best setting for MP20 vortech?

[beeker]

well i've tryed out a few different settings so far but haven't really found one that i liked on my Biocube 29g

 

i was able to get a wave that was about 1 inch or so and noticed i got flow throughout the tank, but i was wondering if this would be the best amount/type of flow for my corals?

 

or should i use reefcrest random and just mess around with the speed setting until i get the flow i like?

 

i noticed it's hard to get a back and fourth swaying motion from my corals with only having the pump on the side wall of the tank, where do you guys normaly keep yours?

 

just trying to get an idea of what setting/flow type would be best

[xenon]

Very interesting. I am curious about this also.

 

I have two Tunze 6025 that alternate every hour to minimize the dead spots. I wonder if one powerhead (vortech) would be capable of the same thing.

 

Do you have any pics? I am curious what that looks like on a 29g biocube.

[beeker]

no pics as of yet, i'm still trying to dial the vortech in right for my tank/stock/lr

 

i wasn't able to sleep last night with the noise that the vortech was making and so i just ran my 2 koralia 2's

 

until i'm able to get the vortech setup right i didn't want to mess with it last night, i didn't have enough time to try a lot of settings when i got home, i just got it to produce a wave and kept it like that for an hour to 2 and then when i tryed to sleep i realized the vortech makes too much noise ATM for me to get used to sleeping with it, so this weekend i'll be trying to get it dialed in all the way

 

the flow from the vortech is awesome, i just don't think the wave motion gives everything great flow, it gives everything a great osscialation but flow and osscialation are 2 different things, i get great flow with my koralia's but they cause the water to ripple which makes splashing sounds which makes it a little hard for me to sleep

 

but both koralia 2's are still quieter than 1 MP20 vortech, so i'm going to have to mess around with mine tonight and this weekend, i might just run the MP20 with the koralia's, because i love the flow pattern i get with my koralia's but if i used them and then set up the vortech to make a wave i think the flow would be perfect and chaotic at the same time, and it would almost always be random that way

 

the MP20 by itself just didn't seem like it was giving my corals all the flow they needed, the wave worked well to get flow to everything but i still have to get the pump positioned right because it was pushing my Bubble coral all the way to the right side of my tank even with the wave oscialating back and fourth

[badbread]

I use reefcrest mode (yellow) all the time and my corals love it.

[beeker]

did you have yours set at 100% power for reefcrest or less than that?

[badbread]

Mine's in a 14G biocube so way less, its running anywhere between 50-60%

[beeker]

aww ok, well i'll be messing with it some more tonight and this weekend

 

i honestly think i'll just do the wave with both koralia 2's still running, that way at night i can just shut off the Vortech to sleep and in the morning just start it back up again, alteast do it that way until i adjust to the extra noise of the Vortech, or maybe i'll try to use reefcrest mode along with the koralia's and see how the flow pattern comes out

 

Is there anything you did to quiet your MP20 more? the whine it makes is really annoying to me, especailly since my tank is in my bedroom where i sleep, it will definatly be awhile before i get used to the noise, but is there anything you did to quiet yours more?

[badbread]

Mine hardly makes any noise so no i didn't do anything. I replaced 3 koralia nano's with one mp20... I don't think you want constant wave motion, I think random alternating flows is more natural.

[BKtomodachi]

I ordered a mp20w for my 15G. I'm tagging along for this one. I have seen some videos of reef crest mode, and it seems like it might make a bit of noise sometimes.

[badbread]

I've never turned mine up past maybe 70-75% so I'm assuming at high speeds it makes some noise. I have a Sunpod 150w and HOB Coolworks chiller and I never hear the MP20 over either one of those.

[FateX9]

i have mine in a 40br and have it on the short pulse (blue) setting

mine is also set at 100% and i dont think thats enough flow

it does look like the entire tank gets flow though which is what i was looking for

mine also doesnt produce a wave like i was hoping but thats not a huge deal

as long as the corals are happy, which they are, thats all that matters to me

[xenon]

aww ok, well i'll be messing with it some more tonight and this weekend

 

i honestly think i'll just do the wave with both koralia 2's still running, that way at night i can just shut off the Vortech to sleep and in the morning just start it back up again, alteast do it that way until i adjust to the extra noise of the Vortech, or maybe i'll try to use reefcrest mode along with the koralia's and see how the flow pattern comes out

 

Is there anything you did to quiet your MP20 more? the whine it makes is really annoying to me, especailly since my tank is in my bedroom where i sleep, it will definatly be awhile before i get used to the noise, but is there anything you did to quiet yours more?

 

I am pretty sure crest mode is louder. Make sure both pieces are perfectly aligned. Otherwise the pump will be loud!

 

If you cant get the pump quiet enough to sleep. Put the voetech on a timer and keep using the koralia's.

[badbread]

Why not just use night mode? It will slow the pump to 40% of the max speed set for 14 hours

[beeker]

well my corals look wonderful with the 2 koralia's and i noticed that when i used the MP20 that i did get all over flow and the suspension of detris was fantastic, but the noise and the place where i had the pump positioned wasn't the best, so tonight i'll be moving it back further towards the backwall

 

my rockwork is sloped from back to front with the back being the highest part, so when i had the MP20 running the whole front of my rockwork was getting a ton more flow than the backside, the backside was still getting good flow but it wasn't as turbulent as the front side

 

i had the MP20 positioned closer to the front glass and that caused my bubble to be blown constant from the left with the mp20 pulsing and it was pulling my bubble corals flesh more towards the right than the left (even with the wave motion)...so i didn't have the osccialation set up right, or the pump wasn't positioned right even though i was getting the wave

 

with my 2 koralia 2's my bubble gets blown left then right and back again, i wasn't able to get the same pattern on it with the MP20, so i still have some tweaking to do or some more positions to try to find the right spot for the Vortech

 

hopefully i can get it setup right in the next week or two

[beeker]

the whine of my Vortech is louder than the 2 koralia 2's i'm using and the sloshing sounds they make as i have a ton of surface aggitation in my biocube, i noticed the Vortech dosen't aggitate the surface water like my koralia's do, but the slowing down and ramping up of it's speeds to create a wave gives the Vortech a distinc whine that i could even hear over my TV and Sunpod running, lol

 

this isn't acceptable to me when i have to sleep, since sleep is the most important part of my day, haha

 

maybe i just have sensitive hearing, lol

 

 

i don't know how i can sleep with 2 koralia 2's sloshing the surface water in my tank

 

but i couldn't even try to sleep with the Vortech running

[badbread]

Weird...

 

If you want better surface agitation with the MP20 I suggest making sure the "flat part" of the wet side is not facing the top of the tank, maybe put it off to the left or right. Mine is aligned perfectly using the flat spot as reference to where the power cable should be pointing.

[new2reef]

Have you been able to resolve the noise issue with the MP20? What's your opinion of the quality of the unit?

 

I saw your other post about weak customer service - even heard same from LFS which sell the units - is product any better than the service?

 

Thinking of buying one, but don't want a $300-400 headache!

[beeker]

my mp20 is fixed now and working fine

 

all i had to do was set it up for the quick disconnect, it tells you how to do it in the manual, but tech support couldn't tell me over the phone that i had to do that process to fix the pump flashing red, so i spent a week dealing with tech suport, shipping out my older driver getting a new one, just to find out that none of that was the issue, but tech support i guess had never encountered the same error i got so they didn't know what to tell me

 

I like the mp20 a lot, but it's hard to get the right type/amount of flow all over in my tank, it puts off great flow but in some spots it's too much and other spots it isn't enough, i'm still adjusting mine trying to get it set up right, but i have it running with my other koralia 2 right now to get a good balance of back and fourth motion, but i'm still messing with it at the moment

 

i have it set on about 50-60% power on reefcrest mode about 3 inches from the backwall on the right side of my tank about an inch under the water line and it seems to be doing fine there, not too much flow on everything but it gives a good pulse when it hits 50-60% power but the pump only stays there about 5-8 seconds so it's a nice blast every now and then, just have to watch it to make sure it's not blowing the polyps off things

 

my only gripe is it is louder than both my koralia 2's which to me is annoying, but something i will eventually get used too, and i wish it had more ability to be used solo in my tank, but it doesen't seem like it will work well in my tank all by itself, to me it's just not able to give the right flow to everything by itself in my biocube 29 with the dimensions maybe in a bigger tank more spread out it would be better

 

getting flow all over is easy if you are making a wave, but when you make a wave the pump is about 2 times louder than it is on reefcrest mode which i can't sleep with since it pulses so often and rev's up and down quickly

[bodythief]

my mp20 is fixed now and working fine

 

all i had to do was set it up for the quick disconnect, it tells you how to do it in the manual, but tech support couldn't tell me over the phone that i had to do that process to fix the pump flashing red, so i spent a week dealing with tech suport, shipping out my older driver getting a new one, just to find out that none of that was the issue, but tech support i guess had never encountered the same error i got so they didn't know what to tell me

 

I like the mp20 a lot, but it's hard to get the right type/amount of flow all over in my tank, it puts off great flow but in some spots it's too much and other spots it isn't enough, i'm still adjusting mine trying to get it set up right, but i have it running with my other koralia 2 right now to get a good balance of back and fourth motion, but i'm still messing with it at the moment

 

i have it set on about 50-60% power on reefcrest mode about 3 inches from the backwall on the right side of my tank about an inch under the water line and it seems to be doing fine there, not too much flow on everything but it gives a good pulse when it hits 50-60% power but the pump only stays there about 5-8 seconds so it's a nice blast every now and then, just have to watch it to make sure it's not blowing the polyps off things

 

my only gripe is it is louder than both my koralia 2's which to me is annoying, but something i will eventually get used too, and i wish it had more ability to be used solo in my tank, but it doesen't seem like it will work well in my tank all by itself, to me it's just not able to give the right flow to everything by itself in my biocube 29 with the dimensions maybe in a bigger tank more spread out it would be better

 

getting flow all over is easy if you are making a wave, but when you make a wave the pump is about 2 times louder than it is on reefcrest mode which i can't sleep with since it pulses so often and rev's up and down quickly

hmm...............is noise a common problem i have my tank in the livingroom and can't stand noise that interfers with the tv. i gotten rid of things just because of noise (remora) i'm about to pull the trigger on the vortech group buy but if i'm gong to have to sell them in a week it's not worth it.

[new2reef]

beeker: Thanks for the info and your thoughts on the MP20. I'm thinking about the MP40w for my CAD 39g, but am also concerned whether a single powerhead will provide enough flow.

 

For my BC14, I'm just running the stock pump and a single Koralia Nano and get plenty of flow thru my tank - no dead spots and feather dusters are happy. I also have a very open rock formation.

 

The poor tech support is a concern, but it seems NR members have been picking up the slack.

 

I have very little noise from my Koralia - only real noise are the hood fans and the pump I use for chiller - it's not positioned right, my fault. Since the Vortech is external, maybe you can just hear the motor more than a internal powerhead, where the motor is inside the tank.

 

Guess the trade-off is more noise vs. more heat in tank. My tank will not be in the bedroom nor in the TV room, so noise will be less of an issue.

 

Glad it all worked out - that's a pricey piece of equipment.

[beeker]

Well i think i'm going to end up selling the Vortech

 

i've tryed to find a good position for it on my tank for the last week and haven't had any luck, even combining it with one of my koralia 2's it still gave great random flow but when it intersected the flow of the koralia it was way too much flow for some of my SPS towards the top, and every other positioned i tryed made the flow too much for my LPS

 

My rock layout just doesen't seem to work with this type of pump, maybe if my rock layout was circular and centered in the middle of the tank it would work perfectly, but with the way it is now, 2 koralia 2's give me just as much flow/randomness as the vortech did by itself without giving too much flow to some spots that the vortech was blasting by itself

 

so it looks like i'll be sticking with my 2 koralia 2's for now

 

i guess if anyone is interested in buying my Vortech MP20 just PM me, i'd rather buy some more frags than to have this pump just laying around

[xbwolfx]

Using the blue short pulse mode gives the best wave in a tank your size, imo. It took me about 15 mins to figure out how to create a constant wave, but once I did everything was happy. It definitely shouldn't be too strong for your tank even at full power on the short pulse mode. I have mine in a 30g oceanic cube and the flow is absolutely perfect.

 

I can understand how the slight hum would be annoying when trying to sleep. I wouldn't exactly call it loud though - but I suppose it is when it is the only thing on in your room that makes noise while you sleep.

[beeker]

i did make a wave in my tank but it still seemed to not give everything the perfect amount of flow, and it pulsing up to full speed when i'm sleeping is too loud for me to sleep with

 

you did have yours on full speed and then you adjusted the pulse to get the wave right?

 

thats how i made my wave, but the full power pulse was too much for my Bubble coral, it kept pushing it to the right side of my tank even though the flow was waving back and fourth, it was just too much flow for my bubble so i couldn't use the MP20 for waves alone, so i tryed using lagoon and reefcrest mode, constant flow mode with my 1 koralia 2 and i still wasn't able to get the results that i desired, i'm pretty sure it's just the way my rockwork is layed out because i've tryed every position i could, and every setting i could and still couldn't get the flow to be perfect for every single piece in my tank, some looked amazing and others weren't getting enough flow....