that way as most people who have "not" used it like to misrepresent it. And yes if you look at how we designed it you will see that it does improve surface skimming over boxes that are symmetrically built.

Eshopps makes a BA type overflow? Yeah I bet that went over great....

hahaha... You know it! Well they tried, but missed a lot of the main points. But hey, who's counting.

 

[Waterlife]

That is actually the intention of the tuned siphon. You put a valve on the siphon line (and ONLY the siphon line) and then run up the return pump (you likely will get flow in all 3 pipes at some point, then the siphon will kick in fully and flush the external overflow box, then this will start cycling over and over) and at some point you start closing the siphon valve to balance the siphon drain rate with the return pump flow rate until they are equal.

Then as you start to close the siphon valve further, you will see the water level rise in the external overflow box. At some point, you will get maybe 5% or 10% of the return pump flow going through the open channel. That is what you want - just enough flow through the OC so that the water skins the inside of the pipe, but does not "break away" and start "closing off" the flow inside the pipe (which would entrain air into the water flow and make noise). Now, over time, your system flow will change as pipes slime up and you pump gets dirty. But this extra 5-10% OC flow is your buffer, you won't have to adjust anything for quite a while most likely.

It's nearly impossible (long term) to exactly match your siphon valve setting such that siphon drain rate = return pump rate. So the OC creates a variable buffer (and it allows silent and failsafe operation over quite a wide range of flow)

I run a 3-pipe system (1.5" pipes) in an external box on a 144 with a reeflo dart/snapper hybrid running wide open (2500-3000 GPH) and in ~5 years I have had to touch the siphon valve maybe 10 times. 2 of those were due to snails or fish lodged in the pipes. And let me tell you exactly how glad I am that I had this system installed during those 2 instances. Very glad that's how glad!

I am having a lot of trouble with mine. I have a 420 gallon aquarium with two of these overflows and it's the loudest thing I've ever heard. I don't know how to silence it. I'm running a Vectra L1 pump at full speed. There's so much gurgling and what sounds like major cooing from giant doves in the overflows. Hopefully I can find someone to help me with this before I have to get rid of it