600gal (96x48x30)

Untamed12: One of the inherent benefits of being a clownfish is that they have a heavy duty slime coat and are much less likely to contract certain diseases or suffer from parasites.
 
I've seen Tunze's "reverse and clank" per say when they are not getting enough water flow or are struggling hard to get it. For example, if you take your hand and cover most of the input.

Is it possible you have them all cranking way too hard, and they're not getting water into the back area fast enough? Think about them turning into a true pump, where they have to forcefully try hard to draw in enough water. Try running them on low, and see if you can reproduce the issue. Personally, I can't possibly fathom you having 5 of 6 bad Tunze's based on my experience and reputation. Something has to be wrong...
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It's not that they are not getting enough flow because when all 3 on one side were set to full blast the water level was only like 1/2" lower then the tank... I have take them out and tried them in the bathroom upstairs in a bucket of water... Also I have them on two different controllers (1 controller per side) and I have them set from 40-100% alternating so all 3 pumps would never be running at 100% per side... I have tired to turn them down and trying to run them without the controller I have tried everything, like I said I spoke with Roger and he was not able to come up with anything I hadn't already tried... I also find it hard to believe that 5 out of 6 pumps could all go bad, that is why I would like to find out what could have caused it so it can get fixed... They are still under warranty but I don't want them replaced just for it to happen again... They were running fine for about a month and then all of a sudden they started dropping one by one...

It sounds like a power issue to me, with them running backwards. The Tunze Stream pumps have small brakes on the impeller near the top of the magnet to make sure it doesn't spin the wrong way.

Have you tried running them without the controller? If they all work properly with Power (120v? ) --> Power Supply --> Driver ---> Pump then the problem could be a setting in the controller.
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The older impellers have "brakes" to stop them from spinning backwards... I guess the newer controllers are smart and will not allow the pumps to run the wrong way...

Rogers goes over this in more detail in this thread

I have tried running then with out the controller(s) and I get the same thing, as soon as they are plugged in I get the alarm...

On the electric side of it also are they plugged into some thing you wired? If so are you sure you wired it correctly, because if you wired a outlet wrong you could also get reverse polarity.
I would have to agree with Rokel and say that it would be hard to believe you got 5 bad Tunze.
I also did the Siphon break with back flow valve on my returns and put in two emergency over-flows in my sump that go right to my sump pit in the basement and pumped out to the street.
BTW I have seen you mention other tanks you have in your thread, you have any pictures of them you could share, would love to see them.
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Yes they were, but I have a tester and they are fine and were fine for over a month... I have tried running them on other outlets and get the same response...

I will be looking into an emer overflow drain near the top of my sump very soon... I will also be picking up a full house gen alot sooner then I had planned...

I agree with RokleM. Reduce the pump output to the minimum to see if that fixes it. If it does, than your inlet's for the overflow box are undersized.
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The Tunzes will not even work outside of the "Tunze box"... As soon as I plug them in I get an alarm and I have cleared them, let them soak in vinegar, used different alerts then what they were plugged into for a month before they stopped working... I just don't get it... If I play with some of them enough I may get it to spin for a few sec's but it's jerky and the alarm chirps because something seems to be dragging and the only thing that it seems like is the impeller is spinning backwards and the brakes are slowing it down...

Anyway...no reply needed. This is your thread. I just wanted you to know that I share your pain!
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Untamed12, thanks for your post and I am sorry to hear about your losses... I had a clown in the 50gal frag tank and it was fine, I have since moved him back to QT... I still have 6 shrimp (3 fire and 3 cleaners) in the display with a few pep shrimp in the frag tank that are doing fine, along with prob close to 550 various snails throughout the system... The snails are even laying eggs...

I have only been running the MH over the frag tank (since I have a few corals in there which are doing fine), the macro light (24/7) and 2 of the 4 MH's over the tank and will keep it like this until some time in March when I might try to add a few small cheap fish to see how they do...

Drill a small hole on the underside of the Locline (just under the surface of the water), in an area where it won't splash. This will keep a common siphon break regardless of how you position the output.
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I saw this done a few times, and Melev's site comes to mind as I believe he talks about it and has some pics about it... I will be doing this in the next few days...
 
The Tunze's are pretty bulletproof, that's why I think that if Shawn had 5 of 6 go bad on a tank that hasn't been running that long, it's probably an error on his end.
It will be interesting to see what the cause of the problem is.
 
the tunze's may not work out side the "tunze box" because the damage has already been done to the pumps. If you have your pumps running alternately at 40-100% then when one of them is going full boar the other is at a reduced level and fighting the inflow of water being pulled by the other at a lower power. Essentially they are always trying to pump "upstream". Eventually this would wear out any pump IMO.
 
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tunzes are not a s bullet proof as people think they are. a friend of mine had 6 of them go bad in less than 1 year. the tank is so big there was no problem with the flow from one tunze pushing against the other tunze. also if you have 2 tunzes facing each other than there still shouldnt be a problem with them running properly. the easiest way to tell if there is a back pressure problem is to put your hand 6" in front of the opening to cover it while the tunze is trying to start up. if it dont start on its own then thre is a problem with the tunze.
also i have heard of people getting bad batches of products. just because it has the tunze name on it does not mean thet it cant be defective. is shawn bought all his tunzes at the same time there could have been a miss hap at the factory and they got shipped out accidentally. it happens. do bee so quick to say tis the owners fault. tunzes are supose to be plug and play. this sounds like it equiptment failure.

good luck with this problem. i hope it all turn out good in the end for you.
 
shawn iss ther any chance you got hit by lightning? that is another possability in my mind. i could see something like that happening to 5 out of 6 pumps. especially the controllable tunzes. there is alot of electronics here that can get messed up from a power spike. is there anything else in the house that is not working properly? or a coumuter that got messed up in the last few weeks? im just trying to think of other alternative things that could cause something like this to happen.
 
I wouldn't think that a Tunze could even have back pressure just by the way they are designed. I definitely think they could have been knocked out by an electrical problem, or could have come defective in the first place.

I just got a replacement Vortech driver that is wired differently than the others I have. Turns out that someone just soldered them differently but the end result is the same. They had a vacation replacement that used a different "style" of hooking them up. So yeah, it can happen in the factory very easily like Scott says.
 
Wow... Does not seem like a month has past already...

I ordered some more shelf pieces from Capt Jer at reeferrocks.com and added a few pieces yesterday... I had about 550lbs of baserock already in the Display and added 5 shelf pieces for another 267lbs putting the total amount in the Display close to 817lbs... I really like how it turned out... I will try to get some updated pics in the next few days...

I have the following in a few QT tanks and will be adding them to the Display soon (not all at once)...

* = Fish/Coral already in the frag tank...

Fish

6x Bartlett's Anthias
ORA Black False Percula
ORA Striped Dottyback*
2x ORA Neon Dottyback*
ORA Canary Blenny
Exquisite Fairy Wrasse
Pearlscale Butterfly
Chocolate Yellow Mimic Tang
Longnose Hawkfish
Juv. Vlamingi Tang (about 3")
Yellow Eye Kole Tang
Chalk Bass*
Eibli Pygmy Angel
Lamarck's Angelfish
Yellow Rose Antenna Goby*
Randall's Goby*
2x Bar Goby (Zebra Dartfish)
3x Rainford's Goby*
2x Twinspot Signal Goby*
5x Scissortail Goby
Regal Angel (Red Sea)

Corals
3 Acanthastrea colonies*
Pagoda Coral (Display)
Hammer (Wall)*
Frogspawn (Branching and Wall)*
Torch*
Green Star Polyps (Display)
Colt Coral*
3x RBTAs*
Long Tentacle Anemone (Display)
3x Coco Worms*
Green Bubble Coral*
Xenia (Display)
Scolymia Brain*
Lobophyllia Brain*
And more...

Looking For...
4-6x more Bartlett's Anthias
2x ORA Clark's Clowns
Harlequin Basslet
2x Helfrichi Firefish
Tennenti Tang
Watanabe Pair
Japanese Swallowtail Pair
3x Flame Angel (Debating)
3x Multicolor Pygmy Angel (Debating)
Multibarred Pygmy Angel
Moorish Idol
Black Tang
 
Glad to see you are recovering from the losses. I am going to have to come over and see it one of these days.

I saw a black tang at phisybusiness.com last time I was there. Was real healthy and a great sized one.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9310907#post9310907 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by uztaryn
I saw a black tang at phisybusiness.com last time I was there. Was real healthy and a great sized one.
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LOL, I am going to hold off on the more exp fish for right now... Maybe in like 6 months or so I will start my search... Same for some of the corals and carpet anemones I want...

I need to get over and see your setup as well...
 
great looking setup, have the same exact size and will be setting up soon, just waiting on the key equipment my tank... do you have any recent pics on your setup, thanks
 
I am glad you have recovered from you loss, your system is very nice and I have been following along with this for quite some time.


I do have a question regarding your system though, could you post pictures or send them to me on how you went about your sump plumbing from the tank and back. I ask because I am doing a tank build and will be shortly setting up a simular sump configuration only with a bit less water valume (150 and 50 only). Did you drill hole in the rubbermaids and if so, did you come accross any problems?

I can't wait to see this tank in a year, I would imagine tank of the month easily. Good work.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9354557#post9354557 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cbui2
great looking setup, have the same exact size and will be setting up soon, just waiting on the key equipment my tank... do you have any recent pics on your setup, thanks
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I have seen your thread, you got a nice equ list going... I am watching your thread so keep us updated...

As for pics, I need to get some some updated ones...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9448281#post9448281 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cward
Any word yet on why the Tunze pumps malfunctioned?
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Nothing yet, I have a 6200 and 6100 in the tank running, I still need to send back 3x 6200s and 1x 6100 as I am not able to get them working... I am hoping to get them sent out this wk...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9450629#post9450629 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mahlhavoc
I am glad you have recovered from you loss, your system is very nice and I have been following along with this for quite some time.

I do have a question regarding your system though, could you post pictures or send them to me on how you went about your sump plumbing from the tank and back. I ask because I am doing a tank build and will be shortly setting up a simular sump configuration only with a bit less water valume (150 and 50 only). Did you drill hole in the rubbermaids and if so, did you come accross any problems?

I can't wait to see this tank in a year, I would imagine tank of the month easily. Good work.
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It still hurts to think about it, but everyone has losses in this hobby, just hurts when you think your doing everything right and you lose a couple of fish... Its not the price as much as the losses, The $$ hurts some, but I just feel bad that I caused something to die...

Thank you (and everyone else) who has been following this thread... When I first started it I was planning on keeping it updated more often then I have, and not planned on it taking so long... But that is life and you have to go with the flow... Over the next few wks I am going to try to keep it updated more often...

I do need to get updated pics of the entire setup and I will be sure to get some detailed shots of the plumbing and making a diagram to show how its setup... I have a few things I want to change already with my plumbing, nothing much, just want to split the return pump off to a few more things...

I can only hope my tank is one tenth as good as some of the ones I have seen here on RC... I don't think it will even be close if I gave it 5yrs... So I don't expect TOTM anytime this decade...
 
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My Tunze Nano ate it right away. It was apparently a "known" issue in that they made the shafts out of inferior metal and a bunch of them broke. It also never started in the right direction and sometimes wouldn't start at all... Probably a different set of problems, but not fun! After all the problems I have had with the Vortechs, I figured I would try Tunze...and it back-fired miserably!

I wrote to Roger and he said he would send me a new one as soon as they came in.
 
Just think, you may have had all the bad luck in one shot, and it will be smooth sailing from here on! I would love that, rather than worrying about when the next shoe drops. :)

Can you say "Manifold"?
 
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