Enkamat to quiet a weir...

[Lylelovett]

Hey all,

So I have the Synergy 16 Ghost Overflow and finally got it dialed in pretty good; it's nearly silent. But I was dealing with a noisy weir; seemingly coming from the water drop between the inner and outer box. I had adjusted the water level in the overflow as high as I could comfortably get it, and couldn't get it the weir as quiet as I wanted.

So I had found a few posts suggesting the use of Enkamat (PF4A specifically) to quiet the weir... It works! It works like gangbusters!

I put some larger rectangular pieces down in front of the bulkheads, and a strip along the top and it's almost silent. I'm not sure HOW much I can really put in there before it drastically starts affecting waterflow, but I'm super impressed and happy.

I just wanted to give the tip for anyone dealing with a noisy weir - Enkamat might be the solution.

Best,
J

(this is my first reef tank, so all these little victories are extremely rewarding lol)

 

[ReeferBean]

Can you post a pic?

 

[ca1ore]

Be careful. Mechanical media can/will clog and you may find yourself with a flood on your hands.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

You bought a commercial product yet you have to resort to DIY solutions...

It is so sad seeing fellow reefers getting taken, as I did, by synergy reef.

As ca1ore said, be careful that the enkamat doesn't clog up and flood your house.

I would, and did, replace the overflow with one that works properly.

 

[Lylelovett]

You bought a commercial product yet you have to resort to DIY solutions...

It is so sad seeing fellow reefers getting taken, as I did, by synergy reef.

As ca1ore said, be careful that the enkamat doesn't clog up and flood your house.

I would, and did, replace the overflow with one that works properly.

Thanks for the word of warning RE clogging. I'll keep a weather eye on it.

When I get the patience I will finesse to get the water level high enough that the difference in drop would be negligible and solve the problem. I currently don't have that patience, but can easily be a thing to play with down the road. And it's not really a functional problem per se; it's just trying to eliminate the gurgling noise since the tank is in the living room.

Is there another overflow that people are liking that fits in the same install as the Synergy? Which one did you end up going with?

 

[rushbattle]

Thanks for the word of warning RE clogging. I'll keep a weather eye on it.

When I get the patience I will finesse to get the water level high enough that the difference in drop would be negligible and solve the problem. I currently don't have that patience, but can easily be a thing to play with down the road.

Is there another overflow that people are liking that fits in the same install as the Synergy? Which one did you end up going with?

Exotic will make a replacement for the same holes. They are recommended, and Modular Marine.

Please do not try to raise the water level in the overflow any farther, you will flood! In order to raise the water level beyond the low point of the trickle in a Bean Animal you must restrict both syphon and trickle with a valve. This ruins the redundancy and turns it into a very expensive Herbie. The water level is very high in the outside box, so Herbie will be susceptible to going to the emergency very easily. Poor engineering.

Synergy cannot be quiet with over ~300gph without this enkamat cludge. Which will eventually clog when you are away on vacation or something more concerning, and you will regret the whole thing.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Exotic marine systems , a sponsor here, made me an overflow to fit in the holes I drilled for my shadow.

The EMS is superior in every way. I know it stinks having to replace a piece of equipment but it was well worth it for me. Reasons: safety factor, silence, not having to fiddle with it, superior performance ( flow, noise surface skimming) and durability ,vastly superior customer service to name a few.

Sorry you got scammed by synergy and their false claims. Talk to taylorpilot at EMS if you want that problem solved.

Happy reefing

 

[Lylelovett]

Exotic will make a replacement for the same holes. They are recommended, and Modular Marine.

Please do not try to raise the water level in the overflow any farther, you will flood! In order to raise the water level beyond the low point of the trickle in a Bean Animal you must restrict both syphon and trickle with a valve. This ruins the redundancy and turns it into a very expensive Herbie. The water level is very high in the outside box, so Herbie will be susceptible to going to the emergency very easily. Poor engineering.

Synergy cannot be quiet with over ~300gph without this enkamat cludge. Which will eventually clog when you are away on vacation or something more concerning, and you will regret the whole thing.

*sigh*

Well this is my first tank and I don't know that I can afford to re-engineer the overflow and plumbing right now. This is frustrating news to hear. I read so many good posts about Synergy before I started this...

I guess my choices are live with the noise for now or re-do it... At least I'm only running 5-700gph so it's not super noisy.

Thanks for your expertise and support.

 

[rushbattle]

*sigh*

Well this is my first tank and I don't know that I can afford to re-engineer the overflow and plumbing right now. This is frustrating news to hear. I read so many good posts about Synergy before I started this...

I guess my choices are live with the noise for now or re-do it... At least I'm only running 5-700gph so it's not super noisy.

I am sorry to be a bummer. I had the same feeling when I got mine setup.

I am running around 1000gph and it sounds like a literal waterfall up a floor (12ft ceilings and sound dampening ceiling tiles, hardwood door and weather sealed). My trickle drain is touching the cover of the outer box, as high as it can get.

I would live with the noise rather than flood. It is a competent overflow, just very noisy. Fixing the noise issue is what causes all sorts of dangers.

 

[rushbattle]

*sigh*

I read so many good posts about Synergy before I started this...

Thanks for your expertise and support.

I am sorry about the other posts in support. The design changed when they went to the molded polycarbonate overflow from a fabricated acrylic. That is the confusion, plus it is hard to review the new product without running into rules against talking bad about sponsors on this forum, so news travels slowly.

I don't claim expertise, but you have my full support! Feel free to message me if you need anything you don't feel comfortable sharing with the forum.

 

[rushbattle]

*sigh*

I read so many good posts about Synergy before I started this...

Thanks for your expertise and support.

I am sorry about the other posts in support. The design changed when they went to the molded polycarbonate overflow from a fabricated acrylic. That is the confusion. Plus it is hard to review the new product without running into rules against talking bad about sponsors on this forum (that is not the rule, but just how it seems to be around here), so news travels slowly.

I don't claim expertise, but you have my full support! Feel free to message me if you need anything you don't feel comfortable sharing with the forum.

 

[ca1ore]

Personally, I avoid any where the external box sits lower than the internal one. I’ve no experience with the synergy, but my eschopps is a problem for that reason.

 

[Lylelovett]

I am sorry to be a bummer. I had the same feeling when I got mine setup.

I am running around 1000gph and it sounds like a literal waterfall up a floor (12ft ceilings and sound dampening ceiling tiles, hardwood door and weather sealed). My trickle drain is touching the cover of the outer box, as high as it can get.

I would live with the noise rather than flood. It is a competent overflow, just very noisy. Fixing the noise issue is what causes all sorts of dangers.

It seeems very competent yes. I’m happy with getting it set up, it’s just the noisy weir. We have 12+ foot high ceilings an hard hardwood floors also.

And then also in hindsight, since I’m only running 500-1000gph MAX, I’m also wondering if the 1.5” that is on the Synergy irs too much anyway and I’d be better off going with 1” anyway?

Step one will be to pull the Enkamat out and see if I can stand the noise. Funnily enough my wife says she kinda likes the noise; calming. LOL I now can’t tell if I’m okay with the noise or just don’t like it because I know it COULD be silent. LOL.

 

[theMeat]

Must jump in here to try and put a stop to some of the confusing info up in here

Have reef synergy on a few tanks. Dead silent up to around 1200 gph on their 16” overflow.

You don’t have to and shouldn’t put a valve on both full siphon and secondary to make level in outside overflow higher. You just make the pipes inside higher. You should never put a valve on secondary. You should set it up, with valve adjusted on full siphon, so that water level in outside box is at halfway mark on secondary. Emergency drain an inch, maybe lil less than, above that

Again, or in other words. If you have noise because of water dropping too far from inside box, to outside box, just make the pipes in outside box taller. There is plenty of room to get inside box water level close enough to outside box water level that it runs silent. With another inch to emergency overflow, and a couple more above that so no danger of a flood, at all.

 

[rushbattle]

Must jump in here to try and put a stop to some of the confusing info up in here

Have reef synergy on a few tanks. Dead silent up to around 1200 gph on their 16” overflow.

You don’t have to and shouldn’t put a valve on both full siphon and secondary to make level in outside overflow higher. You just make the pipes inside higher. You should never put a valve on secondary. You should set it up, with valve adjusted on full siphon, so that water level in outside box is at halfway mark on secondary. Emergency drain an inch, maybe lil less than, above that

Again, or in other words. If you have noise because of water dropping too far from inside box, to outside box, just make the pipes in outside box taller. There is plenty of room to get inside box water level close enough to outside box water level that it runs silent. With another inch to emergency overflow, and a couple more above that so no danger of a flood, at all.

@Lylelovett if you try this, PLEASE give us feedback at least. Some folks that I respect and I have all have found the above to be false.

Edit: False with respect to the sound issues and related stand pipe height assertions. Definitely do not put a gate valve on the trickle like noted, that is absolutely the correct way to retain the benefits of Bean Animal.

 

[Lylelovett]

Must jump in here to try and put a stop to some of the confusing info up in here

Have reef synergy on a few tanks. Dead silent up to around 1200 gph on their 16” overflow.

You don’t have to and shouldn’t put a valve on both full siphon and secondary to make level in outside overflow higher. You just make the pipes inside higher. You should never put a valve on secondary. You should set it up, with valve adjusted on full siphon, so that water level in outside box is at halfway mark on secondary. Emergency drain an inch, maybe lil less than, above that

Again, or in other words. If you have noise because of water dropping too far from inside box, to outside box, just make the pipes in outside box taller. There is plenty of room to get inside box water level close enough to outside box water level that it runs silent. With another inch to emergency overflow, and a couple more above that so no danger of a flood, at all.

I was playing around with making the pipes taller, but when I did that it put the water level at .25”- .5” from the top of the box and it still wasn’t silent. Scarily close to the top... is that normal?

I’m going to go back and play around with it again before I ever decide to redo all my hard work.

 

[rushbattle]

I was playing around with making the pipes taller, but when I did that it put the water level at .25”- .5” from the top of the box. Scarily close... is that normal?

Normal for us trying to quiet these overflows, but probably not safe. Did it fix your noise issue?

 

[Lylelovett]

I was playing around with making the pipes taller, but when I did that it put the water level at .25”- .5” from the top of the box. Scarily close to the top... is that normal?

Normal for us trying to quiet these overflows, but probably not safe. Did it fix your noise issue?

It was quieter, for sure, but not silent. And I was scared to bump the level of water up higher. (Again this is my first tank so pushing the limits without the years of experience you all have stresses me out.). But I’m down to try it again.

 

[theMeat]

I was playing around with making the pipes taller, but when I did that it put the water level at .25”- .5” from the top of the box and it still wasn’t silent. Scarily close to the top... is that normal?

I’m going to go back and play around with it again before I ever decide to redo all my hard work.

Did you have upside down loop on top of full siphon and secondary? Helps with start up/air purge on start up if you drill a small hole near top of loops. Emergency gets no loop on top.
The top of full siphon should be completely underwater. Use valve on full siphon to get water level halfway up loop on secondary .
Maybe your full siphon pipe is too hi?

 

[theMeat]

@Lylelovett
Maybe us doing a FaceTime phone call to help you get this dialed in, if you want. Pm me so we can exchange #s and a window of time that works