he is a really good instructor. I'm clueless with DIY like this, and I totally get it the first time, but I watch it over and over and will watch again when Im actually finally putting it together. I prestarted, and it is easy with him showing you.
I watched the entire video and came away with the reinforced understanding about chamfering the pipe. I counted the number of times he uses the term and realized how focused he was on this single point. Thanks!
So the only issue I get is alot of salt creep and can be noisy, after i watched the video at macna i noticed in the comments you guys said you had to gate valves to get it very quite. wish you would have recommend that.
Hi Keith, Salt creep can be caused by many things and one in particular is incorrectly tuned overflow. With it not properly tuned you can get excessive air bubbles in the rear box causing excessive salt creep. We also have modified the rear box lid assembly in the Shadow V2 to eliminate salt creep. As for the gate valve, in this video at 6:15 we do recommend a gate valve and we definitely would have if you contacted us for assistance. There is no way to tune the overflow without a gate valve and this is how it functions. Ball Valves are not recommended as they are only designed to shut water on and off. Gate valves will allow for gradual closure and tuning of the flow. Happy Reefing!
@@SynergyReef I tried tuning it to get the water up in the box like mention but the issues is not make what size length I make the pipe the second drain creates a siphon and can get it to stay consistent. But I noticed in your video you all used two gate valves so going to try that.
@@SynergyReef I have gate valve on the primary line i am talking about one on the secondary line. You guy mentioned it in the comments. That makes sense to be abel to get the water up higher
@@smooterd A 2nd gate valve would ONLY be needed in very low flow (500 gph or less) situations, but this is rare. The water level is raised with the internal pipes and not the gate valve. The gate valve is only used to balance (silence) the flow between the primary and secondary once they are at the correct heights for your particular flow. The valves are not to be used for level adjustment in the rear box. Only 1 gate valve is needed. Then adjust your internal pipes to the correct lengths to get the water level higher in the rear box. Make them equally taller. Start with our recommended lengths and then go up in increments of .25" if needed. This is all dependent on your flow rate you are running.
Nope. It is totally fine to reduce the drains down to whatever size you need for your flow rate you wish to run. We designed it with larger drains so they can always be reduced.
I noticed that both U pipes have holes in the top of them. Previously, I have only seen the vent holes on the 2ndary. I have your previous generation 16" box with the 1" fittings inside and only have vent hole on 2ndary --- had problems getting the system to "settle" and purge all the air out of the primary. My sump is in my basement about 10 feet below -- curious if I'm having trouble with that large column of air in my primary and a vent hole on primary would help this too?
It can, just be sure when you lay out your holes like he did you also check the skimmer box on the INSIDE AS WELL. my tank also has a cross brace and had I just checked the collection box on the back it would’ve been a hair too tight for removing the weir. I’ve had mine for 3+ years with no issues. Good luck
what is the point of the u drain on the full syphon line? like what would be the difference if i just put a strainer on the bottom of the bulkhead inside the box?
Im setting up a 210g. system and will be removing the internal overflows. I had a 20" overflow on my last 180 bow. However, it seemed like the overflow warped overtime and created noise. Im thinking of trying the ghost overflows. I want two overflow's plumbed into the basement. Does this sound like a bad idea or should I stick with one? Great product, thanks in advance!
Being injection molded with polycarbonate, the Shadow weirs will not bow. For a 210 it really depends on how much flow you will be running. 2 would probably be the way to go.
Great video. I have a question. I have a 420 gal tank that I'm working on with 2 of the 20" overflows from you guys. The return pump is a Reeflo Super Dart / Snapper Gold Hybrid (4300⁄2400 GPH) that has a 2" FPT inlet and a 1.5" FPT outlet. I too, was wanting to use 3/4" Loc-line at the tank. Do I stay with 1.5" on the pipe from the return pump to the tank and then reduce to 3/4" bulk heads or do I not use Loc-lines and reduce to maybe a 1" bulk head? Thanks in advance!
Just curious - why do you recommend a 4 to 10 inch length of PVC immediately below the Overflow? Are there any considerations with using the shorter or longer length?
Hi Jim, you can technically use any size you would like, but we found that the 4-10 inch lenghts work the best if you need to ever modify your installation.
Because of the viscosity of the ABS transition cement. It is too thick and does not chemically soften the plastics like standard PVC cement. We tested it originally and did not see any benefit to using it. We actually found that standard PVC cement works better and creates a better bond.
My overflow from you has dividers in the rear box. I don't have a choice where to put the U-pipes. There's 2 larger sections on the ends and one more narrow section in the center. My emergency drain is on one of the ends. And.... For some reason, move if the pipes week even fit in to that section.
Yes in some setups the majority of flow will be running thru the secondary drain. A valve isn't necessary because the primary drain valve will balance the flow between both drains. But in some cases you can use a valve on the secondary drain to get even more control over the flow.
Hello nice video question is this for tank that are drill? I would love to try this on my 90 gal. But it's not drill. I want to try the overflow method. But not sure if it will work
Hey Ken! No we do not recommend connecting the emergency to the secondary. At that point you no longer have an emergency. It will also create a loud suction noise to be emitted from the emergency pipe in the overflow box. It won't be quiet :-). If anything you would be better off just not using an emergency and running a 2 pipe system. Just use a PVC Cap and plug the emergency hole. The 3 pipes have to stay independent of each other in order to properly function in a silent manner. Thanks for asking, it's a great question!
The inside just needs to be lightly sanded or scraped. The outside it what needs to be chamfered to allow the PVC glue to be distributed evenly inside the fitting and along the pipe edges.
Pipe sizes will vary based on your flow rates. The website will have the most current info as we have updated our recommended pipe lengths since this video was released. These are both perfectly fine lengths to start with though. Fine tuning will be required in some cases, so there is no 1 size fits all.
Approximately 8-10 gallons. This is calculated by taking the length x width and then figuring a 1.5" level drop if you remove the front weir. You can use any of the online aquarium volume calculators to calculate this.
No. The Holes would either need to match or you need to drill them with our template. The hole placement is in specific locations to allow the plumbing to work properly inside the overflow.
Is there a difference between PVC glue and PVC cement? I picked up the Oatey "Handy Pack" which came with the purple primer and the "Regular Clear PVC Cement." Can I use that, or should I get the "medium clear"?
Any regular PVC Cement will work. Just do NOT use the primer. PVC cements come in different viscosity or thicknesses. Medium is just the viscosity. You can use any viscosity, but we like medium the best.
When you were attaching the PVC piping to the overflow you put too much glue it was paddling inside you just wanna put enough that it doesn’t puddle and stays clean
On your website's 'contact us ', why do you require a secondary email? Not many people have two email addresses. This makes asking for help much more difficult if not impossible. And no phone number for contact. Not great customer support.
@charles kares we require a secondary email in the event that the primary email gets kicked back to us and we cannot contact you. Often times people may also enter an incorrect email address and the secondary may be correct. Setting up a secondary on Gmail or other free email providers is very easy and most people actually have multiple addresses. Asking for help is not difficult or impossible that way as we get hundreds of questions and answer them all very fast. We do not talk on the phone as we are a machine shop and it is most of the time very loud in our facility. Also having a written email allows us to go back and make sure everything was covered that we needed to address. Phone conversations tend to get forgotten and lost. We do not have tech support reps that can just wait for a phone call to answer as we are a still a small family owned company. You can ask our customers about our support and will find our support is top notch. Hope this helps.
Actually it's not acrylic :-) It's Poly carbonate and has been engineered for the proper thickness for it's function. This is not a hand built item. When people hand build them, they tend to overbuild it as it has seams and needs to be thicker material. I can bet structurally the Shadow is stronger that any acrylic box that is thicker material.
he is a really good instructor. I'm clueless with DIY like this, and I totally get it the first time, but I watch it over and over and will watch again when Im actually finally putting it together. I prestarted, and it is easy with him showing you.
Thank you! We are happy that it helped!
I watched the entire video and came away with the reinforced understanding about chamfering the pipe. I counted the number of times he uses the term and realized how focused he was on this single point. Thanks!
lol.....me too...it was VERY distracting
But I bet you know that we recommend that you chamfer the pipes first ;-)
Great video. I'm just installing a overflow box and the chamfering procedure to the pipe was something that help me a lot.
Thanks
Ruben Hernandez that's awesome! It really helped us and we have done all of our plumbing since with chamfered pipes! Really makes a difference.
Yeah I used a file to chamfered my pipes and it looked pretty good! Never new anything about this thanks Rick
So the only issue I get is alot of salt creep and can be noisy, after i watched the video at macna i noticed in the comments you guys said you had to gate valves to get it very quite. wish you would have recommend that.
Hi Keith, Salt creep can be caused by many things and one in particular is incorrectly tuned overflow. With it not properly tuned you can get excessive air bubbles in the rear box causing excessive salt creep. We also have modified the rear box lid assembly in the Shadow V2 to eliminate salt creep. As for the gate valve, in this video at 6:15 we do recommend a gate valve and we definitely would have if you contacted us for assistance. There is no way to tune the overflow without a gate valve and this is how it functions. Ball Valves are not recommended as they are only designed to shut water on and off. Gate valves will allow for gradual closure and tuning of the flow. Happy Reefing!
@@SynergyReef I tried tuning it to get the water up in the box like mention but the issues is not make what size length I make the pipe the second drain creates a siphon and can get it to stay consistent. But I noticed in your video you all used two gate valves so going to try that.
@@smooterd Without a gate valve you will never get it tuned. Definitely get a gate valve first.
@@SynergyReef I have gate valve on the primary line i am talking about one on the secondary line. You guy mentioned it in the comments. That makes sense to be abel to get the water up higher
@@smooterd A 2nd gate valve would ONLY be needed in very low flow (500 gph or less) situations, but this is rare. The water level is raised with the internal pipes and not the gate valve. The gate valve is only used to balance (silence) the flow between the primary and secondary once they are at the correct heights for your particular flow. The valves are not to be used for level adjustment in the rear box. Only 1 gate valve is needed. Then adjust your internal pipes to the correct lengths to get the water level higher in the rear box. Make them equally taller. Start with our recommended lengths and then go up in increments of .25" if needed. This is all dependent on your flow rate you are running.
Using a 40 gal breeder with this overflow- would there be any issue reducing to 1" drains after a union? Return pump is controllable.
Nope. It is totally fine to reduce the drains down to whatever size you need for your flow rate you wish to run. We designed it with larger drains so they can always be reduced.
My question, too. Glad you asked.
on top of primary syphon elbow is still need to drill a small hole ?
Not with the Shadow V2 since the U pipes already come with the hole needed.
I noticed that both U pipes have holes in the top of them. Previously, I have only seen the vent holes on the 2ndary. I have your previous generation 16" box with the 1" fittings inside and only have vent hole on 2ndary --- had problems getting the system to "settle" and purge all the air out of the primary. My sump is in my basement about 10 feet below -- curious if I'm having trouble with that large column of air in my primary and a vent hole on primary would help this too?
Hi Patrick,
Yes that is exactly why we now recommend holes in both pipes. This eliminates the air lock scenario with some setups.
Do you just leave the vent holes open? The hole on the primary only matters when you are trying to restart the siphon correct?
Yes, both holes need to be left open in order to properly restart the siphon. The secondary can also create an air lock if not vented.
Can this be installed on a tank with the black plastic rim around it? Does it include the diamond drill bit or do I need to purchase one separately?
It can, just be sure when you lay out your holes like he did you also check the skimmer box on the INSIDE AS WELL. my tank also has a cross brace and had I just checked the collection box on the back it would’ve been a hair too tight for removing the weir. I’ve had mine for 3+ years with no issues. Good luck
Hello, how far apart are the bulkhead holes ? my tank already is drilled and want to know if this unit will fit.
You can look at our template for the hole spacing synergyreef.com/Manuals/Synergy_Reef_Drilling_Template_16_Shadow.pdf
what is the point of the u drain on the full syphon line? like what would be the difference if i just put a strainer on the bottom of the bulkhead inside the box?
With certain flow rates it is necessary to make to overflow silent. Strainers can cause a vortex and breaks up the linear flow causing noise.
Can you list a link of the sump ?
Im setting up a 210g. system and will be removing the internal overflows. I had a 20" overflow on my last 180 bow. However, it seemed like the overflow warped overtime and created noise. Im thinking of trying the ghost overflows. I want two overflow's plumbed into the basement. Does this sound like a bad idea or should I stick with one? Great product, thanks in advance!
Being injection molded with polycarbonate, the Shadow weirs will not bow. For a 210 it really depends on how much flow you will be running. 2 would probably be the way to go.
Great video. I have a question. I have a 420 gal tank that I'm working on with 2 of the 20" overflows from you guys. The return pump is a Reeflo Super Dart / Snapper Gold Hybrid (4300⁄2400 GPH) that has a 2" FPT inlet and a 1.5" FPT outlet. I too, was wanting to use 3/4" Loc-line at the tank. Do I stay with 1.5" on the pipe from the return pump to the tank and then reduce to 3/4" bulk heads or do I not use Loc-lines and reduce to maybe a 1" bulk head? Thanks in advance!
I would reduce to 1" bulkheads.
Just curious - why do you recommend a 4 to 10 inch length of PVC immediately below the Overflow? Are there any considerations with using the shorter or longer length?
Hi Jim,
you can technically use any size you would like, but we found that the 4-10 inch lenghts work the best if you need to ever modify your installation.
I'm curious as to why you recommend against ABS-to-PVC transition cement when gluing the drains in.
Because of the viscosity of the ABS transition cement. It is too thick and does not chemically soften the plastics like standard PVC cement. We tested it originally and did not see any benefit to using it. We actually found that standard PVC cement works better and creates a better bond.
What is the flow rate and hole size in the glass
Max flow rate is 2500 GPH and the holes thru the glass are 63mm.
@@SynergyReef thx
My overflow from you has dividers in the rear box. I don't have a choice where to put the U-pipes. There's 2 larger sections on the ends and one more narrow section in the center. My emergency drain is on one of the ends. And.... For some reason, move if the pipes week even fit in to that section.
Regarding the secondary overflow, does any water flow thru this overflow and if so why isn't a valve necessary? Thank you
Yes in some setups the majority of flow will be running thru the secondary drain. A valve isn't necessary because the primary drain valve will balance the flow between both drains. But in some cases you can use a valve on the secondary drain to get even more control over the flow.
Has anyone successfully ran a return instead of the emergency? Also, your 16" model uses 1.5" plumbing as well?
Hello nice video question is this for tank that are drill? I would love to try this on my 90 gal. But it's not drill. I want to try the overflow method. But not sure if it will work
Yes you have to drill the tank. It is a very easy process. Seems scary, but it is very simple if you can use a drill.
Hi my sump is in the basement and i was wondering if it would be ok to connect the emergency drain to the secondary drain by using a Y connector
Hey Ken! No we do not recommend connecting the emergency to the secondary. At that point you no longer have an emergency. It will also create a loud suction noise to be emitted from the emergency pipe in the overflow box. It won't be quiet :-). If anything you would be better off just not using an emergency and running a 2 pipe system. Just use a PVC Cap and plug the emergency hole. The 3 pipes have to stay independent of each other in order to properly function in a silent manner. Thanks for asking, it's a great question!
Is there anything like this for the UK market ?
we ship directly to the UK.
In the shadow box are two tabs taped to the side of the box. What are these tabs used for?
To remove the front weir. th-cam.com/video/dlFgyflSrbY/w-d-xo.html
Do you also sand or chamfer the inside edge of the pipe?
The inside just needs to be lightly sanded or scraped. The outside it what needs to be chamfered to allow the PVC glue to be distributed evenly inside the fitting and along the pipe edges.
Website recommends internal drain pipes at 2.75", 3.75" and 6.25". Video suggests 2.5", 3.5" and 7" ???
Pipe sizes will vary based on your flow rates. The website will have the most current info as we have updated our recommended pipe lengths since this video was released. These are both perfectly fine lengths to start with though. Fine tuning will be required in some cases, so there is no 1 size fits all.
In the event of a power outage, how much water will the Shadow drain to the sump?Thank you
Charles it will depend on the size of your aquarium. Need to know the lenght and width of the aquarium to calculate this.
120 gallon 48 x24x24Thank you
Approximately 8-10 gallons. This is calculated by taking the length x width and then figuring a 1.5" level drop if you remove the front weir. You can use any of the online aquarium volume calculators to calculate this.
The rubber gaskets...where exactly do you put them, I can't see it in the video....
The rubber gaskets go in between the overflow and the aquarium glass. If you watch our "how to drill you aquarium" video it will show it in detail.
So you don't glue the fittings that go inside the overflow like the emergency drain and the other 2
Correct, do not glue them. You may need to adjust the lengths to tune the overflow to your flow rate.
Am I supposed to chamfer the pipe? lol Thanks for the video!
Is this (1 1/2") compatible with 40mm tubing?
Close. We recommend the adapters for 50mm to 1.5" on our website.
Do you sell this overflow with no cutouts for the glass. I'd like to replace my existing overflow so my glass is already cut.
No. The Holes would either need to match or you need to drill them with our template. The hole placement is in specific locations to allow the plumbing to work properly inside the overflow.
thank you
how much is the shipping to mexico city?
Send us a contact and we can calculate shipping for you. synergyreef.com/contact-us/
no primer needed?
correct DO NOT use primer on the overflow
Why no Primer? You should always use primer
@@meiersreefs188 primer is for pressure applications. It really isn't necessary for this at all.
How come you don’t use primer?
The rear box is made of ABS plastic and PVC primers are not supposed to be used on ABS plastics per the primer manufacturer's instructions.
Just glue no primer?
TonesBaseball yes that is correct. No primer, just medium clear standard pvc glue.
Is there a difference between PVC glue and PVC cement? I picked up the Oatey "Handy Pack" which came with the purple primer and the "Regular Clear PVC Cement." Can I use that, or should I get the "medium clear"?
Any regular PVC Cement will work. Just do NOT use the primer. PVC cements come in different viscosity or thicknesses. Medium is just the viscosity. You can use any viscosity, but we like medium the best.
Pvc pipe requires pvc pipe primer before the cement.
When you were attaching the PVC piping to the overflow you put too much glue it was paddling inside you just wanna put enough that it doesn’t puddle and stays clean
On your website's 'contact us ', why do you require a secondary email? Not many people have two email addresses. This makes asking for help much more difficult if not impossible. And no phone number for contact. Not great customer support.
@charles kares we require a secondary email in the event that the primary email gets kicked back to us and we cannot contact you. Often times people may also enter an incorrect email address and the secondary may be correct. Setting up a secondary on Gmail or other free email providers is very easy and most people actually have multiple addresses. Asking for help is not difficult or impossible that way as we get hundreds of questions and answer them all very fast. We do not talk on the phone as we are a machine shop and it is most of the time very loud in our facility. Also having a written email allows us to go back and make sure everything was covered that we needed to address. Phone conversations tend to get forgotten and lost. We do not have tech support reps that can just wait for a phone call to answer as we are a still a small family owned company. You can ask our customers about our support and will find our support is top notch. Hope this helps.
man, that looks like some flimsy and thin acrylic....
Actually it's not acrylic :-) It's Poly carbonate and has been engineered for the proper thickness for it's function. This is not a hand built item. When people hand build them, they tend to overbuild it as it has seams and needs to be thicker material. I can bet structurally the Shadow is stronger that any acrylic box that is thicker material.
Jesus say chamfer one more time.
Chamfer