Reducing drain lines to 1" on Shadow?

joec · Aug 14, 2017

Hi,

On your Shadow overflow, I want to reduce the drain lines from 1.5" to 1". Where do you advise doing or not doing this, or does it matter? Before or after the three unions, before or after the gate valve (1" gate valve is less expensive than 1.5)?

Antics · Aug 14, 2017

Was there a reason the synergy was bumped up to 1.5"? Most sumps have 2-3 overflow 1" drains.

mixer911 · Aug 14, 2017

joec said:
Hi,

On your Shadow overflow, I want to reduce the drain lines from 1.5" to 1". Where do you advise doing or not doing this, or does it matter? Before or after the three unions, before or after the gate valve (1" gate valve is less expensive than 1.5)?

Hi @joec

Yes it is perfectly fine to reduce the 1.5" Drains down to 1". With lower flow rates this is better in some setups. You can still get up to 1500 GPH with 1" drains. For where to reduce them, we recommend reducing them after the unions. Use 1.5" unions and then reduce down to 1". This way you keep the overflow at 1.5" if you ever decide to use it with 1.5" drains in the future. You can easily swap half of the union with a new piece and have 1.5" drains again. This will allow you to then use a 1" Gate valve as well after the reducer.

mixer911 · Aug 14, 2017

Antics said:
Was there a reason the synergy was bumped up to 1.5"? Most sumps have 2-3 overflow 1" drains.

Yes. 1.5" drains are quieter when running a bean animal setup or full siphon at higher flow rates. Having 1.5" drains allows the overflow to be used on larger aquariums. The 1.5" drains can always be reduced to 1". 1" drains limited the flow of the overflow. If you notice all of our sumps are designed to accomodate 1.5" drains. It is cheaper for a sump manufacturer to use 1" bulkheads and fittings instead of 1.5". Now for sumps that are for systems under 80 gallons 1" drains are fine. We see so many sumps for larger tanks with 1" drains when they should be 1.5". Space is also another reason sump builders try and use 1" drains in their designs. We tried to make it as universal as possible with the 1.5" drains. We have customers with 20 gallon tanks up to 800 gallons using the Shadow Overflows.

Antics · Aug 14, 2017

mixer911 said:
Yes. 1.5" drains are quieter when running a bean animal setup or full siphon at higher flow rates. Having 1.5" drains allows the overflow to be used on larger aquariums. The 1.5" drains can always be reduced to 1". 1" drains limited the flow of the overflow. If you notice all of our sumps are designed to accomodate 1.5" drains. It is cheaper for a sump manufacturer to use 1" bulkheads and fittings instead of 1.5". Now for sumps that are for systems under 80 gallons 1" drains are fine. We see so many sumps for larger tanks with 1" drains when they should be 1.5". Space is also another reason sump builders try and use 1" drains in their designs. We tried to make it as universal as possible with the 1.5" drains. We have customers with 20 gallon tanks up to 800 gallons using the Shadow Overflows.

Thanks for the reaponse. It just seemed odd to me because it's like the 20" version was meant for bigger tanks but when you did the redesign you basically made the 16" the standard regardless of size. Is there any benefit or limitations to consider on the 16 shadow vs the older 20" version? I've always liked the idea of a larger surface skim.

joec · Aug 14, 2017

mixer911 said:
Hi @joec

Yes it is perfectly fine to reduce the 1.5" Drains down to 1". With lower flow rates this is better in some setups. You can still get up to 1500 GPH with 1" drains. For where to reduce them, we recommend reducing them after the unions. Use 1.5" unions and then reduce down to 1". This way you keep the overflow at 1.5" if you ever decide to use it with 1.5" drains in the future. You can easily swap half of the union with a new piece and have 1.5" drains again. This will allow you to then use a 1" Gate valve as well after the reducer.

Thanks, wow, the fast response is highly appreciated!

needbiggertanks · Aug 14, 2017

If i may add, something to keep in mind when setting up your plumbing? I just ran into a problem where the 1.5" unions i used are so large, the press against the glass not allowing the external box to sit flush. The union pushes the pipes away from the tank slightly. This was totally my failt tho, and not the overflows. Just keep it in mind.

Also, thanks to switching to this overflow, its so quiet, i now notice how loud my wavemakers, and skimmer... even my refrigerator are!!

mixer911 · Aug 14, 2017

Antics said:
Thanks for the reaponse. It just seemed odd to me because it's like the 20" version was meant for bigger tanks but when you did the redesign you basically made the 16" the standard regardless of size. Is there any benefit or limitations to consider on the 16 shadow vs the older 20" version? I've always liked the idea of a larger surface skim.

@Antics Your welcome. I am glad you asked. So after making both versions by hand for about 3 years we were able to see what people were wanting. The old 16" version out sold the 20" version hands down. The 20" was intended for larger tanks and allowed for higher flow rates with the 1.5" drains. Surface skimming was not really why the 20" was larger. It really had everything to do with the 1.5" fittings in the rear box. With standard off the shelf 1.5" fittings we found that a rear box of 20" was the minimum we. Would use to get everything to fit.

Enter injection molding. Now we were able to make a bulkheadless rear box (No large bulkhead flanges meant slimmer rear box). We also were able to design the new U flow pipes so they would be 1.5" fittings and also fit within the 16" form factor. So with 3D design software we were able to now fit 1.5" into the 16" Shadow.

Now back to surface skimming. Most people are using the 16" Shadow on tanks 120 gallons and under. 16" is plenty of skimming surface on these sized tanks. Especially since our systems are closed systems and we are turning over the whole system at 5 -10 times turnover rates. Larger tanks can easily use 2 or more and achieve 32" of surface skimming. Surface skimming is a highly debated topic and everyone has their opinions on what is better, but we feel after extensive testing the 16" is plenty.

The limitation is 3/4" glass thickness with the shadow. This is what we figured would be the maximum thickness that would be needed for it.
We still make the hand built 20" version for aquariums with glass over 3/4" thicknesses.

Hopefully that answered most of it for you.

mixer911 · Aug 14, 2017

needbiggertanks said:
If i may add, something to keep in mind when setting up your plumbing? I just ran into a problem where the 1.5" unions i used are so large, the press against the glass not allowing the external box to sit flush. The union pushes the pipes away from the tank slightly. This was totally my failt tho, and not the overflows. Just keep it in mind.

Also, thanks to switching to this overflow, its so quiet, i now notice how loud my wavemakers, and skimmer... even my refrigerator are!!

Glad to hear you like it! Not hearing a slurping overflow again is why we made these

We designed it with enough clearance to use most any 1.5" Unions and have it clear the tank. Weird that it hit.

needbiggertanks · Aug 15, 2017

mixer911 said:
Glad to hear you like it! Not hearing a slurping overflow again is why we made these We designed it with enough clearance to use most any 1.5" Unions and have it clear the tank. Weird that it hit.

I thought so too but no worries. When i move it to a larger tank ill cut and fit new unions. I do love this overflow.