45 Galllon Cube. My dream tank...only smaller!
- Thread starter chrishayes
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chrishayes
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Yeah, its a bigger difference than I was expecting for sure! The difference in output volume and type is vast. Where the mp10 is poweful in its own right this 40, obviously, puts it to shame. The width of the flow is also notable. The 10 made a visual flow path about 6" in diameter that spun in the direction of the propellars spin. The 40 has no noticeable laminar flow at all. It just moves THE water. It makes every drop of water move when it spins and does it without blowing AT anything. PE last night when the lights went out was other worldly! Like 1/2" long instead of the 1/4" before. I had it in NTM so the detritus that it kicked up may have played more of a role than the flow itself but thats the point right? Im loving this thing so far! Oh and did I mention how quiet it is? Its quiet, id say if it quiets as much as the 10 did after break in, I will have to put my ear against it to hear it at all. Wasnt expecting that!
Woooo hooo that's a pretty "big" pompe
Extremely cool. Let us know what settings ur gonna use and how ur gonna place it on the tank.
Nutrient export mode what does it do? Does it kick up all the detritus? Can ya tell me how it works?
Cheers.
So far ive played with each mode only for a few minutes at a time but I left it on NTM all last night. Its a really well designed mode. It basically goes through a short pulsing mode chanign the frequency of pulses slowly for 10-15mins creating a standing wave at some point(You can autotune the perfect wave for your tank then save it and NTM will use that setting but I havent set it up yet) then it will long pulse with increasing intensity and duration which allows the undertow to swirl upwards, lifting the funk to the surface where it goes over the overflow. Its no gimmick as I thought it might be. The thing that caught my attention is that I have very little detritus as it is since i had pretty good flow in the tank already not to mention I turkey baste regularly, but the power of this new pump moves a swift current in and through all the rock and sand without blasting any one spot so it reaches where my other pumps didnt.
One negative is that when it really gets goin it sloshes water over my calfo which makes a lot of noise. Im gonna have to try to figure out a way to raise the water level in there so the water doesnt fall as far. Small price to pay for the reduction in noise of the pump. Ill play with it more today and see if I can take the time to upload video.
chrishayes
New member
I put it in the same spot as the mp10 I had, just a little lower cause it was pushin a big lump of water up in the middle of the tank everytime it ramped up! Its really the only place for it in my tank. Thats how I designed it, although I kinda wish I hadnt. Itd be nice, especially with this new monster hangin off the side of the tank, to be able to put it on the back wall...
Do you REALLY have one on your 29gal? I thought I was crazy! lol
I guess for those that havent had one, it really is fine for any size tank due to its controlability and extrememly wide flow. You can hardly tell you have 3200gph available until you crank er up and push water out of the tank, literally!:eek1: Ask me how I know!
chrishayes
New member
Ive been playin with it off and on all day:uhoh2: aside for the last 2 hours of mowing:debi: and I did the auto tune for a wave function. I really cant use it. If I turn it up high enough to make everything sway, the water literally comes out of the tank and if I drop the flow down, it really doesnt do much other than slosh water over my calfo. So thats too irritating to listen to.
Guess the moral of the story is, if you build a tank like mine, even when you think youre leaving plenty of height above the weir, add more! 5/8" isnt enough with a mp40. perfect for the 10 though.
So does anyone know how I can raise the water level in the beananimal system I have? I tried adjusting the open channel valve further closed which worked, except when I did a pump shutdown and restart. It wouldnt allow the siphon to start quick enough, plus all the water went down the emergency pipe which I have about 5" above the water level in the sump to let me know if its got water going through it. Splashed water everywhere!
Guess the moral of the story is, if you build a tank like mine, even when you think youre leaving plenty of height above the weir, add more! 5/8" isnt enough with a mp40. perfect for the 10 though.
So does anyone know how I can raise the water level in the beananimal system I have? I tried adjusting the open channel valve further closed which worked, except when I did a pump shutdown and restart. It wouldnt allow the siphon to start quick enough, plus all the water went down the emergency pipe which I have about 5" above the water level in the sump to let me know if its got water going through it. Splashed water everywhere!
Glad your new MP40 is working out Chris, I'm surprised that it's quieter than the MP10, that would definitely be an advantage. I bet you're glad you went with the MP40 now instead of a second MP10 huh?
Your corals are looking great! The are coloring up pretty quickly, and now with the added flow I bet they will be growing like crazy.
be careful with the vodka dosing, your corals are looking so great I would hate to see them pale out on you.
Your corals are looking great! The are coloring up pretty quickly, and now with the added flow I bet they will be growing like crazy.
be careful with the vodka dosing, your corals are looking so great I would hate to see them pale out on you.
chrishayes
New member
For sure Chyendra. I agree fully and like I said the only reason im dosing any at all is all the extra food going in when I was getting the coral beauty going. I have already stopped dosing(was only dosing .2-.3ml 40 proof anyways every other day) now that hes eating all prepared foods.
Thanks for taking the time to look in on me! I am happy as well with the quick recovery of most of my doo doo corals via the temp tank disasters! lol they were pretty beaten up. I still cant believe I didnt lose a single thing from the old tank to present. Amazing how resilient they really are. Sucks cause im going through a bacterial bloom right now. Started after I fed some unwashed cyclopeze cause my colanders mesh is too large to not lose it all down the sink. Wont be doing that again! It started this morning with the tank starting to cloud then I noticed white film on the glass, then PE started getting worse. I did a 10gal WC since it was scheduled for today anyways, cranked up the skimmer, changed the carbon and now I just gotta wait it out. Its always somethin.
On a brighter note, after switching to IO ive had a brute full of saltwater for over a week and it is still crystal clear with nothing in the bottom or chalk on the walls! It tested to alk-10 cal-420 mg-1280 so not too bad. Im a bit concerned of the high alk but hell my rscp was at like 13(wouldnt use it in the reef) and RC that ive used since I started was always around 10-11 and I didnt elevate my tank alk too much using that. Ill just keep doing small weeklys instead of large biweekly WC's. After my waterchange today my tests were alk-8.9 cal-400 mg-1550 so I had to adjust my dosing for the first time in 3 weeks. im guessing the alk was from the WC and the cal was from adding several new corals that I had in QT. Mg is still from when I was dosing kents for the little byropsis I had during the cycle. Its not coming down much. Strange.
Still loving the MP40, no regrets.
Thanks for taking the time to look in on me! I am happy as well with the quick recovery of most of my doo doo corals via the temp tank disasters! lol they were pretty beaten up. I still cant believe I didnt lose a single thing from the old tank to present. Amazing how resilient they really are. Sucks cause im going through a bacterial bloom right now. Started after I fed some unwashed cyclopeze cause my colanders mesh is too large to not lose it all down the sink. Wont be doing that again! It started this morning with the tank starting to cloud then I noticed white film on the glass, then PE started getting worse. I did a 10gal WC since it was scheduled for today anyways, cranked up the skimmer, changed the carbon and now I just gotta wait it out. Its always somethin.
On a brighter note, after switching to IO ive had a brute full of saltwater for over a week and it is still crystal clear with nothing in the bottom or chalk on the walls! It tested to alk-10 cal-420 mg-1280 so not too bad. Im a bit concerned of the high alk but hell my rscp was at like 13(wouldnt use it in the reef) and RC that ive used since I started was always around 10-11 and I didnt elevate my tank alk too much using that. Ill just keep doing small weeklys instead of large biweekly WC's. After my waterchange today my tests were alk-8.9 cal-400 mg-1550 so I had to adjust my dosing for the first time in 3 weeks. im guessing the alk was from the WC and the cal was from adding several new corals that I had in QT. Mg is still from when I was dosing kents for the little byropsis I had during the cycle. Its not coming down much. Strange.
Still loving the MP40, no regrets.
chrishayes
New member
Oh the other thing ive been meaning to mention about the differences in the 40 and 10 is that the 40 has a solid portion on the intake grill that you orient to the surface so it doesnt suck a vortex from the surface! All of us mp10 users out there know how frustrating that is! I really havea hard time believing that with all the water this 40 moves that it never pulls in any air. ANother WIN for the 40! No idea why the 10 doesnt have this feature...
Reef_Noob
New member
Hiya Chris great ur loving your vortech minus the vortex 
Alk swings are a problem for me especially after WC. Have 2 frags which kept good colour till now going bit brown on me noticed that about 3 days ago. Hope they are as resilient as your frags.
I'm very close to getting a vortech for myself and the more I read about ya lovin it the more tempted I'm getting
Alk swings are a problem for me especially after WC. Have 2 frags which kept good colour till now going bit brown on me noticed that about 3 days ago. Hope they are as resilient as your frags.
I'm very close to getting a vortech for myself and the more I read about ya lovin it the more tempted I'm getting
chrishayes
New member
Yeah noob, I wish there was a better salt out there that had all the big three at "perfect" levels and was still affordable...ive never had too many issues with swings in the past. Especially if it stays under 1 dkh. Hopefully your corals do ok in the short term. Once the both of our tanks mature more im sure these issues will lessen. As I said though, its usually always somethin.
About the vortech, im really not one to preach my love for any specific product cause there are usually 2 or 3 more products that can do the same thing but this mp40 is worth the hype and worthy of the awards its gotten. I also now understand why the 40 has gotten the awards and the 10 hasnt. They are very different pumps. Both great but the 40 is in a different leauge and seems to have been much more thought out. I feel that you just cant go wrong with it unless you cant handle a little ambient noise as it is far from silent even though I say how quiet it is. Thats only in comparison to the 10 ive had.
About the vortech, im really not one to preach my love for any specific product cause there are usually 2 or 3 more products that can do the same thing but this mp40 is worth the hype and worthy of the awards its gotten. I also now understand why the 40 has gotten the awards and the 10 hasnt. They are very different pumps. Both great but the 40 is in a different leauge and seems to have been much more thought out. I feel that you just cant go wrong with it unless you cant handle a little ambient noise as it is far from silent even though I say how quiet it is. Thats only in comparison to the 10 ive had.
tamthapluc
New member
Thank you very much for sharing your reefing DIY. I really enjoyed reading your thread. Keep up the good work.
chrishayes
New member
Thanks for going through it all! Thats what its here for!
The tank isnt looking so great right now. Im afraid that the bacterial bloom was more of a poisoning. My son got a stomach virus from the babysitters house and barfed all over the floor in front of the tank. After cleaning it all up we sprayed lysol all over the house and with my tank and sump being open im sure a good amount got in it. The cloudiness has subsided but the corals arent doing too well. Polyps are mostly closed, even my hammerspawn is fully retracted and bleached looking. Nothing looks real healthy...
On top of that, my wife and I have gotten it as well. This one is rough.
Reef_Noob
New member
Goodness!! Lysol!! Man who wouldv thought it would harm a reef 
Did you use a lot of it? That in itself is bad for us humans.
Must be some kind of viral gastritis, take fluids very easily one can get dehydrated. And it is contagious.
Take care and get well soon..
Wats ur plan doing some water changes? Running Boyd BioChem and Poly-filter pads can help?
Reminds me of a story when one of my friends housekeeper cleaned his tank with the metal wire spiral sponge thingy and clorox. Now one can imagine what happened to that 500 gallon established reef tank...sushi anyone served on scratched low iron glass...
She thought the algae was on the outside of the tank...wow
Did you use a lot of it? That in itself is bad for us humans.
Must be some kind of viral gastritis, take fluids very easily one can get dehydrated. And it is contagious.
Take care and get well soon..
Wats ur plan doing some water changes? Running Boyd BioChem and Poly-filter pads can help?
Reminds me of a story when one of my friends housekeeper cleaned his tank with the metal wire spiral sponge thingy and clorox. Now one can imagine what happened to that 500 gallon established reef tank...sushi anyone served on scratched low iron glass...
She thought the algae was on the outside of the tank...wow
chrishayes
New member
Did the 10 gal change and refreshed the carbon while also upping the amount used. The tank cleared pretty fast like 24hrs but the corals still dont look great. Ive upped the feeding as well which has seemed to help. Things are slowly getting better. My hammerspawn has nearly fully bleached and before starting extra feeding was retracted night and day for a couple days. Its back out again and getting some color back. I still just dont feel like im feeding enough and more than likely the little bit of vodka I was adding didnt help matters much. This is all based on the fact that my fuge other than macros and pods growing well, it almost looks sterile. The sand is bright white, the rocks are getting covered in coraline but the glass never needs cleaned and there is no worm activity at all. I dont see any trails or discoloration of the DSB which in past tanks, wouldve been all crudy by now. Through this bad period my skimmer has been skimming dark and it actually stunk for the first time when I cleaned it out last night. So I think it is just likely that the macros and the skimmer are actually able to handle the nutrients in this setup. I wish I could just trust it and feed like crazy but its hard when you know the likely outcome of doing so when dealing with nanos like I have in the past. Ill get a handle on it im sure.
I did get all the corals placed today that were on the sand acclimating. It looks nice I think. Ill try to get pictures tomorrow if things are looking ok. Im also up to about 6 hours halide now with the fuge running the entire time the halide is off. I think im gonna try to bring the halide up to 7 hours this week and see where im at and continue feeding 2-3 times a day with all rinsed frozen and a few flakes here and there. I thik that ought to keep the tank happier going forward. Im also feeding algae feast to the fuge every night like 15 drops and since doing that, the mysis population has exploded! Its cool to see them all darting everywhere.
I did get all the corals placed today that were on the sand acclimating. It looks nice I think. Ill try to get pictures tomorrow if things are looking ok. Im also up to about 6 hours halide now with the fuge running the entire time the halide is off. I think im gonna try to bring the halide up to 7 hours this week and see where im at and continue feeding 2-3 times a day with all rinsed frozen and a few flakes here and there. I thik that ought to keep the tank happier going forward. Im also feeding algae feast to the fuge every night like 15 drops and since doing that, the mysis population has exploded! Its cool to see them all darting everywhere.
chrishayes
New member
Boy, that virus was a mother! It wiped us all out for 5 days! My wife just went back to work today and my son went to the sitter for a full day instead of halfs like usual cause I just needed to sleep. Ive slept like 25 hours out of the last 48. My wife was lucky(or not) and got it all out in like 6 hours where I tend to fight throwing up even if it kills me so ive had to battle it harder than she did. Thank God cause she was able to take care of my son! Id have been no help there. Thanks honey! Did I tell you how much I hate babysitters houses and other children!? germy little things...
chrishayes
New member
So, Ive come up with a great way to feed my corals! I dropped a few large pellets in the tank for the starfish, goby and skunk shrimp and boy what a fun bit of entertainment that was! First the goby grabbed one and the starfish came charging at him sticking its arms in his mouth to get it out! The goby kept biting at him and trying to get away but the starfish would block his path. Goby finally gave up and let him have the pellet and proceeded to grab another one. Odd thing in my tank is that the goby and serpant star play house together all the time with the star acting like a pistol shrimp keeping one arm on the goby and retreating with him inside their burrow. Stupid thing is that I have a pistol shrimp in their too...
Then the cleaner got ahold of one and parked right in front of the vortech and shredded that pellet into a million tiny pieces. Within several minutes all the corals had nearly all their polyps pulled in with food inside! Plus a few even slimed up. Normally they only do that when I stir up the sand or turkey baste the rock. Cool! Thanks pepe le pew(wife insisted)!
Then the cleaner got ahold of one and parked right in front of the vortech and shredded that pellet into a million tiny pieces. Within several minutes all the corals had nearly all their polyps pulled in with food inside! Plus a few even slimed up. Normally they only do that when I stir up the sand or turkey baste the rock. Cool! Thanks pepe le pew(wife insisted)!
Reef_Noob
New member
Hey Chris.
Great that u and family are doing fine. Yep a viral attack can drain ya bad.
Lol @ germy little things. Be prepared once ur baby gonna start going to school and mingle with more germy lil things
Well that's a good thing corals are looking ok and the live stock are doing fine too. The tanks gonna bounce back now.
I think feeding more is the key? My tank too I'm planning to get some phyto/zooplankton prepared food and drip dose them. And see if that helps in my case.
Ooo it's great right some drama in the tank.
I'm waiting for a paired goby/pistol shrimp duo. Iv placed an order and gonna shipped to me once they collect a pair. So gotta wait. I love seeing interaction among animals, makes a tank exciting to watch. Seems like ur pistol shrimp needs a friend? Go shopping!
pepe le waaaaat does it mean
Great that u and family are doing fine. Yep a viral attack can drain ya bad.
Lol @ germy little things. Be prepared once ur baby gonna start going to school and mingle with more germy lil things
Well that's a good thing corals are looking ok and the live stock are doing fine too. The tanks gonna bounce back now.
I think feeding more is the key? My tank too I'm planning to get some phyto/zooplankton prepared food and drip dose them. And see if that helps in my case.
Ooo it's great right some drama in the tank
. I'm waiting for a paired goby/pistol shrimp duo. Iv placed an order and gonna shipped to me once they collect a pair. So gotta wait. I love seeing interaction among animals, makes a tank exciting to watch. Seems like ur pistol shrimp needs a friend? Go shopping!
pepe le waaaaat does it mean
chrishayes
New member
you know, the skunk from the cartoons! Maybe its just an american thing! lol Im sure GI Joe doesnt go over well in other parts of the world either...and the pistol was for the watchman goby I have now...guess he only has eyes for starfish! The pistol is SMALL though and doesnt come out hardly at all and has stayed in the same spot since i added him a month ago.
