Vortech Forum

[magdelan]

The Vortech forum is fairly concerning. 90% of the threads are from people who are having some sort of nuisance issue with their Vortech. Problems consist of people's Vortechs being noiser than they should be, wet side failure, dry side failure, miscommunication with wireless models, or just not working. Some people state that they are on their third replacement! Despite Vortech's high customer service standards, this just seems bothersome and unacceptable to me. I am considdering two MP 40's for my new cube setup, however, I do NOT want to be caught in these shananigans.

 

[naprestsleep]

Think of it this way, those who go into that forumn are a minority of all owners, its only those looking for help with their issues and not the majority of satisfied customers who never post there or anywhere.

 

[magdelan]

Think of it this way, those who go into that forumn are a minority of all owners, its only those looking for help with their issues and not the majority of satisfied customers who never post there or anywhere.

I considdered this as I was writing. Hopefully, I will not be another negative statistic.

 

[jacksonpt]

While it's true that people tend to post more about problems than they do successes, nussiance noise/vibrations from vortechs is a common "problem". That is a big disappointment (IMO) considering the price of the pumps.

 

[jdoenumber2]

Couldn't be happier with mine.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Vortech's are easily the best new product to appear on the reefkeeping scene in the past 5 years IMO.

They are immensly popular right now, thus you will see a disproportionate number of threads (of all types) regarding them.

Threads in the Ecotech Forum are skewed towards those needing help.

 

[Brickyardpub]

I just dropped the cash for my MP40.... I hope it was worth it

 

[block head]

seems to be a useful product, with poor reliability IMO. if the customer service wasn't fantastic, this product would disappear

 

[spinoleo]

Couldn't be happier with mine.

+1 love mine and will be getting another

 

[boosted chemist]

zero problems wiht my mp10, i would buy a mp40 for my next tank without hesitation.

 

[Tonynlo]

Bought one a few years back. Bought a second about a month later. Great product.

 

[pascal32]

seems to be a useful product, with poor reliability IMO. if the customer service wasn't fantastic, this product would disappear

I suspect folks don't take the time to line up stuff and prematurely wear parts as a result. Just a suspicion

I have two and they have been great for 4 months.

 

[sf_ramsden]

I definitely love mine and will stick with Vortech's going forward.

 

[5380]

My MP20 upgraded to MP40w is going on 3 years old, I destroyed my first mp20 controller by pouring saltwater on it totally my fault. The customer service in this case was perfect to freaking awesome, to the point I didn't mind not having to buy a 30 dollar pump to make due for 2 weeks. Planning on a second one in the future.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I've been running my MP60 for several months now and this piece of equipment is a dream come true. My MP40 was good, too.

I can't imagine running a reef aquarium without a Vortech now that I've been spoiled!

 

[TRENT_G]

Well did you get them?

I have 3 and no problems to date. They are a little more noisy than traditional PH's. But their performance is just awesome.

 

[evsalty]

I really like my MP40 and am considering a MP10 for a little tank I have (tank design may not allow this). I only hear the hum when the pump is above 80%.
I agree that a large portion of the rattle or vibration issues are from either current or previous misalignment(s). I say this because I bought mine used and the seller had obviously had it misaligned and that had damaged a lot of the wet side components. I replaced the bad parts only and then reinstalled it. It has been working flawlessly for the past year and I have yet to take it out and clean it.

I found the easiest way to align it was to hold the wetside just off the glass infront of the dryside and let the magnets pull eachother together against the glass.

Now for the MP60 I am not sure I would get one after having the president of Vortech Marine, Tim, say that a vibration and hum noise from 1%-100% (video posted) sounded normal to him. See the link in the quote below. Tim says "it's hard to tell from a video". It sounds quite clear to me so him saying that makes me question him and MP60's just a tiny bit. Will this stop me from buying another Vortech pump...absolutely not but I might not ever get an MP60.

Hi Tim,

First let me say I love the look the performance, features, and look of the MP60s. They can't be be beat. The sound is however driving me and my wife nuts.

I recently received a pair of replacement MP60s, due to the first pair being too loud and having a slight grinding sound. I played them over the phone for an EcoTech representative, and he told me that some of the first batches had some issues with the housing causing sound problems, and what I had wasn't normal.

My replacement dry sides arrived recently, and had a similar manufacture date as the originals. I finally got to test out the new dry sides last night and the sound appears to be pretty much the same:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE1fUZzIkVA
(The video makes it sound much quieter than in person, if I crank my stereo to 1/2 it sounds about the same)


My ambient room has a sound level of around 45db with no other tank equipment on, and one MP60 raises the level to over 70 when on full. They can be clearly heard from well over 35' away on the other side of the house.

Did I get too duds in a row or are these pumps just loud and need to be tolerated?

That unit sounds normal but of course it's very hard to tell via a video.

 

[RJT]

I have 2 MP10's, the first half a day it was NOISY!!!. Now its only a slight hum which drowned out by the tanks drain pipe.

 

[DrewPalmer04]

I'll buy noisy mp10s or those that quit powering on. I work on electronics and I'm trying to find some that are broken, shipped to 62822. PM is the only way to get ahold of me.

Thanks all