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- Thread starter Ibn
- Start date
Ibn
Guest
Thanks!
So new top arrived today from Artfully Acrylic today. Took ~6 weeks from order to arrival and overall pretty happy with it.
roostertech
Guest
Ibn
Guest
Partially precautionary, but I intended to keep a fairy wrasse down the line. This also keeps the snails in the tank. I was using a DIY mesh top prior to this, but this is a more aesthetically pleasing option.
Yes, the screen is replaceable. The top is routed and uses the same rubber pieces that you see in the traditional window screen.
Placed the order before they introduced the new feed door. Asked them to add it and was waiting for a revised invoice. After a week of not seeing the invoice, I contacted them and they sent me the tracking number since they threw it in for free! It's really over engineered, and if you use the feed door a lot, then it's in the way. I would actually not pay the extra amount for it, unless you have fish that like to ram that very specific area where the feed door is, or if you're keeping eels or other escape artists.
roostertech
Guest
I think the improved door was partially triggered by someone losing a 4 yrs old wrasse. The fish were probably trained that there are food around that door?
I'm pondering if I would even need a door since you can stick a turkey baster through the net to feed right? Is the door big enough to stick your hand through to place nori?
Ibn
Guest
Possibly trained to be near the door, but the door does have a bit of weight to it, so it would take a determined fish to push and lift the lid. Then they would have to come back to the same spot and jump through.
You do need the door since you can't exactly stick a turkey baster through the netting since it's the clear 1/4" type.
Norpro glass baster on top for reference. The fine tip V20 does fit through the netting, but only the tip.
roostertech
Guest
I saw that you have apex feeder also, does the food get caught on the netting at all?
The "lock" portion of the door is a detachable part right?
The "lock" portion of the door is a detachable part right?
Ibn
Guest
Yes, if there's a design flaw that would be it. There isn't a door for where the Apex feeder sits. It's basically notched in the back there for where the feeder clips to the back wall and part of the food goes through the netting and some of it gets deposited on the top there. The top could be slimmer in the edge there to accommodate for that.
The lock portion of the door is for the feed door which is the extra door in the center front of the screen that you see there. It's lockable in the sense that you can slap on the attachment to the door and slide it in place where it's "locked". Not really useful if you feed often since you have to lift the top off to slide it out if you want to use it. I've opted to leave the parts separated instead so a traditional door is what I'm currently running.
Ibn
Guest
Norco Glass Baster. Useful for feeding mysis or larger chunks of food or if you need a decent baster for your turkey during this holiday season.
Bottom one is the V20 feeder. This is the standard narrow tip one. You can add an extension if you need a longer feeder. It also comes in both a fine tip and a wider tip (or you can get a fine tip and cut out the end there). You can find this online or at one of the LFS. This one was from Neptune and I've also seen them at Aquatic Collection.
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Ibn
Guest
Been awhile since I've updated this, with the move as well as the holiday break. Had a mishap with the dosers so lost some frags and quite a few in recovery mode.
Anywho, here's the comp to start off the new year. Couple of the newer frags are still not colored (OG PM and PL), but that's expected.
Anywho, here's the comp to start off the new year. Couple of the newer frags are still not colored (OG PM and PL), but that's expected.
Ibn
Guest
Lower left hand corner is the OG purple monster. Right above it is the sunset monti. That specific one came from Vincent from the last swap.
Ibn
Guest
Thanks! The sunset started out brown from the swap but it has since colored up and is slowly showing its true colors.
The PM is from Oscar Millan from SoCal. My buddy connected me with him and I was able to get the frags delivered (PM, PL, Tierra del Fuego, and the Becker tort) this past week. Oscar runs an UNLS with no fish in his tank so his pieces comes in very pale, and with a very thin skin as can be seen on the PL. The PM is a very generous cutting from him (approximately 1" tall x 3/4" across with the side branches) that he had originally cut ~6 months ago to ensure its survival. My buddy picked it up on the 22nd, pulled it from the plug, remounted, and created the mound for the coral. He then drove the frag up north on the 30th from SoCal in a heated box and delivered it in immaculate condition with polyps showing on all the frags upon delivery.
Ibn
Guest
I decided to pull both of my MP10wES off the back wall for a soaking and cleaning today (I have spare wet sides that I can run). They're getting pretty heavily coated in coralline so was pulling the covers off for a soaking when I discovered the following:
Wet side assembly #1:
The center portion of the basket had fused onto the shaft itself. Parts of exposed metal can be seen through the black plastic.
Wet side assembly #2. Hairline crack on the shaft itself. There seems to be rust developing along the crack as well.
I'm pretty sure that both of these weren't supposed to happen to the Vortech shafts. They're used wet side, but these weren't in operation for more than a year for something like this to happen. These issues weren't present last month since I usually pull them apart for cleaning monthly (that's about a month's worth of coralline growth that you see in the pics)
I happen to be chatting with a buddy of mine and he mentioned that a similar thing happened to a few other SoCal reefers when they pulled their pumps apart for cleaning. I took his suggestion and contacted Ecotech this morning and discussed it with the rep. I sent them the details, including the fact that these were purchased used in 2013, but wasn't put into operation until a year ago when I kickstarted this tank.
They can't replace these since they're out of warranty, but was able to offer me two new MP10wQD wet sides for the price of $75 (they covered the shipping). I'll be running the spares that I have on hand at the moment, but will be using the QD wet sides once I receive them. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with their customer service at the moment.
Wet side assembly #1:
The center portion of the basket had fused onto the shaft itself. Parts of exposed metal can be seen through the black plastic.
Wet side assembly #2. Hairline crack on the shaft itself. There seems to be rust developing along the crack as well.
I'm pretty sure that both of these weren't supposed to happen to the Vortech shafts. They're used wet side, but these weren't in operation for more than a year for something like this to happen. These issues weren't present last month since I usually pull them apart for cleaning monthly (that's about a month's worth of coralline growth that you see in the pics)
I happen to be chatting with a buddy of mine and he mentioned that a similar thing happened to a few other SoCal reefers when they pulled their pumps apart for cleaning. I took his suggestion and contacted Ecotech this morning and discussed it with the rep. I sent them the details, including the fact that these were purchased used in 2013, but wasn't put into operation until a year ago when I kickstarted this tank.
They can't replace these since they're out of warranty, but was able to offer me two new MP10wQD wet sides for the price of $75 (they covered the shipping). I'll be running the spares that I have on hand at the moment, but will be using the QD wet sides once I receive them. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with their customer service at the moment.
roostertech
Guest
That is quite a bit of growth for one month. So it came out cleanly last month but fused/cracked this month?
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Welcome to the world of Vortech pumps, it's the #1 reason I gave up on them, the wet sides kept having problems with fusing to the base, or in some cases the friction just wears away at the base and it pulls itself through. Unfortunately ecotech simply offered to sell me more wetsides which was not exactly an ideal solution.
That said, I do have a MP60 which uses the newer model of wetside, so I might replace some on the new tank... MIGHT. Or I might just let it go because they're a huge money sink for me to which they should not be considering how much they cost. I'm happy for those who have never had problems, unfortunately I'm not one of those people.
That said, I do have a MP60 which uses the newer model of wetside, so I might replace some on the new tank... MIGHT. Or I might just let it go because they're a huge money sink for me to which they should not be considering how much they cost. I'm happy for those who have never had problems, unfortunately I'm not one of those people.