2 tunze or 2 vortechs?

PelagicMagic · 03-05-2007, 09:27 PM

I am going to upgrade from my seios soon and want to ask would you rather have a pair of vortechs or tunze 6100's controlled and why? The tank is 210 gallons

know-it-all · 03-05-2007, 09:42 PM

sorry, I own neither
but I've heard that the Tunze need to be cleaned every 3 months or they seize up

Wiskey · 03-05-2007, 11:07 PM

I personally went with the Tunze's,.. The controller is not out for the vortec's yet,.. and we all know how long Seio took to come out with theirs,.. Plus there were early production problems with the Vortecs,.. there fixed now, but it makes me jumpy.

I have a friend that uses the Vortecs and really loves them,... I've seen them and think there ok,.. but I decided to go with the proven name. I will say this for the vortecs though,.. they don't intrude in the tank practically at all. The downside of course is that you can't angle them,.. they have to blow straight across.

Whiskey

combiemaster · 03-06-2007, 02:17 AM

i thnk tunze is better a little more $$$ but low wattage and they give a better disperes flow unlike seios its just a jet. Me personally will go with 2 tunze and a wavebox with the control

crvz · 03-06-2007, 07:15 AM

I would select the Tunze simply because they can be angled (i'd recommend the off brand "sure grip" magnet holder). I've seen some of the stuff the vortexes can do, but you're limited on the direction. There's also a rumor that a controller is coming out as a firmware update to the Aquacontroller 3, which would save a couple hundred dollars on a controller if you've already got an AC3 (though not sure about the timeframe on that). Good luck!

wiszmaster · 03-06-2007, 07:15 AM

I was given the oppertunity to test the Vortechs for 30 days.

CONs:
1. CANNOT direct/angle flow - its straight from where you go
2. Have a (medium/large) bump on the outside of your tank
3. ISSUES - more down below

PROs:
1. Very WIDE dispursed flow!!! The flow is great, wider than the tunze, at closer distance from the pump
2. Smaller footprint inside the tank, takes up very little space/aqua-estate & is not weird looking.
3. Outside (motor) get hot, but not to the point that ou burn yourself - but hot. Thats heat saved from transfering to the water.

Problems:

Right out of the box, it took me about 45 minutes to get the unit to run - bad design for the spacer. The rubber pins ont he spacer would bend before they were inserted into the fame holes fully.

Once this issue was taken care off, the unit would fail @ 50% + power - Dave @ Icecap responded immediately & overnighted a new Driver & Power supply to me - it ended up being just the power supply.

After i took the unit out of the tank, i noticed that the magnet on the motor side was rubbing against the backing/outer piece of the case. This made the anti-rust coating on the magnet rub off, the magnet started to rust, and it scorched lines into the plstic inbetween the motor magnet & tank. if this owuld've run for a few months, i could see it going through the plstic & start rubbing against the tank galss/acryic.

Overall - The vortech is a great concept, HOWEVER i don't believe that it was excecuted & Designed as well as EcoTech Marine meant to.

There were too many problems out of the box for a $350 pump.

I did Like the flow it produced. ALOT of flow, and very widely dispursed.

Also, i must say that IceCap's service on this pump was up to par! I Believe IceCap is trying to do everything possible intheir power to help people with pumps that have issues, and get the back on the road ASAP!

--marco

SPC · 03-06-2007, 10:52 AM

Very interesting Marco, thanks for the run down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiszmaster

3. Outside (motor) get hot, but not to the point that ou burn yourself - but hot. Thats heat saved from transfering to the water.

This one is quite interesting to me, my Tunze 6110 is not even warm.

If I were buying today I would go with the Tunze again, in fact, I just purchased another one a couple of weeks ago. I have found that anything with proven quality in this hobby is few and far between.

Steve

PelagicMagic · 03-06-2007, 12:54 PM

i dont think you will feel the heat on the tunze since its in the water. I will probably go with the tunze because I hear so much about the vortech breaking down issues, however they are only 600.00 a pair ( I get them for 299.00) and the tunze will be around 7-800 with the controller

hng · 03-06-2007, 01:46 PM

What was wrong with the Seios? I am thinking of getting some for a 75 or 90 gal BB.

PelagicMagic · 03-06-2007, 01:47 PM

nothing, I just want to upgrade

wiszmaster · 03-06-2007, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPC

This one is quite interesting to me, my Tunze 6110 is not even warm.

Steve

the water already cooled your tunze down ... where-as the vortechs motor is only cooled by air sorounding it - not getting active cooling.

crvz · 03-06-2007, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiszmaster

the water already cooled your tunze down ... where-as the vortechs motor is only cooled by air sorounding it - not getting active cooling.

I think active cooling implies that water is redirected around the motor to remove heat, is that really what's happening? I think it's just a matter of water having a better heat capacity and heat transfer rate than air, as well as considerably increased conduction because of the water flow, so the pump stays at relatively the same temp as the water.

SPC · 03-06-2007, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiszmaster

the water already cooled your tunze down ... where-as the vortechs motor is only cooled by air sorounding it - not getting active cooling.

...and it could be the difference in the design of the two motors

.

I have a Hagen powerhead that produces about 1/4 the GPH of the Tunze, and yet it runs hotter to the touch than the Tunze (in the water). My tank temp right now is about 76 degrees, when I put my hand on the Tunze Stream pump I feel zero heat. The heat must dissipate some how (if produced). If it were being transferred from the pump to the water column, then shouldn't one be able to feel this heat transfer on the outside body of the pump just like what is felt on the Vortec's?
Steve

hng · 03-06-2007, 05:43 PM

I've been researching the Hydor Koralia pumps and it seems like they are better than the Tunzes and Vortechs in terms of cost and efficiency. People are raving about them over at RC. They have an awesome design and put out tons of flow in a very wide pattern (some people are suggesting that they move more water than they are rated for).

Casey · 03-06-2007, 05:49 PM

Tunzes rock man thats what you want.