16" Shadow overflow: Lid salt creep
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Dubs83
Valuable Member
I can post the uncropped picture of that rear box to guarantee it! Lol
I just went and measured.
Water level inside outside box is around 3.25-3.5 below display water level. The through tank bulkheads are around a third underwater, maybe a lil more but clearly not halfway. The water level in outside box is 3” below the lid, probably why no salt creep and plenty of room for emergency overflow. The secondary is lil more than halfway under water.
Am a stickler for gph going through sump. Don’t believe in manifolds on return pump because I want to know how many gph is going through sump. Have measured gph with a mechanical meter, as well have my skimmer in first section of split sump that dumps over into next section, which I know the gph my skimmer processes, and can compare the flow to it. And as another means of comparison I have a split sump, where the opposite side of just explainined returns from fuge that is run by an ehiem, which is probably the only pump that claims reasonable gph rates.
Water level inside outside box is around 3.25-3.5 below display water level. The through tank bulkheads are around a third underwater, maybe a lil more but clearly not halfway. The water level in outside box is 3” below the lid, probably why no salt creep and plenty of room for emergency overflow. The secondary is lil more than halfway under water.
Am a stickler for gph going through sump. Don’t believe in manifolds on return pump because I want to know how many gph is going through sump. Have measured gph with a mechanical meter, as well have my skimmer in first section of split sump that dumps over into next section, which I know the gph my skimmer processes, and can compare the flow to it. And as another means of comparison I have a split sump, where the opposite side of just explainined returns from fuge that is run by an ehiem, which is probably the only pump that claims reasonable gph rates.
Salt1972
Active Member
I don't really have a dog in this fight... the information in this thread is helpful to me. Documenting a known issue with a product is helpful. The idea that another thread was deleted or 'cleaned up' is concerning. I am planning a new tank and had been considering this overflow system. I am very glad to hear and see real world feedback.
With regard to helping the OP with his problem... it does appear likely that his issue will not be fixable with this system. The sooner he has that information, the better. Maybe you see the discussion as repetitive or 'beating a dead horse', but I am quite active here and, given my interest in the product, would have noticed and read a thread about the system. I had not seen anything mentioned in the past and am grateful to have the information in this thread.
Best wishes to all.
There’s been at least three in the 2.5 years I’ve been researching my new system. One of which is linked above. I can’t find the other two, but they were of similar content
I’m glad our off-topic horse-beating saved someone from wasting cash, time, and their sanity
I’m glad our off-topic horse-beating saved someone from wasting cash, time, and their sanity
Now that I ‘actually think about it’ ...
I know the full siphon is capable of pulling 1300 gph, which is slightly closed to get the secondary at around halfway under water height, which is pulling a coupla hundred more. So yes i’m definitely getting around 1100 gph as all other evidence corroborates.
If I think about it a lil more it seems you are actually a lil “noisy”, lil hostile too. I have no skin in this. Have installed probably ten of these overflows, and have one on my own tank. All silent, all no salt creep. Have installed others, and while synergy isn’t the most robust, wouldn’t say they are poorly designed or noisy, and they do have a nice sleek look.
Sorry you are having problems with yours.
I know the full siphon is capable of pulling 1300 gph, which is slightly closed to get the secondary at around halfway under water height, which is pulling a coupla hundred more. So yes i’m definitely getting around 1100 gph as all other evidence corroborates.
If I think about it a lil more it seems you are actually a lil “noisy”, lil hostile too. I have no skin in this. Have installed probably ten of these overflows, and have one on my own tank. All silent, all no salt creep. Have installed others, and while synergy isn’t the most robust, wouldn’t say they are poorly designed or noisy, and they do have a nice sleek look.
Sorry you are having problems with yours.
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JoshH
Tank Status: Wet...ish, growing things....
I'll second you here, I have done a ton of research on overflows and I'll be honest, there are some real lovers and some real haters of the shadow. To me, there seems to be an incredibly obvious design flaw with the external box in that there's absolutely no reason why it can't be at, or even remotely close to the same height as the internal box. It seems like such a ridiculously easy thing to re design and fix to make EVERYONE happy (heck a competitor offers an external box replacement) and blaming the end user for such issues is almost comical IMO. I do believe another Inch taller on the overflow should be a pretty simple thing to achieve and offering a replacement external box for those that are having issues would far better serve Synergys reputation in the long term. JMO of course and everyone is entitled to there own, but on that note, I'm going to sit back and grab my popcorn and continue to enjoy the show here;Nailbiting
And to those where it is functioning happily, that's awesome, I do hope it continues to do so.
Dubs83
Valuable Member
With all due respect, Neil and I have provided both videos and photos of the overflow noise and salt creep. Can you please show us? I’ve gotten rid of mine, but Neil is still stuck with his. Perhaps a video or picture of your 10 set ups running this 1100gph would help him out. And then he too would be a believer.
lol. Yeah wait, will drive all over Long Island to video tape overflows. Can try to post a vid of mine but the last time I tried to post a vid I had to find a host or some other thing I didn’t know how to accomplish. I’m ok with not being the most internet savvy
Dubs83
Valuable Member
It’s a good time of night to do that [emoji6]
YouTube will host it. Or email it to me and I’ll post it for you.
miPapareef
Well-Known Member
Wow I just read this whole thread. I think I’ll sleep on my response and post up a fair review tomorrow. Spoiler alert my pic will win the salt creep award, but at least it’s quiet. Oh ya, and flow rate makes all the difference with this overflow.
OP
OP
Janci
Staghorns will prevail
Wow, things got a little out of hand on this thread...
Just for your info, my overflow is quiet, but I could never solve the salt creep coming out of the external box.
I use duct tape to seal it as much as possible :mad:
Just for your info, my overflow is quiet, but I could never solve the salt creep coming out of the external box.
I use duct tape to seal it as much as possible :mad:
Thing is though- I showed you a very similar set up water level, at less flow AND IM PRETTY SURE ANYONE WHO WATCHED THE VIDEO WOULD AGREE IT ISNT SILENT.
and your rebuttal says absolutely nothing about noise.
YouTube will host, or Dubs can post it, or I can, or one of the mods. If you actually wanted us to (not) hear your amazing silent 1100 gph, 3.5” drop overflow - you’d avail yourself of a mod to post it.
The only reasonable explanation is that you said it was silent, got called out, cant prove your point, and are now unwilling to show any proof.
I get that the majority of shadows *might* be working (don’t see how though). And maybe 100 out of 4000 being noisy isn’t a huge percentage.
What annoyed me off was seeing the constantly bad attitude of the company blaming their design shortcomings on ‘incorrect set up by the user’ and telling us we were lying to them to get our money back. Even though we have video proof. Go look at my build thread. Then tell me I don’t have a handle on what is required on the plumbing side. I might have bought my first tank on a Tuesday— but it wasn’t *last* Tuesday.
Such bad customer service. But they justify it because users like you defend them until you are blue in the face despite evidence to the contrary.
Sorry for the rant. It just really grinds my gears when people just ignore really obvious proof without providing any of their own to counter.
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I think I'll sit this one out. Lol (When it comes to telling other's what to do) I don't use one on my display, it's a 200 dd with crappy corner overflows. I have 2 40 breeders with shadow overflow and just put one on a 80 frag tank. When I get the frag tank running I will do some "tests". I have a varios 8 that will have little head pressure. All my tanks besides the display are in my unfinished basement so I can try the emergency pipe only deal.
I've been happy with the 2 I've been running for over 2 years, but I'm not pushing more than 500 gph through them. I will try over 1k gph on my new setup and see how this box handles it. I don't plan on running that much through it on a normal basis, but will do so for the first week or so to see if it will handle it.
I do have to say if I were planning on a large tank, say over 180 gallons I wouldn't use the synergy overflow. I would look at other options. I would want something larger and more robust on my main display if it were a large system.
I'm always on here and haven't seen many complaints about this overflow. This is actually the 2nd time I've read anything about it. Guess I'll try to duplicate the issues others are having with my new setup and report back.
Here's my 2 I've been running, which get very little salt creep and I can't hear...
And here is my new setup that I will test over 1,000 gph on for an experiment...
I've been happy with the 2 I've been running for over 2 years, but I'm not pushing more than 500 gph through them. I will try over 1k gph on my new setup and see how this box handles it. I don't plan on running that much through it on a normal basis, but will do so for the first week or so to see if it will handle it.
I do have to say if I were planning on a large tank, say over 180 gallons I wouldn't use the synergy overflow. I would look at other options. I would want something larger and more robust on my main display if it were a large system.
I'm always on here and haven't seen many complaints about this overflow. This is actually the 2nd time I've read anything about it. Guess I'll try to duplicate the issues others are having with my new setup and report back.
Here's my 2 I've been running, which get very little salt creep and I can't hear...
And here is my new setup that I will test over 1,000 gph on for an experiment...
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Dubs83
Valuable Member
I think I'll sit this one out. Lol (When it comes to telling other's what to do) I don't use one on my display, it's a 200 dd with crappy corner overflows. I have 2 40 breeders with shadow overflow and just put one on a 80 frag tank. When I get the frag tank running I will do some "tests". I have a varios 8 that will have little head pressure. All my tanks besides the display are in my unfinished basement so I can try the emergency pipe only deal.
I've been happy with the 2 I've been running for over 2 years, but I'm not pushing more than 500 gph through them. I will try over 1k gph on my new setup and see how this box handles it. I don't plan on running that much through it on a normal basis, but will do so for the first week or so to see if it will handle it.
I do have to say if I were planning on a large tank, say over 180 gallons I wouldn't use the synergy overflow. I would look at other options. I would want something larger and more robust on my main display if it were a large system.
I'm always on here and haven't seen many complaints about this overflow. This is actually the 2nd time I've read anything about it. Guess I'll try to duplicate the issues others are having with my new setup and report back.
Here's my 2 I've been running, which get very little salt creep and I can't hear...
And here is my new setup that I will test over 1,000 gph on for an experiment...
So, when I reduced my flow to about 400-500gph(again this is per the apex FMM) it got quiet. The other thing I could do to quiet the thing down is remove the front weir altogether. Look forward to this, truly do.
I actually kept mine as I plan on a frag tank in my basement as well and will be doing the same test.
You’v got issues! And so does your overflow. Coincidence?
Never saw or heard of you before. Now you’re arguing with me on another thread.
Coincidence ?
Would have to agree with reef synergy on this one, that it must be installer /plumbing related error. Because it not like playing horseshoes. It doesn’t almost work. If you are within gph it is intended for, and it is installed and plumbed correctly, it works.
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