Vortech MP40W

[DrMark]

So I went ahead.
Two MP40Ws and the battery backup should be here Mon or Tues.
Looking forward to seeing how they do. So many good things said about them. Will put one on each side of the 115g. 36"w x 24"d x 30"h.
mark

[BioCube14]

I love the night mode and I hear the different wave settings are sweet. this is the reason I decided to order my mp20 rather than doing tunze streams or a wave box

[Texreefer]

I have 2 mp40 with battery backup but have not gotten to use them to their full potential since my aquarium is not set up yet.. cant wait to get them on a real tank and see how they do.

[fjr_wertheimber]

+1 on the Vortech love... You couldn't pay me to get rid of mine... unless it was enough for an MP40W with battery backup...

[wesheltonj]

I have three on the back wall of my 90 gl. You can get some good movement with these. I do not have the battery back up, I should, but with it you cannot turn them off completely to feed.

[DrMark]

I have three on the back wall of my 90 gl. You can get some good movement with these. I do not have the battery back up, I should, but with it you cannot turn them off completely to feed.

Do they have a feed mode? I thought they did. If they do, shouldnt it work fine with battery backup.
mark

[LoneStar]

They do have a feed mode. Not sure if they turn completely off or just turn really slow. Watch out on the battery backup. There was a thread or two on RC about our friends in Houston stating the backup did not run as long as they wanted to.


I'm debating myself now on either the mp40 or a 6055 myself :)

[glennr1978]

I wish I would've known you were getting vortechs!!! I know of a GB going on with INSANE prices on these things.

[fjr_wertheimber]

The feed mode doesn't turn 'em completely off, they just go reeeeeally slow...

[DrMark]

I wish I would've known you were getting vortechs!!! I know of a GB going on with INSANE prices on these things.

I bet I got as good a price as the group buy, but I would like to know. I will pm you with what i paid, let me know
mark

[DrMark]

The feed mode doesn't turn 'em completely off, they just go reeeeeally slow...

gotcha

[rpc]

Feed mode on the Gen 1 is 1000 rpm, if you have Gen 2 the feed mode is 500 rpm.

The big issue the guys down here were having with the battery backups during the power outage is that when the battery backup comes on, your pumps automatically go to half of your current setting speed (similar to Night Mode) and hey were not getting enough surface agitation for oxygen exchange for their fish. The guys who also had battery powered airstones did much better.

The big gripe was that the selling point of the battery backup was to protect you during power outages, but it turned out to be a false sense of security.

(I have a MP40W on my 90g and love it! but don't have the battery backup)

Richard

[wwarriner]

I have a MP40W on my 40 breeder and its awesome. Complete overkill but who cares!!!

Guess its time to upgrade the tank.

[joelb]

i like your style wwarriner!

[LoneStar]

For those MP40W owners, how do you select the wave modes? Is it via a input selection on the driver? Also, if the power goes out, does the wave mode you select get saved or do they go back to a default setting?

[rpc]

For those MP40W owners, how do you select the wave modes? Is it via a input selection on the driver? Also, if the power goes out, does the wave mode you select get saved or do they go back to a default setting?

There are 2 buttons and a potentiometer on the driver. The potentiometer controls the speed of the vortech and the buttons are to cycles through the wave programs and set the wave profile.

I don't have a battery backup but I believe when the power goes out and it's running on battery, it is the same as night mode. It is a constant flow that is 50% of the max set flow.

If you cycle power and don't have a battery backup, the vortech comes back up, runs through it's boot up sequence and then resumes the previous wave profile. The preset Sleep Mode start time is not remembered. Since the driver doesn't have a power button, you have to unplug to turn the vortech off. I haven't tested for an extended period of time to see if it remembers the wave profile (usually a minute or less to move the pump around).

--Richard

[LoneStar]

There are 2 buttons and a potentiometer on the driver. The potentiometer controls the speed of the vortech and the buttons are to cycles through the wave programs and set the wave profile.

I don't have a battery backup but I believe when the power goes out and it's running on battery, it is the same as night mode. It is a constant flow that is 50% of the max set flow.

If you cycle power and don't have a battery backup, the vortech comes back up, runs through it's boot up sequence and then resumes the previous wave profile. The preset Sleep Mode start time is not remembered. Since the driver doesn't have a power button, you have to unplug to turn the vortech off. I haven't tested for an extended period of time to see if it remembers the wave profile (usually a minute or less to move the pump around).

--Richard


Thanks. That helps he out on if I either want to use the pump with its built in feed mode or the feed mode built into my controller. With the Profilux controller you can program a socket to 'filter' and then it will turn off the power for a set period of time allowing you to stop the flow for feeding. If the night mode settings do not save after the power goes out, looks like the feed mode option will only work well through the Vortech's driver.