The Shadow™ Overflow from Synergy Reef has arrived!

[mixer911]

The only reason I ask because my back trim is like 2"

Totally understand and I am glad you asked. When installed the rear box will be just below the trim. We have calculated the differences and made it where the internal water level will be about 1/4" above the level of the trim. We have a lot of customers with 2" trims and larger, welded aluminum, stainless and plastics.

Great lookin nu... I mean fasteners

Can't wait for my pre-order

hahahaha... Thanks for the compliments and the order! lol

 

[ethridge78]

Thanks I appreciate it . When does the price change?

 

[Maximus]

On a rimless tank, how low do you recommend drilling the holes from the top of the tank for the bulkheads?

 

[mixer911]

Thanks I appreciate it . When does the price change?

You're Welcome. We are going to be raising it $10 every week starting Nov. 1st. Also as of November 1st there will not be a free T shirt and Free shipping anymore. So anyone on the fence should make a decision this weekend.

On a rimless tank, how low do you recommend drilling the holes from the top of the tank for the bulkheads?

We personally like about 2" of space from the top of the tank to the water. So our overflow runs about 3/4" from the top if you had it flush with the top. So If you drop it down and have the top of the inside overflow box about 1"-1.5" from the top of the glass it will give you a 2" water level. Basically just minus 3/4" from the water level you want and that is where the top of your overflow should be.

 

[ethridge78]

Ok thanks might be a week to short

 

[twistedfinn967]

At the beginning of the thread, it says the price is $139.99, the website is saying $149.99 - is there a promo code that I missed? Wanna order tomorrow morning (10/31)

 

[Cyproz]

would this and if so how would it work with this bean animal setup?

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

^^ you already have everything there, that's a beananimal overflow system...?

 

[mixer911]

At the beginning of the thread, it says the price is $139.99, the website is saying $149.99 - is there a promo code that I missed? Wanna order tomorrow morning (10/31)

When it was first announced it was $139.99 pre sale. Once we pre sold a certain # of units we started raising it $10 a week. We are going to be raising it $10 every week, until it is back to $199. Also as of November 1st there will not be a free T shirt and no Free shipping anymore.

 

[Cyproz]

^^ you already have everything there, that's a beananimal overflow system...?

well i had to remove the overflow to get the starboard out and clean the tank. PLus the overflow doesnt have teeth which i kind of want.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

well i had to remove the overflow to get the starboard out and clean the tank. PLus the overflow doesnt have teeth which i kind of want.

Ah...I would say it would replace that setup, but the issue is that the holes probably won't line up or be the same size. Going to be tricky, if even possible at all.

 

[Cyproz]

ok yea no, tricky and me dont work. i like simple. ill probably just make or order a overflow box with teeth. thanks!

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

It's entirely possible that you could get a Shadow on that tank, but it's probably going to have to go in new holes and off to one side, then you would just cover up the existing holes, that's all. It would be super tricky to make it work in the same location - but if there is room to either side, that's not difficult at all.

 

[twistedfinn967]

When it was first announced it was $139.99 pre sale. Once we pre sold a certain # of units we started raising it $10 a week. We are going to be raising it $10 every week, until it is back to $199. Also as of November 1st there will not be a free T shirt and no Free shipping anymore.

Thanks for the clarification, order placed for upcoming build!

 

[mixer911]

I agree with @Floyd R Turbo. It would be possible, but you would really need to put some time into installation and planning on your part.

 

[mixer911]

Starting to get pieces prepared! Here are some of the included U Flow pipes. No need to go searching for the correct fittings anymore!

 

[mixer911]

We are working hard on the new drilling templates. All the pieces of the puzzle coming together.

 

[kattz]

I came into the thread late. Did I read that correctly? $199 each? I thought the purpose of the injection molded components was to lower the price.

The one new item here I like is the drilling template. That's a nice touch. The rest of the assembly is... well, it's been done.

 

[mixer911]

I came into the thread late. Did I read that correctly? $199 each? I thought the purpose of the injection molded components was to lower the price.

The one new item here I like is the drilling template. That's a nice touch. The rest of the assembly is... well, it's been done.

@kattz Yes, $199. The purpose of injection molding is to refine a product and be able to add features that are unattainable by hand building on a production scale. To make all of the parts required for the overflow, it takes 7 molds. These tools are not cheap to make. Yea if your making plastic army men you can produce them cheaply. Molds to produce these are very large and complex. This is a totally different animal, hence why no other companies have done it. Even with molds, the costs to produce them is not cheap. Sure as more and more are produced the cost ratio goes down, but not at first release.

We appreciate your comments, but as people get these they will notice a HUGE difference. Injection molding these allows for so many refinements that yes it may look the same, but it's a totally new product. And no, it has not been done before ;-)

 

[kattz]

@mixer911:

Rick, since you are explaining your costs, please understand that I am the engineering manager for an automotive Tier 1 manufacturer, with a responsibility for five plants throughout North America. I am involved with the development and purchase of 10-15 injection molds per year of many different types; grained, ungrained, high-pressure injection, low pressure injection molding, and also blow molding molds, etc. Therefore, I am directly aware of the pricing for molds making items much more complex than this. And I understand the batch run costs, overhead, S,G, & A, direct and indirect labor costs, and so forth, because our parts for our customers are molded by our suppliers. We just supply the tooling to them. So I understand the related costs of making these parts.

While you are to be commended for the further (and smarter) development of what I see as a pre-existing product in form and function, that being the Ghost overflow, my comments refer to this:

Initial offering at $139 (includes T-shirt, I think), or perhaps your initial offering price was $149 with a T-shirt, not sure. There's a lot of users and lurkers here who might not have been able to get in due to financial issues at the time, or have awareness of your initial offering such as myself. I've been dry-tank since December because we built a new house out of medical necessity for my spouse.

Regardless, your IO price was favorable (you could've kept the T-shirt and included shipping instead if you didn't include shipping already) for MOST users out here. I need four of them - 300DD DT, 40 breeder frag tank, and 24" cube for DSB/mangroves. Your current price incl shipping for me is about $850. Not gonna happen. That's the price of a custom 300 gal sump.

There's a lot of reefers out here that $199 for this is just too much. I've got many local friends with tanks that sometimes skip groceries to buy salt. But if they were going to do a new build, then $130-150 for these would hit their market, and they'd gladly buy it because they have something that says "Synergy Reef".

It's not my business how you do your business. But were it me in your shoes, I'd have batched, say, two years worth of projected unit sales. Costs would have been fairly low versus a low initial run of 3-6 months of inventory. Say 2000 units instead of 500 as an example. The reason for this is if, over a year, you paid for the tooling and overhead etc. by selling 1500 units at a lower price, you'd be better off than if you sell 200 units at the initial offering price and 800 units over 2 years at the full price because many reefers just can't afford them. Faster ROI, and likely a much-elevated sales level in the interim. I'm not trying to school you, just giving you my honest opinion from another point of view.

Regarding my comments about "its been done", in some ways, you're right, you have a different product, the largest differences being the snap-on lid and the one-piece molded box. I'm not saying that it's not a nice product; it is. And, you had the good sense to include two weirs per overflow assembly, and you have the drilling template, which I would have made from 3/8 acrylic, but overall, it's a nice offering. Believe it or not, as an engineer, I like the custom bulkhead nuts... go figure.

What I meant is the overall concept. No offense meant. I can pull out my original CAD files from 2006 that are basically the Ghost-style overflow with both magnetically-retained and slide-in weirs long before there was a Ghost-style overflow. The customer was a friend that worked at our old parent company with a 600g acrylic tank without any overflows. I was gluing acrylic long before I was a tank owner and had never seen or heard of a Ghost overflow. The project constraints were 3000g capacity/hr, and quiet. Those overflows were 1.25" deep and 28" long X 2, and he chose the slide-in weirs. We were never sure about how epoxy-sealed magnets would do in saltwater over time... The choice of weir was either a rounded slot or a square slot, both of which I water jet cut myself using robots.

Small world...

Kev