1 Vortech MP40wES in a 90?

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Cheech

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So I'm picking one up tonight. I found a guy selling one at a great price. My question is, do you think this will be enough flow for a 90G 36X24X24 tank? I currently have two Tunze 6045's in there (and a tunze nano) plus the water intake from the sump. I would love to only use the vortech for the tank and hopefully make some of my money back on the tunze PHs.

Any thoughts experience with Vortech pumps? They're rated up to 500G but we all know that might be an exagerated number!
 
dlyon101

dlyon101

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There is no doubt that the MP40 can create water movement. I would think that positioning it in the tank would be the key as you can't "point" the flow in any specific direction. I've got two in a 125 (one on each end) and they work together really well. I only have them set at about 50% power and they create a ton of flow.

Features like feed mode and night mode are nice also.
 
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Cheech

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Thanks dlyon.

I installed it yesterday, and I couldn't be happier. It really got the water moving in places I never thought it would get to. I thought I kept my tank clean, but when I turned on the nutrient export mode (at full power), there was lots and lots of debris hidden deep inside the rock that came out from every angle. Here are some pictures, 20 minutes in... There were many of these mini serpant stars covering rocks, dreeping out, trying to get their fair share.

Incredible pump! Needless to say, I'm sold on wavemakers. Fish look more comfortable, corals were opening up, the randomness of it is really great.





 
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greech

greech

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Those are some outstanding pics! I don't think I have seen that many stars out at one time before. I love my MP-10 and I can honsetsly say that because mine was essentially free (no fanboy claims :)). So how does the MP-40 do on its own on the 90? I would have thought you would need at least one of the tunzes on the opposite side.
 
C

Cheech

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^^ so far so good. I've only had it on there for a couple of days but I think (for now at least) I won't be adding any other powerhead. My next question is regarding the nozzle on the pump return. I'm trying to get a constant wave on the short pulse mode. I'm thinking that the pump return nozzle is interfering with the MP40. Do you think it would be worth changing the location of the return? Couple of ideas I had was
1: Move the nozzle so it points to the front of the tank
2: branch the nozzle to 2 pipes and lowering deeper into the water to help distribute flow. . .

 
greech

greech

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If you go with option 2 just make sure that you sump can handle the increased water from the back siphon. I think option 1 would help most with creating a wave. One 40 may not be enough to create much of a wave in a 90G? I have never used a 40 but my MP10 barely creates a wave in my 3 foot 40 breeder.
 
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Cheech

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^^ Thanks greech. I ended up going with option 1. Seems to help. I did manage to get a wave going, nothing too crazy, btu I'm very happy with the turnout. There doesn't seem to be any dead spots, but seeing how it is a new setup, I'll keep monitoring and decide whether to add a nanostream in there as well.


My only "issue" right now is my purple algae slowly bleaching. I'm pretty sure this has to do with my increased lighting schedule, so I'll tone that down a bit and increasy very slowly.
 
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Cheech

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[video=youtube;UCOV6N_E05w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCOV6N_E05w&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Here's a video I made 20 minutes into the installation of the wavemaker. Good way to see how much gunk it pulled from the water
 
greech

greech

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Man you have a ton of starfish! Nice movement!

The other day I positioned my tunze to point pretty much staright along the back glass. Once the flow hits the opposite side, the MP-10 seems to keep the momentum going and pushes the water back across the front. I get really nice circulation this way and since I have the MP-10 on reef crest (random, alternating speeds), I also get a nice back and forth going without having to run it on pulse modes. It's a little smoother wave than the pulse for sure. The winding noise bugs me a little so I'm glad this worked. I'll try and make a video tonight.
 
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