but it kinda is.......I ve seen what turning on a vortech in my tank does......the first time I fired mine up the over flow that was on the same side of the tank as the vortech started to drain.....as I was underneath the tank tinkering with the gate valve to adjust the water level inside the overflow, my skimmer erupted like Mt Vesuvius ....that to me says that they move a lot of water.........I love my vortechs for that......and the controller is cool.......

But!......you cant point them.......or mount them in certain situations.......

thats why I love my tunzes.......I can mount them in wet situations.....I can point them where I need to..... they still put out good flow.......and they are reliable....


I get tired of these comparison tests between the two pumps......how can you accurately compare the flow output of two completely differently designed pumps?......its like comparing the output of 3000gph through a garden hose (tunze) to 3000gph through a fire hose(vortech)..... and there is the other variables, like Tony mentioned.....

I had a Tunze 6105 on one side of my tank and an MP40 on the other side. I ran both of them at full power just to see the difference. There was a little broader flow from the MP40 and I stress "little", it was almost identical. One didn't overpower the other so they are both going to do pretty much the same thing in a tank. My goal was to go Tunze or Vortech because I didn't want the mix in my tank. I chose to go with Tunze for the following reasons:

1. IMO Tunze is a better build quality ( I know that statement is subjective but let's face it, you can't kill a Tunze).
2. There are tons more options for positioning a Tunze PH. The Vortech side to side (and even back to front) concept is great in an empty tank but as soon as you put live rock in the tank you end up with dead spots and then you need to add more PH's to cover these dead spots. Tunze can be mounted anywhere and pointed in any direction to eliminate dead spots.
3. Tunze has better controllability. The light show on a Vortech is cool but Tunze's control is so much more flexible, especially with the 7096 computer USB interface (I'm really surprised Vortech hasn't done this yet).
4. And finally... who makes pumps big enough to use as an outboard motor? TUNZE. How cool is that!

I have both pumps in my system and am a little on the fence between them. I do like the Tunze performance, and like the price point a lot better. Utility for $ spent is a significant factor for me in purchasing. Having said that I like what the vortech does in my tank very much and I think its various flow programs are great.

One thing I am very skeptical of though is video's/research put out by any vendor for marketing purposes. I honestly do not trust any vendor to be objective and I have no faith that any video like this has been set up as a controlled blind study of each piece of equipment. And this is nothing against Tunze I would say the same if Ecotech put out a video.

Palmer

Edit- Maybe "Double Blind" is a little too demanding for this kind of comparison but hey I still dont trust it lol....

You can get the programmer for the tunze too.

I have tunze right now, but did have an mp40 for a couple days, I got real tired of it sounding like I left the vacuum on in the other room.

Ha Ha. I dont find my Vortech loud or bothersome as far as noise goes. Probably too many concerts and hours with the headphones on....

after reading all the responses Im glad so many people realize the value of a quality pump and lets face it both vortech and tunze put out a great product IMO.

Curious on the up keep of vortech? I usually go a year before cleanings on my Tunze's.

The start of this whole 'Tunze powerheads underperform' scandal was due to a big study funded BY Ecotech. Tunze has since posted a video rebuttal of sorts...

There you go I'm not suprised. :lol:

Because at the end of the day, they are designed to do the same thing.
Of course there is different performance under different parameters, that's why tests are controlled!!!

I have to admit, I never bought a Vortech, I've never even been tempted too but I would still be very interested in a non biased, controlled test...maybe a couple of them each with a specific performance rating in mind to really know which is the best on a par playing field peer to peer.

Here's my .02

I own both - 2xMP60wES and 2xTunze6205s. The MP60s are so loud. They must be 10-20 times louder than the Tunze, but the in-tank footprint is small, there is no cord in the tank and they are much easier to maintain (just swap out the wet side).

What no one has mentioned is that you can mod the Tunze for a wider flow pattern. You can cut the tube shorter and cut every other slot from the grill out. This results in a similar flow pattern to the MPs. Best of both worlds?

If only I cut cut the cord on the Tunze. Life would be perfect.

- Brad