MP-10 wetside cage design question

[aqualab]

Tim,
This has probably been asked already, but I haven't found it using search, so here goes. Why did you guys remove the solid section of the wetside cage on the MP-10? With this pump as well as the larger pumps, when positioned too close to the surface during higher rotation speeds it will create a vortex and pull air down to the pump. That solid section when positioned at 12-o'clock helped to minimize that from happening which is why you put it on the larger pumps to begin with. I am using the MP-10 pump in a 20-gallon Elos mini nano which is somewhat shallow to begin with at 16" in total depth. Throw in a couple of inches of sand, some liverock positioned in the tanks center and it is very hard, impossible to run the pump at or even close to the higher flow rate without pulling in air. Move the pump lower to compensate for that and of course the sand storm goes into full effect. So trying to get adequate to crazy flow rates is impossible. I love the pump, no problems, quiet, great piece of equipment. Just wanted to know why that's all. Do you or anyone on the forums have a fix for this - either an attachment that can be made or some other idea that can be installed to block that top off?
Thanks,
Bill

[unbreakable]

how many inches below the surface do you have it? i didnt know they removed it from the mp10

[aqualab]

I have it at about 6" below right now, but I don't have it maxed out because it will impact sand. Not sure if it would cause air from surface at this depth on high.

[EcoTech Marine]

The MP10 has been optimized to be as small as absolutely possible. If we were to reduce 20% of the intake area by installing a vortex blocker, the diameter of the pump would have had to grow accordingly to ensure the proper amount of intake area for the pump to move as much water as it does. Otherwise the peak flow of the pump would be reduced.

You can makeshift your own blocker by masking off the inside of the nozzle and then filling the intake screens with epoxy. This won't negatively affect the pump, but will reduce the peak flow slightly.

[aqualab]

Thanks for the explanation and suggestion on how to go about filling in some of the intake screens with epoxy. Will attempt that this weekend.

[aqualab]

How do you take the cage apart? Need to remove the cage from the back magnetic plate in order to mask up for epoxy application. I don't want to force it - damage it.
Thanks,
Bill

[Cajun Reefer]

Try this video.

How-To Videos on Ecotech Marine's website (http://ecotechmarine.com/customer-service/how-to-videos/)

[aqualab]

Thanks Cajun, I got the cage off the back magnet plate, slight turn or twist is all it takes for anyone else looking to do the same. I used aquarium safe silicone and filled six of the cage spaces. Allowed it to cure and reinstalled the cage to the back plate. I now have the top/intake of the pump 3" from the water's surface running at full speed without any air being drawn down to the pump. Flow is phenomenal, turbulence on the surface is tremendous and the sand is not moving at all. I now have zero dead spots throughout the tank from what I can tell. Much surface agitation. High placement of the pump now allows me to direct half the flow at my live rock column and half over the top of it.

When I first re-installed the pump and turned it back on it was almost a white out from the sand, trapped air bubbles, detritus and general debris that had settled on/throughout the liverock structure. Initially the pump's lower speed and less than perfect placement was preventing it from adequately impacting the tank. Of course each tank is different and each persons requirements will vary, but sealing off a few of the spaces has made all the difference in the world for my nano.

Ecotech might want to look at manufacturing a clip-like device that attaches to the cage with the ability to slide it so people can set how many spaces they want to block off on the cage for their individual need.

[uhuru]

What I did was simply take a small piece of 1/4" acrylic and glue it to a magnet. I placed the acrylic sheet above the pump (on the surface of the water) so that it could not pull in air from the surface. Works wonderfully, no more bubbles shooting out and creating tiny splashes all over my light. I was also able to move my pump up about 3" from the surface and flow throughout the tank is greatly improved. The elos mini is known to have microbubble issues but with the vortech the problem was way worse. The microbubbles have been reduced by about 90%!

I'm curious to see how well the silicone holds up for you aqualab. I'd like to do something like that as it could also be easily removed, but my concern is with the constant pull from the vortech the silicone might start to give. If it gets pulled into the impeller it could cause it to jam and possibly damage the pump.

[aqualab]

Hey Uhuru,

I don't think the silicone will be pulled in because the rest of the cage is still open, not much force being exerted on the silicone. We'll see though. I wish I would have used black silicone though, the clear/white stuff is too easy to see until the algae finally covers it over.

[EcoTech Marine]

The silicone should hold and that's a nice selection because you can just remove it if you ever grow tired of the mod.