Tunze vrs. Vortec?

Wow. What a great bunch of answers. You all amaze me! Thank you.

For the tunze group:
This is for our 150 and it does sit in our living room so noise is definitely an issue.

GTS, one of the reasons for going with the tunze's would be the excellent service and recommendation from Joe. (our very trusted LFS) Also, there is a local guy here who is running the vortechs so I have seen the flow he has. Joe thinks one 6105 would be sufficient as we have a mixed reef with mostly LPS and softies.

It would be nice to go from 3 powerheads down to 1.

For the vortech group:
I also really like how they look in the tank, and the possibilities of that controller are quite appealing to my gadget happy husband.

Screwtape - that is one of the best summaries I have every seen!! k+

I guess, just like everything else, there is no wrong or right, just preference.

 

BluemoonReefers,

The Tunzes really don't look that obtrusive in the tank. You can barely see the two 6205's in my tank.

 

Another thing to consider. On the MPs, you have to keep very good alignment on the wet and dry side. What are the chances of the dry side getting bumped on your tank. You said it was in the living room. Will a kid be running by and grab it?

Personally, I have MPs and love them.

 

GTS....anything would look unobtrusive in a tank the size of yours!! LOL! No, really I can see that they do blend in.

JonJon...no young kids running by, but one of the things that I have heard about the mp's is that although they disappear "in" the tank, the motors on the outside can be a little distracting visually. Do you find that an issue?

 

Just thought I would through my 2 cents in.

As Screwtape said, you don't need to direct the flow with an MP40

As far as the dry side getting wet, I've never even had that come close to happening, You will need to try to get it wet. Also, it actually doesn't move very easily, at least when it comes to sliding. There is a friction pad it comes with and that works very well.

To be fair, you do have a huge tank awesome tank, anything will look small compared to that.

The biggest advantage the MP40 has is the ability to synch them together and the different modes. It does produce a little noise, but nothing outrageous IMO, I guess though it depends on personal taste. I love mine and will get another one when I upgrade at some point. Also, I wanted to mention that vortech's support is second to none. Either way, you will have some nice power heads.

 

I've never found that an issue. It's only about 3" with cord. It actually is designed nicely and doesn't look bad. It doesn't look out of place IMO. The only thing you will have is the cord, but you can wrap that around the stand. To me, if you decide to go with the Tunzes, then you will have the cord anyways and a spot where you can't see b/c of the holders. So to me, they are the same as any other power head.

 

Good point!

 

Yep, more pros and cons for each....


If you can place the vortechs on the back of the tank, they are easily the least visible pumps.

When they first were made, vortech had issues that their customer support IMHO did not handle correctly. Since then, it looks like all the issues have been worked out with new vortech versions drivers and such. I just would not buy the original mp40's (used of course now), and get the new ones.

 

Hey all, thanks for your input, lots of really good points for both. My birthday was Wednesday so hubby asked today what I wanted for my birthday.........

I went with the TUNZE's!!! And a complete re-aquascape and a flame hawkfish. Pics tomorrow after the water clears up.

Here were my reason's for going with the Tunze over the vortech.
1. My very trusted LFS is a tunze dealer so I know the service will be good and I do like to keep him in business.
2. The tunze's were a little cheaper and I didnt have to pay shipping and wait for them to come in.
3. Although I know that you don't really have to change the direction on the vortechs, we liked liked how much the tunze's rotated.
4. He will make us a good deal if/when we add the second one and need a multicontroller.

Thank you again for all of your advice and personal experience.

 

Congrats on the hawkfish. I always thought they were really cool. We look forward to seeing your pics.