Tunze vs. Eco Tech

[drstevemiller]

Hi all
I'm looking to upgrade my circulation for my 6ft. 180 tank. The tank was originally designed to be a FOWLR but with corals outgrowing my 75 reef this tank is now also a reef. Mostly softies and polyps with some LPS but no SPS.

What my question is: what circulating pumps would you recommend Eco Tech or Tunze? It seems like these are the two most popular so if anybody could make any recommendations that would be great. Right now I would be looking to get one to run lengthwise down the lower portion of my tank. The return pump does a pretty good job of circulating water at the top but it's definatly lacking at the bottom

Thanks

 

[Harry_Y]

I have 4 Tunze pumps, They are quiet and very reliable

 

[bunzaroo]

Hi all
I'm looking to upgrade my circulation for my 6ft. 180 tank. The tank was originally designed to be a FOWLR but with corals outgrowing my 75 reef this tank is now also a reef. Mostly softies and polyps with some LPS but no SPS.

What my question is: what circulating pumps would you recommend Eco Tech or Tunze? It seems like these are the two most popular so if anybody could make any recommendations that would be great. Right now I would be looking to get one to run lengthwise down the lower portion of my tank. The return pump does a pretty good job of circulating water at the top but it's definatly lacking at the bottom

Thanks

If you only have softies I think you can get away with 1 MP40, It would be a clean look since you will only be using 1 pump and there are no cables in the water. The MP40 is a bit pricy. You can probably get 2 tunze and put them at each end ,less money and would probably have a more balanced flow. They are much cheaper than the mp40's. Downside is that they have a bigger footprint and the cables are sticking in th water. If you plan on adding more corals down the road, I would definately purchase on MP40 and then buy another once you are ready. I am currently building a 45X27X20 rimless and will be using 2 mp40's will probably have to turn the flow down a bit. Good lucj with your decision.

 

[jcw]

it's funny. i never thought the mp40's were all that loud until the power went out and I ran the tank on a generator with the lights (and fans) off and only one of the two 1260 eheim return pumps running and the skimmer off.

Then, the mp40s are noticeable while the tunze in tank was nearly silent.

Can't beat the clean look of the ecotech, though. And a nice wide flow. And the ES driver is cool. Paritcularly the sleep mode and the variable speed modes.

 

[drstevemiller]

thanks everyone

 

[nanojg]

I disagree about only 1 vortech, it will not reach the full 6 feet, not even close. 2 x MP10's would be a better idea, if they would fit on the glass.

 

[tkeracer619]

2x mp40wes is the way to go. I personally can't stand electric cords in my tanks. I won't do it unless I absolutly have to.

 

[sbabs]

One quick question to tkeracer619 before I comment. Tke, you mentioned no cords in your reply

2x mp40wes is the way to go. I personally can't stand electric cords in my tanks. I won't do it unless I absolutly have to.

Is this because you don't like the look, or for shock concerns? I don't want to derail the thread, but for electrical reasons, I don't think it is that big a deal. There are advantages to being able to director your power heads and while the footprint is larger, you can always hide the head pretty well if you scape your system appropriately.

On to my limited experience opinion:

I can only speak for Tunze at this point, at least as an owner. I've seen the Vortechs locally at the LFS, and they are impressive. I own Tunzes now and I love them. I have 6055s, and I have some 6100s on the way for my bigger tank. Very quiet, very easy to direct, and with my controller, they do great with creating random and surging current. At night, they back off.

In a perferct world I'd have a tunze wavebox.

 

[tkeracer619]

I got shocked pretty bad. I don't appreciate getting tazed by my fish tank.

 

[marc nichols]

I have no experience with the Tunze, but some years with two Ecotechs. Aside from what has already been said, the people at Ecotech are easy to reach on the phone, quick to assist and stand firmly behind their product. They are exemplary in this regard.

Yes, the pumps do make some noise but it comes down to the relative ambient noise in the area of your display and your tolerance of same. The power module sits outside the tank, so you hear what would otherwise be muffled from inside your tank. But, they don't heat your water, are less intrusive and have fantastic performance specifications.

 

[edsreef]

If you want a single controllable pump to provide flow for the length of your 6' tank you''ll need the Tunze 6105. For this application, there's no comparison to the MP40.

 

[aufo8mycat]

I just lent my friend my 2x6205's to see how they compared to his 3 mp40s, lets just say he put 1 of the 6205 in and decided it was time to sell up and buy tunze, the 3 mp'40s at one end of his 6' long 3 wide tank barely reached the end, where as the 1 tunze made more water move at the end of his tank

 

[JG1]

Sounds like those Tunze's have a narrow flow pattern until about 18" past the pump then it spreads, where as the vortechs have a wide flow pattern inches from the pump.

 

[JG1]

I just lent my friend my 2x6205's to see how they compared to his 3 mp40s, lets just say he put 1 of the 6205 in and decided it was time to sell up and buy tunze, the 3 mp'40s at one end of his 6' long 3 wide tank barely reached the end, where as the 1 tunze made more water move at the end of his tank

On a 6' tank he should be using an MP60W...not MP40'S

 

[sirreal63]

While I think the Vortech is a great water mover, loaded with options and small footprint, I have never seen one that is quiet, unless powered down. I am obsessive about noise and insist on a quiet tank. That is the biggest reason I went with Tunze, add to that superior service from Roger if you need it. I bought used 6000's made 5 years ago, they have needed no service at all, though I did change to 6200 series shrouds to broaden the flow. They have no sign of wear and all the parts look like new. That is hard to beat. While the MP40 is a great pump, it probably would not have made it 5+ years with no need of replacement parts.

For a 6' tank, a pair of 6105's is ideal, they can be directed in multiple directions, which Vortech cannot and are silent and durable.

 

[tkeracer619]

I have never seen one that is quiet, unless powered down. I am obsessive about noise.

For the average person the noise is of no concern. Some people are very sensitive to noise.



I have had tunzes crumble apart in my hand, have had the shafts rust, have had them so loud they had to run 50% until the pump was replaced, and have had to send them back in for replacement. It is silly to think that Tunze is more reliable. Both brands are great quality and top notch pumps but they both still fail. The 6000s were IMO the best pump tunze has made.

 

[James77]

For the average person the noise is of no concern. Some people are very sensitive to noise.
I have had tunzes crumble apart in my hand, have had the shafts rust, have had them so loud they had to run 50% until the pump was replaced, and have had to send them back in for replacement. It is silly to think that Tunze is more reliable. Both brands are great quality and top notch pumps but they both still fail. The 6000s were IMO the best pump tunze has made.

The average person doesn't mind noise because most of the tanks out there are humming, whirring, gurgling noise machines. A local reefer that came to my house could not believe how silent my tank was, and was very curious on getting his the same way. I have 2-120mm fans rated at 16dB....they are by far the loudest thing on my tank when they come on, moslty wind noise. Once you have a silent tank- whether you are sensitive to noise or not- you will wonder how you ever lived with all the noise. I used to have tanks with roaring fans and humming pumps....never again . Vortechs are thought to be silent by alot of people because the typical tank noise drowns out them. Without that background "white" noise of the average tank, Vortechs can stick out like a sore thumb.

Tunzes are overall more reliable than Vortechs, mostly because of the nature of Vortechs and the way they are coupled through glass. More parts and more comlexity will always equal more problems. Any pump can have problems, and the Tunze problems you listed are extremely rare. The rusted shafts have been solved with better metals. One fell apart in your hands? The 6105s I have now are more silent than any other Tunze I have ever owned....they cannot be heard at all when you are more than foot away from the tank.

Either way, one cannot go wrong with either between the quality, effectiveness, and support wither product or company gives. Vortechs are great if you need to keep any possible source of heat out and hate pumps or wires in the tank. Tunze are alot quieter and overall cheaper. Vortech has wider flow over the stock 6105, but the 6105 can have very similar width flow with the 6205 cover on it. I have run a MP40w and 6105 w/ wider shroud in the same tank, and all flow is very similar.

 

[James77]

On a 6' tank he should be using an MP60W...not MP40'S

Absolutley. I ran the MP40 on a 6' tank, and there was almost no flow reaching the far end of the tank. I've not seen the MP60s, but they seem like flow monsters.

 

[pbnj]

Or you can save a bundle and use Koralia Magnum 8's.

In my 6ft, 135g tank, I have two Koralia 8's side-to-side and two Koralia 4's front-to-back.....8,900 gph of wicked flow for a fraction of the cost of one VorTech.

 

[tkeracer619]

Any pump can have problems, and the Tunze problems you listed are extremely rare. The rusted shafts have been solved with better metals. One fell apart in your hands?

We had 3 failures between two 6305 pumps that required them to be replaced. They were also replacements for the previous models that also failed withing the warranty period. Most of the time the motors failed and on one the shaft rusted. Not to mention having to zip tie the two halves together so the dang things didn't pop apart mid tank and spread the parts around in a 5' deep tank.

The one that fell apart in my hand was a nanostream. I was trying to remove it from the mount to clean it and the entire plastic casing fell apart (crumbled) as I tried to remove it. I glued my ORA hawkins to the mag mount so not all was lost.

Tunze took care of every situation no questions asked. Very good company if you need service.