Are the Vortech MP40 Worth the $$$

[globaldesigns]

Well I did it!!! I decided to spend the money and give it a try... I was by Snappy's (Coral Master) and picked up some frags... Oh yeah, wow... Nice setup Greg, very impressive.

Anyways after seeing your posts, talking with Fishytime And Snappy, I decided to do it, so left Snappy's and went to see Danny (Wais) as he has them in stock... I can't tell you what I got it for, don't want to get anybody in trouble, but I can say Danny took care of me.

And WOW!!!! Holy CRA&**#*.... I removed a couple powerheads and this thing does wonders, I see movement I have never seen before and my water went slightly dirty as it created some great undertows and started pulling crap from behind rockwork. I am very impressed... Currently I have it setup with long pulse at full strength with 9-10 second intervals.

To all that don't have it, I can say you should... Yeah they are too expensive, but Wow do they work.

Have fun all

[Snappy]

I have 4 of them in my tank and plan on at least one more

[Lance]

Are they a lot of money? YES
Do I like mine? YES
Would I buy them again? YES

[mike31154]

Ok, let's hear from some of the folks that voted No, and why...

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by mike31154

Ok, let's hear from some of the folks that voted No, and why...

+1, I would like to know reasons, why people voted no... I am leaning towards trying one, let me know why you voted "NO"

Dennis at Gold's doesn't carry them anymore, because he said he had way too many problems... But he can bring them in for me, but again he won't support them if there are problems. People, tell me your problems.

[Ron99]

My unit had issues (a bit noisy and one button stopped working) but the controller was replaced under warranty and all has been great since.

[mike31154]

I mentioned in my earlier post that I initially purchased a Generation 1 MP40W. These did have an issue with the plastic coating on the magnet breaking down resulting in the wet side magnet rusting over time. This would vary from one pump to another, mine took about 6 months to start having this problem but the pump still ran without a hitch during this time. This was solved with new completely enclosed magnets and is no longer a problem. The replacement magnet and shaft cost under $10 and the parts are easily installed by the user. They've also done a slight redesign to the wet side shaft and bearing configuration. There was a bad batch of bearing parts recently which caused a rash of problems with wet sides seizing up, falling off or the entire wet side spinning. This has also been addressed and fixed. EcoTech quickly takes care of any of these issues once the problem is identified. I'd say there are many more satisfied users than not. You tend to see more of the complainants on their forum and folks tend to not consider the number of satisfied users out there, silently happy with their purchase.

Still would be good to hear some of the reasons why people would not buy the current product.

[globaldesigns]

K, just an update... I have now changed my settings and now am running Short Pulse... It took a bit to dial it in, but got a nice wave action going, short pulse alternating on/off at about 3/4 second intervals.

It has been a couple days at this setting and I can see even better polyp extension.

[mike31154]

I'm asssuming you need it to ramp up to 100% quickly to get a wave in your size system? How are you finding the noise factor on short pulse ramping from idle to 100%?

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by mike31154

I'm asssuming you need it to ramp up to 100% quickly to get a wave in your size system? How are you finding the noise factor on short pulse ramping from idle to 100%?

You are correct, I am running at 100%, the noise is barely noticable... If you are near the end of the tank with the dry side showing, you can slightly hear the starting and stopping of the pump itself, but again I will say "Barely noticable"... So I guess I got things aligned really good.

So far so good, I am impressed. Now it isn't a huge wave, but it does crest up/down about 1 inch, which is great for me, otherwise I might end up splashing out the top. It does look cool, got the ends cresting up, while in the middle it crests down, really cool to look at.