Vortech MP40 Questions

Hi Guys,

I think that I have narrowed down my small cyano problem and it is due to flow. I have been doing water changes every other day and minimal feeding and I still get a small dusting on the sand. I have a mag 7 return, 2 koralia 2's and a Koralia nano for powerheads. I have played with all options and have moved them around constanyly but have yet to find a happy medium. The porblem is that the two corals I have along my sand are either happy (small dusting of cyano) or they get blasted away (no dusting).

I was looking and saw the Vortech MP40 and was wondering if this would solve my issue. I really don't want to add anymore powerheads to my tank since it looks cluttered as it is. I was wondering if anyone with the Vortech could chime in and offer their impressions. I searched the threads on them and still have a few questions:

Where do you have yours placed? Is placement as critical as a normal powerhead?

Does the pump offer direct flow or is it dispersed?

Do all portions of your tank receive good flow?

How many would you recommend for my 55? I know the answer will probably be 2 but I don't know if I can swing 2 right now

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!!!!

Regards,
Ivy

 

I have the scaled down version of your whole question so I think it might still be helpfull for you. I have a 36 inch long 30 gallon with 1 MP10 in it.

Placement is not as critical but if you dont put it in the right spot it will kick up sand or suck air from the surface and throw bubbles.

Those pumps have amazingly dispersed flow. Also with the added random modes and wave modes corals get hit from all sides. These pump also have amazing undertow. Just wait to see how it will rearrange your sand.

My entire tank gets flow from it. Enough for sps.

I think one would run your 55 well and if not one combined with your return and maybe one of your koralias would do the trick for sure. Think of it this way a MP40 puts out 3200gph. Thats almost 60x tank turnover.

If you are not planning on doing some serious SPS I really think you could get away with the MP20's 2000gph for a tank turnover of 36x.

 

1 would be fine in a 55 mine is almost all the way turned down and it still blasts my tank...

mine is also placed almost dead center on the right side of my tank. Like Mike said the flow is very dispersed. i dont have a single thing of cyano.

 

IMHO looking at your set-up flow is not what is causing the cyano. You have enough flow in there to prevent it
Not saying the Vortech's aren't awesome, but just giving you my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised if you still have the issue after adding more flow

 

Thanks for the quick replies guys. I think that I have enough flow if you look at it in reference to gph, but I still think that I have some dead spots. Those spots seem to be really hard to get rid of with the directional flow of the Koralias and was wondering if the Vortech would be a better choice. Here is a picture of the current set-up. The dead spots seem to be on the far ends, between the first two rocks on the left and between the rocks on the right. Thanks again for the input.

I might still have the issue if I buy it Pack, but I just don't know what else would be causing it. I have racked my brain on it and tried everything I can think of and have read. It just seems to come back. Thanks!!!

Ivy