vortech mp40 on a 120gals.

reef211

reef211

New member
Sup Reefers,

I have a question about the vortech mp40? My tank is a 120 gals 4x2x2 and i have two tunze 6025 on each side and two k3 in the back corner pointing at a 45 degree to the front and a mag 9.5 for return. If i get the vortech do i need to take out some of the pumps or just leave them in there? and with the vortech in there how should i place the other pumps? My tank is mix tank with sps in the back, lps in the middle and shroom on the bottom, my sand bed is 3.5''. Any info would help thanks.

Big Mike.
 
I have two in my 120 and they replace 2 Koralia 3 and two koralia 4. I added one of the 4's back later but it is not really needed. It was more for a low flow spot caused by my rockwork. Heres a pic .
_DSC0113-1.jpg
 
wow, nice tank by the way. thank you for the info and picture. I was thinking of put two of the k3 on one side and the vortech on the other side, what do you think? I can only afford one vortech for now.

big mike
 
Thanks. Thats the way I did mine. One at a time. When you see how much water they move you will start saving for the second right away. I just added mine last fall. They have the added benefit of keeping the tank cleaner because they move so much water and get everything in suspension. When I added the first one I was amazed how much dirt it picked up out of the rocks. I would start by running just the vortech and add the K3 to cover any low flow spots.
 
Okay, i got my vortech in on sunday and wow stuff are flying everywhere in my tank. I spent all day yesterday trying to tune it in to get the wave that i would like to see but no luck. So i gave up and went to bed.

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<img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/mikeaphan/120%20gallons%20RR/IMG00477.jpg"><br /><br />
<img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/mikeaphan/120%20gallons%20RR/IMG00478.jpg"><br /><br />
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I used the wave function on mine once and then went back to reef crest mode. The short or long pulse wave did create a wave with an unwanted side effect on my tank. I have dual overfows and the wave fooled the tank into not recognizing evaporation because the wave was always enough to fill the overflows and keep a constant level in the sump. When I went to night mode and the wave stopped the water returned to normal my return pumps started sucking air and my ATO went on for a few gallons worth of top off. It did create a nice wave. Even got the egg crate damp on top of the tank. Reef crest and lagoon modes work very well also. Nice looking tank BTW.
 
I too started out with short pulse for a wave effect but now let it run in Reefcrest mode. I like the randomness of reefcrest and so do my corals! :)

VorTech's 4 LIFE! :)
 
I just got a mp20 for my 65. Its awesome, I am going to get another soon. I'm not sure if it will be the mp20 or mp40 this time. I have been running it on lagoon mode. Its a big step up in flow from the K2 it replaced.
 
Sup guys,

Right now i have it on short pulse, but still no wave like i wanted. I also set it on a sleep mode so the pump slow down at 10pm and back up a 8am. I took one of the k3 out. I was thinking about take out the other k3 too and just used the two tunze 6025 on the same side and the vortech on the other side. I think the the two tunze have enough flow in them. With two of the k3 on the same stuff will get blown away when the vortech is on sleep mode. What do you guys think?
 
Have you tried shutting off the other pumps and just using the VorTech on short pulse? You do know how to set for a wave right? :)

Brad
 
We did that the first time we got the vortech. Is there a special setting for the wave that i dont know of? I set it on short pulse and play around with the speed and i only get about a 1/4 of wave, I get that with my k3 and the tunzes on. I was checking out this video on youtube and the guy got one vortech on a 75 gals and his tank have a 1 to 1 1/2 wave. Do you think the rock work got anything to do with how the wave is created?
 
i have two mp40w's on a 70 and tried just about every possible configuration and couldnt create what i'd call a true wave.... like a wavebox creates. having said that, i love the tremendous, random flow they create and i run them independantly in reef crest mode and the corals love it. i would suggest not worrying so much about creating a wave as much as creating as much random flow throughout the tank as possible. lastly, the pulse modes supposedly lower the life of the drive shaft, so thats another reason to use the reef crest mode. good luck.
 
I have plenty of random flow with just the two k3 and the two nano tunze, the reason why i pay so much for this pump is to get the wave action that i see on youtube and ect. But so far I'm not happy with it. I'm meeting up with a guy from RC that is selling a nano tunze wavebox. If i like how the nano tunze wavebox is, then the vortech will be up for sale.
 
The wave you see on youtube is in an empty tank(no rock work).
In a stocked tank the aquascape will mitigate the wave to some extent. I would turn your other powerheads off and set the vortech to about a 3 sec pulse on full power and wait and watch. Beside the wave one of the things the vortech creates is a large undertow, which is a great benefit IMO.
With the other powerheads running their flow will effect any wave action created by the vortech also.
 
I just pick up the nano tunze wavebox for Ying, Thanks man. I will let you guys know if i like this better or not.

Big Mike
 
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