Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread - Page 19

NexDog · 01/29/2006, 10:41 AM

Didn't realise Melev was a Vortech beta tester. Perhaps now we can see some video of it in action.

Lunchbucket · 01/29/2006, 10:43 AM

Marc - you are beta testing the vortec!! how you get that job?? i want in

let us know how it is when you can.

you're close to 20k now!!!! geeze. i'm about to hit 10k and thought about all the time i must have spent posting to threads...can't immagine 20k. but hey its better then doing other things.

Marc you gonna be at IMAC? i'd love to meet up if you are

later
Lunchbucket

original-reefland · 01/29/2006, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lunchbucket
Marc - you are beta testing the vortec!! how you get that job?? i want in let us know how it is when you can.

I'm lined up for the second wave of betas. No use getting stuck with a flawed beta version... assumming they find issues.

thereefmaster · 01/29/2006, 01:04 PM

Great tank!

rdmpe · 01/29/2006, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RGibson
rdmpe- the big thing is how much will the pump cost.

Yeah - I heard in the ballpark of "a little less than a tunze pump" on another thread a while back... What does that mean? Maybe in the $150 or $175 range? I have never been in the market for tunze pumps, so I'm not sure.

RGibson · 01/29/2006, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rdmpe
Yeah - I heard in the ballpark of "a little less than a tunze pump" on another thread a while back... What does that mean? Maybe in the $150 or $175 range? I have never been in the market for tunze pumps, so I'm not sure.

The cost of a tunze pump from $200.00 to $451.00 .The two tunze streams i have cost $332.00 each.

RGibson · 01/29/2006, 06:50 PM

rdmpe makes you wonder why do not post the cost of the pump,may it is on the high in of a tunze stream.Melev tell us how much the pump cost?

melev · 01/31/2006, 05:07 PM

Now how did you figure it out Robert? I didn't say a word until one hour ago, when I finally had time to get on RC to catch up.

Here's what I posted in the IceCap forum:

Okay, I'm all caught up. I've been running the VorTech as well in my tank for the past three weeks. I'd like to thank VorTech for letting us speak about our impressions finally.

When I opened my box, I swear I heard angels in the heavens singing.

It has been very interesting testing the pump to see what it would and what it wouldn't. Everyone mentions directing the flow. I've seen no need. The flow is wide.

The intake grate is large enough to suck in food without clogging, and chop it up even finer for my smaller fish.

It doesn't clog. Snails climb all over it, and seem unaffected at all. I've had my longnose hawkfish perch on it and swim away easily.

The pump doesn't eat up a lot of real-estate, nor block my viewing panel. This is very important to me and why I've never had a pump on this end of the tank.

The sound - we all care about sound. It is very very low, like the sound of a computer tower's power supply on the floor under your desk. You know it is on, but it doesn't stop you from doing what you need to do. When it is running 100%, you are still aware of it. If you had these on your tank inside the fish room, you'd never hear a thing as your skimmer would likely be far more noisy. My entire setup is pretty quiet, as is my home. It hasn't bothered me at all, including when I watch TV & movies. No complaints at all.

The glass of my tank is 1/2" thick, so I have a pad on the inside and outside of my tank. Moving the pump takes both hands, working from the inside and outside of the tank at the same time. It is very easy to move it and keep it aligned.

When you first set it up, you may hear some mild noise coming from it as things need to slime over like all other plumbing parts. I never really heard anything, but it actually got more silent the next day. If that makes sense.

The propellar cover has a flat area to face upward to avoid vortexing air into the pump. And when I had it within 1" of the surface, it still didn't vortex. That was really surprising, and cool.

The one negative I can think of is that every person that sees it puts their hands on it and says "what's this for?" I want a label on it that says "If you didn't pay for this, don't touch it!"

If the person tries to pull it or move it, they can cause the inner half to drop to the bottom of the tank. It hasn't happened yet, but I could imagine someone doing it if I wasn't there staring them down.

I have SPS corals about 16" from the VorTech (when it was positioned in the picture above), and two corals ended up with a small bald spot due to running it on high. I moved the pump more toward the front of the tank to avoid that direct contact and both are doing just fine. Of course, turning down the flow at the driver box is easily done as well.

Because I have two Tunze 6100 Streams at the opposite end of my tank, they pump against each other. The sandbed has definitely shifted, due to the undertow all three pumps create. My tank is 72" x 30" x 30".

As I expected at MACNA, I knew this would be a hit. I'm very happy with what I've seen thus far, and am excited about the controller and battery backup as well. Had VorTech decided to not release the pump for another six months just so they could have a controller to go with it, I still would have waited. And face it, many people will probably try to buy the pump only, to save money. So there really isn't a reason to demand a controller from Day 1. These are the same guys running Maxijets and Seio pumps with no controlling ability.

You can demonstrate flow by dropping food in the tank, or pouring in Purple Up or some type of alkalinity booster, but the tank will get cloudy.

Konadog · 01/31/2006, 05:19 PM

Very nice Marc. What do you think if you were to put it on the bottom of the tank (if it was BB of course) and point it up creating a welling flow? I've seen it done with SEIO's and Tunze's, but didn't like the cord hanging in the tank, and everything you needed to do to hid the pump. These seem to be built for this application!

BrianPlankis · 01/31/2006, 05:31 PM

Marc,

Does the unit you are testing come with the battery backup? If not, will that be included in the first release?

Brian

Lordhelmet · 01/31/2006, 06:12 PM

Marc you lucky dawg! those pumps are the sweet.
I also want to know about the battery back up and how long it runs when the powers off. this pump could be a savior for a lot of people in the future.
keep us informed

Cprowler · 01/31/2006, 06:30 PM

Quote:

You can demonstrate flow by dropping food in the tank, or pouring in Purple Up or some type of alkalinity booster, but the tank will get cloudy.

Hey Marc,

Are you going to do a video of it in action?

rjwilson37 · 01/31/2006, 06:46 PM

That is very sweet, how many gph does that one move and do you like it as much or better than the tunze.

How does it handle power on power off, does it start right back up as far as durability.

bheron · 01/31/2006, 07:11 PM

Alright, Im "pumped" too, since Im a big fan of powerheads versus closed loops.

Marc, instead of us barraging you with tons of questions, whats the best way to get more info? Im searching google right now!

EDIT: found the thread I think you were talking about:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=672444

(Im guessing "ASH" is the president of IceCap, Andy Howard? Cool.

And also a link to a video on Icecap's website

http://www.icecapinc.com/video.htm

melev · 01/31/2006, 07:37 PM

Konadog - I think it would work under a tank as well as it would on the back and sides. Heck, it could go on the front if that was the owner's desire. The one thing a person would have to do is make sure there is a hole drilled in the surface of the stand, and I imagine it would be a little challenging getting the inner part where you need it to be, every time you had to remove it for cleaning.

Brian & Lordhelmet - no, it didn't come with the battery backup. According to the EcoTech team, the battery backup will run up to 36 hours. I would imagine that would be running only one pump, not several.

Cprowler - I'll see what I can do about a video.

Robert - it is adjustable from 100gph to ~3200gph. I have unplugged and plugged it back in within 5 seconds, and it started right back up. Another beta-tester in the IceCap forum has been running his on a wavemaker powerstrip with good results. I'm surprised, actually.

bheron - yes, Ash is Andy from Icecap.

Konadog · 01/31/2006, 07:54 PM

Marc, it's all in the planning

I haven't set up my 225 yet, waiting for the stand to get Linexed! I can still drill the stand top and the starboard so that it will be a perfect fit if need be. I had give some thought to stashing a Tunze inside a pillar but wasn't sure of how much flow it will create if it has nothing to deflect it before it hits the surface. I also don't want a gusher blowing water out of the tank. These are even better as I don't have to hide a power cord, and look much smaller than a Tunze.

melev · 01/31/2006, 08:00 PM

And you can control how much or little flow you want to push. Small gysers would be awesome though.

smokez01 · 01/31/2006, 08:04 PM

wow that pump is frickin awseom!

Morgandy · 01/31/2006, 08:47 PM

Marc, I'm catching up on a couple months of reading here.. don't have time to read from early Jan through now cuz The Shield is on soon and I have to add bags of fauna/mysis/pods and such to a couple tanks before it starts! So, don't know if you already wrote it up yet or not, but, with phosphates down, what are you noticing in the tank now? SPS polyp extension better, or other things?

thx!

melev · 01/31/2006, 09:10 PM

Oh yes. Want to see some recent pictures?

MaryBebo · 01/31/2006, 09:26 PM

Marc, I first found out about these from your trip to MACNA. It is great that you are a beta tester. Sounds like a WINNER to me

They are really going to have to mass produce these things for all the buzz here on RC.

Oh yea, Your Pod Cast was great too. I really enjoyed listening to it.

It should be very helpful and we could learn a lot. Nice Job!!

melev · 01/31/2006, 09:27 PM

My copperband butterfly is still in quarantine, and had those silly white dots on his fins. Well, almost all of them dropped off today!

Here it is just a couple of days ago, on the 28th:

Thanks Mary!

Micki · 01/31/2006, 09:30 PM

Incredible pictures! What is the branching coral in the first picture?

RGibson · 01/31/2006, 09:34 PM

Marc my name is Ralph not Robert,and how i new that you had the pump because you told me so.Now tell us all how much the pump will cost? Have a good day .

melev · 01/31/2006, 09:34 PM

That is a fuzzy green staghorn with blue tips. There are a number of milleporas in my tank that are very furry that I didn't bother editing to share as they were the same coral as posted in the past, with a tiny bit more growth. And the one I wanted to capture came out blurry of course.

Here's that Tyree frag I love so much, from above. However, with the new ReefLux bulb, it looks much different now.

01/29/2006, 10:41 AM	#451
NexDog Snail Killer Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Kyushu, Japan Posts: 4,804	Didn't realise Melev was a Vortech beta tester. Perhaps now we can see some video of it in action. __________________ Laurence Flynn 340g In-Wall Envision Tank and 150g Sump. Current Tank Info: Deltec 902, PFO hood with 3x400w Radium 20k and 4x96w PC's. Hammerhead closed loop - and 2 x Tunze 6105 (and Vortech still sucks).

01/29/2006, 10:43 AM	#452
Lunchbucket Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Brookings, SD Posts: 12,924	Marc - you are beta testing the vortec!! how you get that job?? i want in let us know how it is when you can. you're close to 20k now!!!! geeze. i'm about to hit 10k and thought about all the time i must have spent posting to threads...can't immagine 20k. but hey its better then doing other things. Marc you gonna be at IMAC? i'd love to meet up if you are later Lunchbucket __________________ Trying to lose weight by walking is like trying to bake a cake w/ a cigarette lighter - Lunchbucket - "Nancy-Boy Extraordinaire" - maxxII- Current Tank Info: 58gal Oceanic RR, 2x400w MH (20k XM and 10k XM), Deltec PF601 Ca Rx, Deltec AP701 skimmer, mag950 return, iwaki 55rlt w/ an Oceansmotions 4-way unit, Tunze 7300 and 6000 each w/ controller, fluidized po4 rx

01/29/2006, 01:04 PM	#454
thereefmaster Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Mossyrock, WA Posts: 354	Great tank! __________________ Click on the Little Red House to see my Reef! Current Tank Info: 55G Reef, Coralife SuperSkimmer 220, Current USA 260W PC, 2" SSB

01/29/2006, 06:50 PM	#457
RGibson RGibson Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 2,377	rdmpe makes you wonder why do not post the cost of the pump,may it is on the high in of a tunze stream.Melev tell us how much the pump cost? __________________ RGibson

01/31/2006, 05:19 PM	#459
Konadog Master of the 16 hour day Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: East Long Beach, So Cal Posts: 13,151 Blog Entries: 4	Very nice Marc. What do you think if you were to put it on the bottom of the tank (if it was BB of course) and point it up creating a welling flow? I've seen it done with SEIO's and Tunze's, but didn't like the cord hanging in the tank, and everything you needed to do to hid the pump. These seem to be built for this application! __________________ Save the Reefs................................................................Save the world! -Ken Current Tank Info: Currently tankless, and loving it!

01/31/2006, 05:07 PM	#458
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Now how did you figure it out Robert? I didn't say a word until one hour ago, when I finally had time to get on RC to catch up. Here's what I posted in the IceCap forum: Okay, I'm all caught up. I've been running the VorTech as well in my tank for the past three weeks. I'd like to thank VorTech for letting us speak about our impressions finally. When I opened my box, I swear I heard angels in the heavens singing. It has been very interesting testing the pump to see what it would and what it wouldn't. Everyone mentions directing the flow. I've seen no need. The flow is wide. The intake grate is large enough to suck in food without clogging, and chop it up even finer for my smaller fish. It doesn't clog. Snails climb all over it, and seem unaffected at all. I've had my longnose hawkfish perch on it and swim away easily. The pump doesn't eat up a lot of real-estate, nor block my viewing panel. This is very important to me and why I've never had a pump on this end of the tank. The sound - we all care about sound. It is very very low, like the sound of a computer tower's power supply on the floor under your desk. You know it is on, but it doesn't stop you from doing what you need to do. When it is running 100%, you are still aware of it. If you had these on your tank inside the fish room, you'd never hear a thing as your skimmer would likely be far more noisy. My entire setup is pretty quiet, as is my home. It hasn't bothered me at all, including when I watch TV & movies. No complaints at all. The glass of my tank is 1/2" thick, so I have a pad on the inside and outside of my tank. Moving the pump takes both hands, working from the inside and outside of the tank at the same time. It is very easy to move it and keep it aligned. When you first set it up, you may hear some mild noise coming from it as things need to slime over like all other plumbing parts. I never really heard anything, but it actually got more silent the next day. If that makes sense. The propellar cover has a flat area to face upward to avoid vortexing air into the pump. And when I had it within 1" of the surface, it still didn't vortex. That was really surprising, and cool. The one negative I can think of is that every person that sees it puts their hands on it and says "what's this for?" I want a label on it that says "If you didn't pay for this, don't touch it!" If the person tries to pull it or move it, they can cause the inner half to drop to the bottom of the tank. It hasn't happened yet, but I could imagine someone doing it if I wasn't there staring them down. I have SPS corals about 16" from the VorTech (when it was positioned in the picture above), and two corals ended up with a small bald spot due to running it on high. I moved the pump more toward the front of the tank to avoid that direct contact and both are doing just fine. Of course, turning down the flow at the driver box is easily done as well. Because I have two Tunze 6100 Streams at the opposite end of my tank, they pump against each other. The sandbed has definitely shifted, due to the undertow all three pumps create. My tank is 72" x 30" x 30". As I expected at MACNA, I knew this would be a hit. I'm very happy with what I've seen thus far, and am excited about the controller and battery backup as well. Had VorTech decided to not release the pump for another six months just so they could have a controller to go with it, I still would have waited. And face it, many people will probably try to buy the pump only, to save money. So there really isn't a reason to demand a controller from Day 1. These are the same guys running Maxijets and Seio pumps with no controlling ability. You can demonstrate flow by dropping food in the tank, or pouring in Purple Up or some type of alkalinity booster, but the tank will get cloudy.

01/31/2006, 05:31 PM	#460
BrianPlankis Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 1,956	Marc, Does the unit you are testing come with the battery backup? If not, will that be included in the first release? Brian __________________ Currently redesigning my 90 gallon tank system to support coral and invertebrate breeding. Click on my red house to see the thread with the progress. Current Tank Info: 75 Gallon Reef with 29 gal sump and 8 gal Clownfish species tank

01/31/2006, 06:12 PM	#461
Lordhelmet Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,008	Marc you lucky dawg! those pumps are the sweet. I also want to know about the battery back up and how long it runs when the powers off. this pump could be a savior for a lot of people in the future. keep us informed __________________ I need a new signiture Current Tank Info: 90 gallon, 14 gallon

01/31/2006, 06:46 PM	#463
rjwilson37 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: West Michigan Posts: 7,104	That is very sweet, how many gph does that one move and do you like it as much or better than the tunze. How does it handle power on power off, does it start right back up as far as durability. __________________ Isn't life just wonderful. 29g Biocube Standard Pump Standard 72w PC Lighting Current Tank Info: 29g Biocube Reef Tank

01/31/2006, 07:11 PM	#464
bheron Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Valley Forge, PA Posts: 2,655	Alright, Im "pumped" too, since Im a big fan of powerheads versus closed loops. Marc, instead of us barraging you with tons of questions, whats the best way to get more info? Im searching google right now! EDIT: found the thread I think you were talking about: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=672444 (Im guessing "ASH" is the president of IceCap, Andy Howard? Cool. And also a link to a video on Icecap's website http://www.icecapinc.com/video.htm __________________ Bryan Current Tank Info: 220 since Nov 2005 Last edited by bheron; 01/31/2006 at 07:25 PM.

01/31/2006, 07:37 PM	#465
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Konadog - I think it would work under a tank as well as it would on the back and sides. Heck, it could go on the front if that was the owner's desire. The one thing a person would have to do is make sure there is a hole drilled in the surface of the stand, and I imagine it would be a little challenging getting the inner part where you need it to be, every time you had to remove it for cleaning. Brian & Lordhelmet - no, it didn't come with the battery backup. According to the EcoTech team, the battery backup will run up to 36 hours. I would imagine that would be running only one pump, not several. Cprowler - I'll see what I can do about a video. Robert - it is adjustable from 100gph to ~3200gph. I have unplugged and plugged it back in within 5 seconds, and it started right back up. Another beta-tester in the IceCap forum has been running his on a wavemaker powerstrip with good results. I'm surprised, actually. bheron - yes, Ash is Andy from Icecap.

01/31/2006, 07:54 PM	#466
Konadog Master of the 16 hour day Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: East Long Beach, So Cal Posts: 13,151 Blog Entries: 4	Marc, it's all in the planning I haven't set up my 225 yet, waiting for the stand to get Linexed! I can still drill the stand top and the starboard so that it will be a perfect fit if need be. I had give some thought to stashing a Tunze inside a pillar but wasn't sure of how much flow it will create if it has nothing to deflect it before it hits the surface. I also don't want a gusher blowing water out of the tank. These are even better as I don't have to hide a power cord, and look much smaller than a Tunze. __________________ Save the Reefs................................................................Save the world! -Ken Current Tank Info: Currently tankless, and loving it!

01/31/2006, 08:00 PM	#467
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	And you can control how much or little flow you want to push. Small gysers would be awesome though.

01/31/2006, 08:04 PM	#468
smokez01 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Coral Springs, Florida Posts: 269	wow that pump is frickin awseom! __________________ Click red house to view my tank thread =) Current Tank Info: 1 yr old 90g Reef

01/31/2006, 08:47 PM	#469
Morgandy Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Cleveland, OH Posts: 1,173	Marc, I'm catching up on a couple months of reading here.. don't have time to read from early Jan through now cuz The Shield is on soon and I have to add bags of fauna/mysis/pods and such to a couple tanks before it starts! So, don't know if you already wrote it up yet or not, but, with phosphates down, what are you noticing in the tank now? SPS polyp extension better, or other things? thx! __________________ Amy. Current Tank Info: Numerous past tanks (down to nano now)

01/31/2006, 09:10 PM	#470
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Oh yes. Want to see some recent pictures?

01/31/2006, 09:26 PM	#471
MaryBebo Premium Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Cullman , Alabama Posts: 1,103	Marc, I first found out about these from your trip to MACNA. It is great that you are a beta tester. Sounds like a WINNER to me They are really going to have to mass produce these things for all the buzz here on RC. Oh yea, Your Pod Cast was great too. I really enjoyed listening to it. It should be very helpful and we could learn a lot. Nice Job!! __________________ Have a Great Day, :) Mary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)<((((°>... Current Tank Info: 85 Gal RR Cube 400W 14k MH & NanoCube 24 DX 2006 Stock Lighting Softie Tank

01/31/2006, 09:27 PM	#472
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	My copperband butterfly is still in quarantine, and had those silly white dots on his fins. Well, almost all of them dropped off today! Here it is just a couple of days ago, on the 28th: Thanks Mary!

01/31/2006, 09:30 PM	#473
Micki Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Ohio Posts: 7,163	Incredible pictures! What is the branching coral in the first picture? __________________ Micki... Western Ohio Reef Club Click the red house for my 125 progress! Current Tank Info: 125 gal. reef, 90 gal. sump, 10 gal. fuge, 40 gallon. 150 gallon fish only.

01/31/2006, 09:34 PM	#474
RGibson RGibson Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 2,377	Marc my name is Ralph not Robert,and how i new that you had the pump because you told me so.Now tell us all how much the pump will cost? Have a good day . __________________ RGibson

01/31/2006, 09:34 PM	#475
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	That is a fuzzy green staghorn with blue tips. There are a number of milleporas in my tank that are very furry that I didn't bother editing to share as they were the same coral as posted in the past, with a tiny bit more growth. And the one I wanted to capture came out blurry of course. Here's that Tyree frag I love so much, from above. However, with the new ReefLux bulb, it looks much different now.