It's A Lifestyle - 250g Peninsula

[rtparty]

It has been quite the roller coaster to get to this point. Mostly my own mistakes but in the end we're still here...

I still have to fix the main drain plumbing but figured we get as much water in as we can right now.

I have the overflow mostly silent now...and it's still a terrible design.

 

[rtparty]

Couple updates and pics of where we're at today. Rockwork isn't finished on the one side. Those are just holding down the PVC board I put under the rocks to keep any pressure points off the glass. Those boards are very buoyant. I have all the rock in my 120 that can transfer over. Problem is most are encrusted with coral. So the tank will need to be coral ready before I can add them.

I forgot how much dust sand carries. Even after hours of rinsing, the tank was pure milk for a couple days as the filter roller and floss tried to polish things up.

Tunze Stream 3 is a beast of a pump. It's mounting option (singular) is very limiting. I plan to mod it in the future.

The overflow is still the worst part. I guess my definition of quiet and Synergy's is very different. I should never hear water entering the internal box because it's falling far enough to splash. That's just poor engineering IMO

Anyway, time to figure out the lighting and get the skin attached.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Is your plumbing now fully functional?

 

[rtparty]

Is your plumbing now fully functional?

Yes. Switched out to a 1" gate valve on the main drain and got everything glued.

The overflow is still noisier than I'd like but it's as quiet as I'll get it.

I've got 2 blue XHO over the tank trying to get the uglies started. Some of the corals left on the rock from my 50g survived a month plus of no light and are opening up. I may throw some easy LPS in to see how they do.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I have the Fuji LowPro overflow... Don't get me started!! ... but anyway, the only way I could avoid the loud sound of falling water in the box was to use all 3 straight pipes (2 short, 1 tall emergency), and have enough water volume in the system with an adjustable speed pump where the 2 short pipes were fully submersed and even the tall emergency drain had a slight trickle at all times. So the water never fell more than about and inch and a half into the box. Best wishes with yours.

 

[rtparty]

I have the Fuji LowPro overflow... Don't get me started!! ... but anyway, the only way I could avoid the loud sound of falling water in the box was to use all 3 straight pipes (2 short, 1 tall emergency), and have enough water volume in the system with an adjustable speed pump where the 2 short pipes were fully submersed and even the tall emergency drain had a slight trickle at all times. So the water never fell more than about and inch and a half into the box. Best wishes with yours.

Yep!

I have 1 short and 2 emergency. The water level is right at the top as high as I can go

 

[scrappy35]

Overflow fix: I had the same problem with a eshopps overflow. The problem is they don’t make the outside box tall enough to run the water high enough. I had to machine a piece of acrylic to match the box and raise the height by a 1/2”. Then glued it to the top. This allowed me to run the water higher and it really quieted down that falling water sound. All the manufacturers would have to do is make the outside box and the inside box the same height. Then you can raise your drains higher. Notice the clear acrylic on top the box.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Good job, @scrappy35 . I must say, when I had to hold my water level about an inch and half from the top (to keep it quiet), I watched it like a hawk for about 2 weeks-- before I finally convinced myself that my variable pump wasn't going to mysteriously 'ramp up' and cause an overflow; and that I was alright if the power went off and came back on.

 

[rtparty]

It blows my mind that these companies are on second and third versions of these overflows and still haven't figured out the number one issue and complaint

 

[csund]

If the inner and outer boxes are the same height it’s easy to make it silent. The main issue with the synergy box is the 1.5” drains which are annoyingly large. My reef savvy overflow has 1” drains and I could have probably gotten away with 3/4”. For my 250g frag system I went with 1/2” modular marine overflow and run about 600gph through it for the last two years. However, if I were to change it I would make the main siphon 3/4” since I run that valve almost completely open. I do use expensive diaphragm valves that may restrict more than a typical gate valve.

My main siphon has no standpipe, the second drain is used and should make the water height in the inner and outer boxes about 3/4-1” below the wier. The emergency I put about 1/2” below top of overflow box. If adjusted properly there should always be a slight amount of water tricking down second drain. This accommodates variations in flow. To make stand pipes adjustable in height I slip over silicone hose and slide it up and down the solid pipe to get the right height without having to recut stand pipes.

 

[rtparty]

Got some tester corals added. I don't expect the birdsnest to do well but it was under the candy cane so I moved it over.

2 ReefBrite XHOs are jimmy rigged over the tank for now. Halides go on next week hopefully.

Biggest issue I'm having is serious humidity in the house. Like 60% so we have to get that under control ASAP

 

[dale347]

this is awesome

 

[rtparty]

this is awesome

Thank you

 

[rtparty]

Got some updates. Ugly stage is in full bloom. Lights are hanging over the tank and one halide is up. Absolutely love the ReefBrite 20k bulb so far.

Ordered some fish from Reef Chasers that should arrive Friday. They will be joining my current fish so the list will look like this...

Red Firefish
2 Pajama Cardinals
Lawnmower Blenny
Yellow Stripe Pygmy Wrasse
Convict Tang*
Two Spot Bristletooth Tang*
Gold Lined Rabbitfish*
Foxface Lo Rabbitfish*

* Equals new fish

 

[rtparty]

All 3 halides are up. Had to order 2 new ReefBrite 20k bulbs to match my new one.

I've moved over about 60% of my corals. Need to sell off some that I have no interest in. Real estate is super limited even in a 6*3 tank!

(Picture shows RB 20k front and then the center and rear halides are RB 14k. It's a little deceiving as it looks more blue than in person.)

 

[Hydrored]

Looks awesome! Love the halides

 

[rtparty]

Looks awesome! Love the halides

There is a glow with them that no other light puts out IMO. The SPS reflect their true colors.

I'll try to grab some updated pics tomorrow. Got my Tidal Gardens Mythos front and center as my show piece

 

[Hydrored]

There is a glow with them that no other light puts out IMO. The SPS reflect their true colors.

I'll try to grab some updated pics tomorrow. Got my Tidal Gardens Mythos front and center as my show piece

This tank will be a stunner, I have no doubts.

Happy with the Glass Cages build?

Did you get your synergy overflow to quiet down? I told @Joe Glass Cages recently on how I’m still dissatisfied with the overflow, I would love to know how anyone running 80+ times turnover for flow doesn’t get the waterfall noise when water is rocking. I’ve literally had to settle for flow I’m not happy with because of it. On my next tank I’ll send Glass Cages a Modular Marine to fit

 

[rtparty]

This tank will be a stunner, I have no doubts.

Happy with the Glass Cages build?

Did you get your synergy overflow to quiet down? I told @Joe Glass Cages recently on how I’m still dissatisfied with the overflow, I would love to know how anyone running 80+ times turnover for flow doesn’t get the waterfall noise when water is rocking. I’ve literally had to settle for flow I’m not happy with because of it. On my next tank I’ll send Glass Cages a Modular Marine to fit

I sure hope it turns out how I see it in my head. Bright, full spectrum, reflective colors with large colonies.

I can say I am thrilled with the Glasscages build. 9.5 out of 10 for sure. My .5 point mark down is for some silicone I had to clean up. Me being picky more than a bad job.

I have to give a major shout out to Joe here. There was an area of concern I brought up and he had me call him at 10pm his time to talk about it. The next day (mother's day) he and I were on a video chat inspecting things. It's very likely I'm being paranoid but that's so far above and beyond it's ridiculous.

As for the overflow...4/10. I can't give it a 1 because it does the job. It gets water to my sump and seems to be well built. The design is terrible. No way around it. You can not get them to be quiet. Any water splashing sound is too much IMO and there is no way to stop it. I have 1 siphon and 2 emergency drains so I can set the water as high as possible in the rear box. It helps a ton but not enough. Supposedly V3 has a fix for this and we're able to upgrade if wanted. I might call Synergy to see what that entails. I don't have all my power heads installed yet but I run mine at constant speed 99.9% of the time. I'll increase flow later this week and see how much noisier the overflow becomes. Might be time to diy something to stop the splashing sound.

So here is one thing I would absolutely change....I'd figure out a way to put Eurobrace all the way around the tank. No gaps anywhere. This would likely mean an external overflow of some kind. I don't like the back of the tank basically being rimless.

 

[Hydrored]

I sure hope it turns out how I see it in my head. Bright, full spectrum, reflective colors with large colonies.

I can say I am thrilled with the Glasscages build. 9.5 out of 10 for sure. My .5 point mark down is for some silicone I had to clean up. Me being picky more than a bad job.

I have to give a major shout out to Joe here. There was an area of concern I brought up and he had me call him at 10pm his time to talk about it. The next day (mother's day) he and I were on a video chat inspecting things. It's very likely I'm being paranoid but that's so far above and beyond it's ridiculous.

As for the overflow...4/10. I can't give it a 1 because it does the job. It gets water to my sump and seems to be well built. The design is terrible. No way around it. You can not get them to be quiet. Any water splashing sound is too much IMO and there is no way to stop it. I have 1 siphon and 2 emergency drains so I can set the water as high as possible in the rear box. It helps a ton but not enough. Supposedly V3 has a fix for this and we're able to upgrade if wanted. I might call Synergy to see what that entails. I don't have all my power heads installed yet but I run mine at constant speed 99.9% of the time. I'll increase flow later this week and see how much noisier the overflow becomes. Might be time to diy something to stop the splashing sound.

So here is one thing I would absolutely change....I'd figure out a way to put Eurobrace all the way around the tank. No gaps anywhere. This would likely mean an external overflow of some kind. I don't like the back of the tank basically being rimless.

Sounds like you are as picky as me, I’m glad to hear you had the same experience as me with Joe. I did warn Joe going into it though and said to charge me for a show tank knowing my expectations.

Interesting on the euro brace, I obviously don’t have that issue being it’s not a peninsula. I will have to keep that in mind for my next tank, I really want to do a 10x3x2 peninsula for my next build