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Maxspect Gyre XF130 hands-on (with power consumption, flow)


jedimasterben

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jedimasterben

So I got my 35w Gyre in on Tuesday. I filmed a video that night, took all the power measurements I could, and then was waiting on some clarification of a few things before posting up the review. Yesterday I had a tooth pulled that was infected, and shortly after having it removed and the numbing shots wearing off I was in some incredible pain, even with some prescription pain meds. Slept for around 17 hours, and here I am, much better (but still not great).


Out of the box

So when I received my beta model of the 50w Gyre, it came in just a plain cardboard box with some bubble wrap. I hadn't expected any different since it was a beta model, but when I received the 35w as a production model, I was surprised they had gone to the degree they did for packaging. It was made to be impressive, with a metal case holding the pump, controller, and accessories.


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All in all you get the Gyre, a set of reverse paddles and cages, an extra set of rubber vibration dampeners, extra bearings, and a 24v 3A power supply (which amounts to 72 watts, not sure why they come with such a large supply).
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35w on top, 50w on bottom.
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The new mount holds the motor farther from the glass, which should help prevent any resonant noise.
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The magnets for the two models. The 35w also has rubber (or maybe silicone) on the outside magnet.
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And into the tank

So after I had taken a bunch of pics of everything, I put it in the tank and began taking video and power numbers.




Now, you'll notice that the power numbers don't exactly match up with the '35w' advertisement. For those that can't see the video or aren't going to watch it yet, here is a table with the power at each setting.

Forward
Speed 1/10 - 4.1w
Speed 2/10 - 5.1w
Speed 3/10 - 6.5w
Speed 4/10 - 8.3w
Speed 5/10 - 10.7w
Speed 6/10 - 13.2w
Speed 7/10 - 16.2w
Speed 8/10 - 19.4w
Speed 9/10 - 23.0w
Speed 10/10 - 26.1w

Reverse
Speed 1/10 - 3.3w
Speed 2/10 - 3.9w
Speed 3/10 - 4.8w
Speed 4/10 - 5.8w
Speed 5/10 - 7.2w
Speed 6/10 - 8.6w
Speed 7/10 - 10.2w
Speed 8/10 - 12.2w
Speed 9/10 - 14.2w
Speed 10/10 - 16.1w


I wasn't sure if these numbers were correct, but they were confirmed to me by Maxspect to be correct. What does this mean? Is this false advertisement? No, not really. They were just able to get the same performance numbers as they were shooting for while keeping power consumption lower than anticipated.


Flow

As anticipated, flow is very good from this pump on higher output levels. My tank is 80 gallons, so the lower output levels just don't do all that much, but the video does show what it can do. For smaller tanks, the lower output levels will do well.


Reverse flow

So one of the big points that I was stressing for before the beta testing of the Gyre was the ability to reverse the flow. Gyres work very well as the whole water column gets in motion, but being able to reverse it, as well, is good because any detritus that gets trapped somewhere from the flow in one direction could be removed by flow from the other. My beta XF150 did not have the ability to reverse directions, the controller was very, very basic, so when I was set to receive the XF130 I was excited to be able to reverse the flow direction.

Well, to put it very plainly, even at full bore, reverse mode is 100% useless. The paddles are angled, made to go in one direction, so spinning the opposite direction results in extremely gimped flow.

Now, Maxspect does include two extra paddles you can install that are angled opposite to stock. If you install only one of them, then you cut flow in half (since only one paddle will be going forward), but then reverse also is not only aimable but will have one paddle going forward so you'll also have half power going in reverse.

Is that the most elegant way of doing it? No, not really, but it does work. Hobbyists with nano aquariums will be able to use this 'Alternating Gyre' mode and it should work well.

Noise

The main complaint with the Gyre XF150 is noise. The motors on them are larger and are silent, but the noise comes from the motor being close to the glass and resonating off of it. It's not vibration, and can be verified by taking the pump off of the glass and holding it in your hand. As you get around an inch, inch and a half off the glass the noise immediately goes away and you're left with silence.

The same cannot be said of the XF130. The XF130 uses a smaller rotor that is more difficult to keep dynamic balance (per Maxspect). From speeds 5-10, the noise can be heard. It's not terrible noise, just a low whirring noise, but it needs to be mentioned. I don't have the proper microphone to be able to get good audio of the noise, unfortunately, but I'd imagine that others soon will have it recorded.

 

UPDATE 2/9/15: The noise of the motor has almost completely subsided, I have to stick my ear to the tank to be able to hear anything.

 

UPDATE 2/23/15: I've placed the pump into a pulse mode, 100% speed, 1 second pulse, 1 second off. If standing next to the tank, I can hear a very faint whirr now that I have updated my tank to a Herbie drain, completely silencing the tank.



Conclusion

 

Overall, the pump definitely feels more solid than my XF150 beta model did. The new mount is a significant upgrade over the one the XF150 uses, but it was confirmed that Maxspect will offer this new mount as an upgrade, and it's my conjecture that going forward it will be the default mount included soon. The flow is excellent, especially for the power consumption, and should do well in a range of smaller tanks.

 

I will update this thread over the next couple of weeks and let you guys all know if it quiets down or any other thoughts I have on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE

 

Here is a video of it running vertically on the back wall of my tank.

 

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So is this too little flow for your 80? I am setting up a 75 gallon 4' tank that will be mixed reef and want enough flow. Should I cancel my preorder of the 130 and order the 150 instead?

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jedimasterben

So is this too little flow for your 80? I am setting up a 75 gallon 4' tank that will be mixed reef and want enough flow. Should I cancel my preorder of the 130 and order the 150 instead?

At full power in forward, no, flow is about where I had it with the 50w turned down.

 

If you were planning on reverse... well, don't do that.

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Haha ok. Maybe I'll go with the 150 so I have more ability to reverse flow or adjust flow. But I do like the quieter mount for the 130. I could always get the quieter brackets when they come available.

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jedimasterben

Haha ok. Maybe I'll go with the 150 so I have more ability to reverse flow or adjust flow. But I do like the quieter mount for the 130. I could always get the quieter brackets when they come available.

The 50w in reverse isn't going to be much better, it is still significantly gimped, unless you switch one of the paddles and run alternating gyre, but even then you're only ever going to get half of the flow power.

 

Is the size listed here accurate?

http://www.tbaquatics.com/maxspect-xf130-gyre-generator-pump-1764.html#.VMpxpIvF8eM

 

  • 9" x 1.8" x 2.1"

 

If so hot dayum, will be buying one.

It's slightly longer at almost 9.5"

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masterbuilder

I had high hopes....probably too high. Anwho, from most of the reviews its just OK. The main reported problems are difficult cleaning, snails jamming the thing and the weak reverse gyre. Not the blockbuster I hoped for but not bad either. For now, I will stick with my MP's.

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jedimasterben

I had high hopes....probably too high. Anwho, from most of the reviews its just OK. The main reported problems are difficult cleaning, snails jamming the thing and the weak reverse gyre. Not the blockbuster I hoped for but not bad either. For now, I will stick with my MP's.

Well, considering that this is the first public review of the XF130... lol

 

I've seen a few people talk about snails walking into it, but I have literally hundreds of snails that are less than 1/2" long and barely 1/8" in diameter and never had one get into it.

 

It also replaces a LOT of pumps otherwise needed to create flow on the same level, so it really is a blockbuster that needs some work on additional functions.

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Good work.

 

 

Can you just manually flip the whole unit upside down on cleaning day, to get reverse. Or is up up on the unit.

 

 

At the price of one MP10, I can easily see one at each end of a long tank, alternating on and off. Tons of people have two MP10s in smaller tanks.

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jedimasterben

Good work.

 

 

Can you just manually flip the whole unit upside down on cleaning day, to get reverse. Or is up up on the unit.

 

 

At the price of one MP10, I can easily see one at each end of a long tank, alternating on and off. Tons of people have two MP10s in smaller tanks.

There is an orientation to the paddles. There is one output grate and two input grates, and when in 'reverse' both output grates get flow, which is one reason it's so bad in reverse. I wish that they would have a version with only one input and one output grate, and then have different cages with the grates at different angles so you can place the pump in different places (like one for placing it vertical on the back wall so it blows directly left and directly right, etc).

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jedimasterben

What do you think about having this and something like an RW4 or WP10 to generate some random pulsing flow?

"Random flow" isn't quite what it appears. Gyre flow gets the entire water column moving at higher velocities than any 'random' flow ever could, resulting in more CO2/O2/nutrients/etc getting to the coral and faster removal of CO2/O2/waste/etc. Anything you do to hamper the gyre is the opposite effect to what you want.

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"Random flow" isn't quite what it appears. Gyre flow gets the entire water column moving at higher velocities than any 'random' flow ever could, resulting in more CO2/O2/nutrients/etc getting to the coral and faster removal of CO2/O2/waste/etc. Anything you do to hamper the gyre is the opposite effect to what you want.

 

 

Interesting.. Didn't really consider that to be honest lol. Thanks!

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"Random flow" isn't quite what it appears. Gyre flow gets the entire water column moving at higher velocities than any 'random' flow ever could, resulting in more CO2/O2/nutrients/etc getting to the coral and faster removal of CO2/O2/waste/etc. Anything you do to hamper the gyre is the opposite effect to what you want.

 

I'm really curious how well it works with lps like euphyllia.. I have problems now with one-directional flow bothering parts of my frogspawn.

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For sound.

 

Can you just get a decibel meter app for your phone. Do a video of the readings at the different settings.

 

My sumps are both louder than my tanks, so there is going to be ambient noise in the vicinity., that should be tared out in the readings.

Too bad my tank isn't nearly big enough to even have this... its too narrow and not long enough :(

Mount vertical.

 

Gyre vortex.

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There is an orientation to the paddles. There is one output grate and two input grates, and when in 'reverse' both output grates get flow, which is one reason it's so bad in reverse. I wish that they would have a version with only one input and one output grate, and then have different cages with the grates at different angles so you can place the pump in different places (like one for placing it vertical on the back wall so it blows directly left and directly right, etc).

I think ideally you'd have two of them set to run gyres in opposite directions in the tank and alternate which one is on every few hours. That way you reverse the gyre every once in a while and kick up the detritus that settled from the gyre going in one direction. It's annoying that that seems to be an optimal solution, but I suppose plenty of people run multiple MP10s or MP40s at a similar price point.

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jedimasterben

 

I'm really curious how well it works with lps like euphyllia.. I have problems now with one-directional flow bothering parts of my frogspawn.

They care more about velocity than anything else.

 

For sound.

 

Can you just get a decibel meter app for your phone. Do a video of the readings at the different settings.

 

My sumps are both louder than my tanks, so there is going to be ambient noise in the vicinity., that should be tared out in the readings.

I considered it, but they really aren't all that accurate, and the reading varies a LOT on the ones I used a few years ago.

Hey Ben,

 

Do you think it'll be an overkill for my 32 gallon Nano (minus 10g of live rock). Dimensions 24" X 18" X 18".

No, it'll be fine.

I think ideally you'd have two of them set to run gyres in opposite directions in the tank and alternate which one is on every few hours. That way you reverse the gyre every once in a while and kick up the detritus that settled from the gyre going in one direction. It's annoying that that seems to be an optimal solution, but I suppose plenty of people run multiple MP10s or MP40s at a similar price point.

Or much higher price points. That might be what I end up doing.

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masterbuilder

Well, considering that this is the first public review of the XF130... lol

I agree Ben. But...there are other forums out there :)

 

Mark

 

p.s. This is my fave though.

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