What is so special about the Ecotech Vortec MP 40?

[Stickboy97]

Someone please help me out here, why are these so expensive? What is so special about them? I have 2 hydor koralia's on my 75g and they work great. I'm putting together a 180g now and was just wondering what is so great about these pumps?
Thanks

[flipsideleo]

Hey there,

I live in Spring, too. Small world.

1. No motor in the tank = no heat.
2. Customer service is superb (I mean, SUPERB).
3. On-board controller programming is excellent right out of the box.
4. Can sync them up with other WP-XX's and with Radion LED fixtures.
5. No wire coming out of the tank (esp. important to rimless owners).
6. Can tie into their own (well-built) battery backup, in-case of power outage.
7. Gentle, wide flow. Unlike any other powerhead on the market. (Can have a coral just inches in front of it, without it blowing across the tank).

I'm sure I missed more... That's all I can think of off the top, though.

[Reef Frog]

Using 2 of these pumps in the sync mode gives you a great back & forth current in a variety of preprogrammed variable profiles that approximate what you'll find on a reef. It's much different than on/off type power head controllers.

Also the speed is variable from gentle to very powerful. Less heat in the water & easy repositioning are nice too. Easy to clean & spare parts are a available. They are indeed expensive, but they seem to hold decent value if resold.

[Stickboy97]

I guess I'm not quite that advanced a reefer, I have no issue with heat, I point the flow away from my corals that don't like it, & i rarely move them. The wire is better, but I can't see the extra for the cost.

They look better, but for that much $ I'm still not convinced. If I had a rimless, maybe.

Anymore info?

[Desisto941]

Have you researched them online on Ecotech's Website. It helped me decide whether or not I should buy one. The video's on youtube help too@

[Khemul]

The controller, basically.

The thing is, you are looking at the high end of the market from the bottom. A Vortech is a full featured controller/pump combo. A standard Koralia is a cheap, no frills pump. All of the brands are a bit more expensive if you want a controller and full feature set. Even Hydor is relatively expensive if you get their control system and the controllable pumps, compared to the standard pumps. Whether you need any of that is entirely up to you.

[Reefer94]

Originally Posted by Khemul

The controller, basically.

The thing is, you are looking at the high end of the market from the bottom. A Vortech is a full featured controller/pump combo. A standard Koralia is a cheap, no frills pump. All of the brands are a bit more expensive if you want a controller and full feature set. Even Hydor is relatively expensive if you get their control system and the controllable pumps, compared to the standard pumps. Whether you need any of that is entirely up to you.

Pretty much this. I do think they are grossly overpriced though - so I agree with the OP on that. I also personally don't like them that much for other reasons.

But I will give them credit where credit is due. They can make full-blown, waves, provide completely random flow (not just back and forth like korellias "controller"), drop into different modes for night time, have a low-power feeding switch... not to mention the undertows they provide and the extremely wide, gentle flow pattern (not a jet right in your coral's faces) - they basically work a mini reef controller right into the pump. Also the interface with the battery backup is very handy.

They are excellent pumps, and if you have the money, and don't mind those little things sticking to your tank (one of the things I hate about them) then grab one. You'll love it.

[thelostrican]

I have been using mine non stop(besides cleaning), for like 4 years, I have only have only invested in a psu, like 20 bucks...that's it and they are still going strong, I might buy the new controllers, but don't really need them...so for me they have a lot of value, oh an I can still sell them for a good price, but I won't cause they are pretty much a good power head...

[nickdo]

your corals need wider, boarder, random flow. Not narrow & straight flow.
And yes, it is overpriced and expensive.

[flipsideleo]

Originally Posted by nickdo

your corals need wider, boarder, random flow. Not narrow & straight flow.
And yes, it is overpriced and expensive.

I respectfully disagree with your statement. Corals don't need wider, broader flow.

[azjohnny]

I like the undertow they produce and keeping the tank clean

[flipsideleo]

That they do, and very well, might I add.

However, I recently pulled my two MP-40wES' and replaced them with those WP-40's, and I stirred up quite a bit of detrius that the MP-40's never pulled out from under my rockwork. It was a well-received surprise.

Fact is, there is no real reason to purchase MP-40's anymore. Other than aesthetics and heat concerns (with LEDs, this is falling by the wayside), one can easily program a WP-40 to do everything a MP-40 can do, and more. The reason I ditched mine was because I was never a fan of the noise they produced. I have many build threads where I brought that up. It's not a misalignment thing, either... they just naturally ramp up and down, and you can hear them clear as day. I'm sure a lot of you understand what I mean when I say that... but some won't (no matter). Unfortunately, I've been spoiled with "Tunze silence" in the past, so MP-XX's never came close.

[flipsideleo]

It really boils down to the consumer and their needs/wants.

Oh, and MP-XX's don't hold their value as well as some would like to think. If you spend $465 for something that you flip for $340 later (gotta love the haggle!), that's a $125 loss on your (less than) year old pump. If you spend $100 on something and turn around and flip it for $80... well... you get the gist. Percentage-wise, we're looking at the same losses. I just went through this... I'm not griping about it "at all." I just figured there were enough Ecotech lovers out there (for now) to flip them quickly enough. Let's see how that looks in a year, though. I'm certain the tides will change.

[LouH]

The concern over putting heat into a tank just doesn't make sense to me. My average house temp is 74 degrees. I run my reef between 79 and 80. I have an Apex controller that logs when and for how long each heater runs in any time interval, and my heaters are on a significant amount of time while my chiller rarely turns on. I have 750 watts of metal halides over a 72" long tank. With all of the heat output from the metal halides, you would think the chiller (really an 8" fan) would be on constantly. It isn't.

I have 2 large Tunze powerheads run off of the Apex controller, and they emit a miniscule 13W each. Mounting the motor out of the water and claiming energy savings seems silly. If you really want to save money on your reef, use LED lights and submersible hardware everywhere else. Objects in direct contact with the water more efficiently transfer their heat to the water than does a source out of the water. Unless your home's temperature is close to your tank's temperature, you want all of your equipment submerged if possible.

[jaynigz]

I like my control option when I hook my mp40 to my Apex. The growth on my tank is ridiculous.

You may be right that you don't need these anymore considering the cheap chinese knockoffs available.

But I put a premium on customer service. To each his own.

[ReachTheSky]

Two MP40's cost me quite a bit but they were the best thing I got for my tank. I never saw the corals, fish and anemone happier or the tank cleaner.

[DavidinGA]

Jebao WP40's are the better route for the money these days...

[BlindZide]

WP40s are monstrous. Moves tons of water and can create decent sized waves. The new controller has a ton of new modes. Plus the light sensor works for night time.

[jweintraub]

I just got my first MP a few weeks ago after running nothing but Koralia's for years. I bought it used here on the forums for a MUCH better price than new, and am beyond impressed with the controlability of the unit. Using the feed mode is super convenient instead of having to unplug my non-controlled Koralias everyday and fighting with them to turn back on correctly and not backwards. I'm looking into a second one right now.

[sanababit]

The other thing about vortechs is that if you dont want to see them at all in your main tank you can always hide them behind rocks, imo the tank looks cleaner without cords running all over the place

Sana

[jaynigz]

jweintraub, wait till you get a 2nd one and have them anti-sync with each other. It's amazing the type of growth you'll have. I came from koralia's set up a few years ago. The growth on my corals is night and day.

Reefcrest 90% all day. Lagoon 75% all night. And that's it.

[azjohnny]

Another reason I went with vortechs is the cord issue

I keep triggerfish and they love to chew on cords so a lack of them is a good thing. The only time one of the Trigs has thought of messing with one of them is when I have to shut them off for any reason

[Dapg8gt]

It's hard to convince someone how well they perform if they haven't used them.. Having the random current and pre loaded wave patterns that come with them are excellent at giving your reef that as close to natural wave patterns you can get.. You can literally have coral darn near right in front of the pump and it will thrive.. It doesn't beat up the corals yet it moves some serious water..

The noise is an issue to some but me personally don't really don't mind it and I have 4 10's all ramping up and down right in my living room. It's true that the Jebao are cheaper and I bought 2 WP40 for my build that I'm going to control through my reef angel to mimic the vortech patterns.. So IMO if you want to try a real wave maker and don't want to pay vortech $ I would say get the Jebao pumps.. The stock controller is good but no way to get a lower flow in the random/else mode other than a controller. Dimmers may work but I think some are having issues.

In short though I haven't used the Jebaos yet but personally I like the look of the vortech and I will have 4 10's on it already so I might be ditching the Jebao's and get 2 MP40's just because I like them and know they will stand the test of time that's the one thing no one knows about the WP's..

[jweintraub]

Originally Posted by jaynigz

jweintraub, wait till you get a 2nd one and have them anti-sync with each other. It's amazing the type of growth you'll have. I came from koralia's set up a few years ago. The growth on my corals is night and day.

Reefcrest 90% all day. Lagoon 75% all night. And that's it.

I can already see a difference in the "happiness" of my corals on the side of my tank with the MP. I'm still running a Koralia 1400 on the other side and like others have said, it just blasts a jet of water 24/7.

[ganjero]

Nothing and Everything at same time....