VorTech and Gobie Don't Mix

[Sooners]

FYI - I was using an MP10 with the foam cover. I decided to take it (foam cover) off b/c it simply accumulates too much debris. That was the end of my green clown goby. Found him inside the the wetside dead this morning.

So, VorTech users, who uses the foam cover & who doesn't. Kinda curious as to what the consensus might be.

[lordofthereef]

IME if something can get into the one place it shouldn't get into it is always drawn there like a magnet. I don't use vortechs, but have had plenty of fun with other pumps/powerheads.

[Blown76mav]

My green clown goby stays right in his little spot, never see him out swimming around. No cover on my MP40w.

[Eel-byte]

I think some people are using gutter screening.

[Sooners]

Hmm. That's an interesting idea. Do they use little zip ties or silicone to hold it on top of the wetside grill or something?

[cakemanPA]

I would also recommend the foam cover if you have any Butterfly fish in the tank. It took months but eventually both my Saddlback and CB ended up stuck to the outside of the vortech. And without the foam there was just too much pull for them to escape. Unfortunately with the foam you lose some flow.

[davew0670]

came home from my parents on christmas day to my blue jaw trigger stuck to the side. Didnt make it. I've easily lost more fish to the vortech than any sickness. I've noticed that it's the "disc" shaped fish that I have issues with. Ive lost 3 or 4 yellow tangs and a hippo tang. Ive seen them get stuck 2 times. The fish will pick at algae or whatever that is on the vortech. When they turn around to swim off, they get pulled to the side. I have a blenny that sits on the vortech with no problems.

I'm interested to see the gutter guard mod. I tried to rig up something but it made the vortech unbalanced and caused a vibration.

[Sooners]

Well, maybe I'll add the mesh foam back. I had a B. Cardinal get stuck to the side (with foam) and die on about day 2 in the tank. I just hate how much debris the foam sucks in - when I clean it staggering amounts of junk are removed. Kind-of a pain to clean all the time.

[lordofthereef]

Here is a nice video tutorial of the gutterguard mod. It is not the same pump, but the principle is the same.

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[blennymower]

Sorry for the loss to all those here who have had them. I have lost fish to powerheads but I'm skeptical that the fish that have been mentioned here as a loss died from being stuck to the side of a Vortech. They probably died from some other cause and ended up being held by the suction of the vortech when they were already dead.

I have a lanwmower blenny that loves hanging from the suction side of my vortech. Sometime I see him swimming against the current of the vortech thinking he's going to swim right into the impeller, he does this to heat the algae on the front of the pump.

I actually have pictures of this that ill put up later.

Point is, the MP20's suction can't kill my lawnmower blenny. Hard to see how it can kill larger fish.

[bhammer]

Sorry for your loss. Have not lost any fish this way, but my RBTA did manage to get caught up in it loosing about 1/4 of him. He has been nursing back to health for a couple months...

[Daniel Reef]

Sorry for your loss. I have plans to purchase a Vortech so I am tagging along. The gutter guard looks like a good solution, but the zip ties seem to distract from it. Anyone know how to attach the gutter guard in a different manner?

[Sooners]

The B Cardinal that was stuck to the side may well have died and the been sucked up to the side via tank current. That was a good while ago - so I'd tend to agree with blennymower on that. However, the gobie has been doing fine and was actually dead on the inside of the wetside - not stuck to the side. Given his propensity to wedge himself in cracks and his tendency to simply dart to new spots without much "thought," I think the VorTech did him in - not another cause.

[Sooners]

Seems like black zip ties (in the vid) would look better....

[Felix T Cat]

Sorry for your loss. I have plans to purchase a Vortech so I am tagging along. The gutter guard looks like a good solution, but the zip ties seem to distract from it. Anyone know how to attach the gutter guard in a different manner?

I have black zip ties which may be a bit less distracting. I lost a Coral banded shrimp to my sureflow mod recently so I'll be getting some gutter guard soon.

[emoore]

There is no way a healthy tang would get sucked up by a vortech. My kole tang and rabbitfish constantly pick algae off the vortech and they never have a problem getting away. I have yet to lose a single fish to the vortech in 2 years.

[cakemanPA]

I have not had any of my tangs get stuck and I have watched them pick algae off and around the vortech. My butterflys were heathy. Say what you want about heathly fish not getting stuck. But I have 2 examples of healthy Butterflys getting caught up.

[Mike31154]

My two MP40Ws run on long pulse up to about 85% speed. Have not had any fish lost due to getting sucked into the pumps, nor swimming inside them. My lawnmower blenny regularly hammers away at the screen picking off algae and seems to know how to avoid getting harmed. I lost my first lawnmower blenny to a regular old AquaClear powerhead years ago.

I have two flat bodied fish, a Yellow Tang and a Singapore Angelfish. They both stay well away and have never tried to feed off of the MP40s. The VorTechs have been in my system for well over two years now with no added protection or screeing. I started out with just a single VorTech and it was running up to full speed with no one getting stuck on it. I reckon by now all my critters have the smarts to keep out of trouble. I'll take my chances and live with the consequences. I figure if one of the critters gets stuck on there now, it's a classic example of Darwin's theory at work.

[blennymower]

Like a kid hanging upside down from a swing set, I've seen my Lanwmower blenny hanging from the suction side of the vortech, his head and pectoral fins basically hanging like a kids arms and head. Sadly i don't have a picture of that.


Yes, he's a alive in this picture
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/juicytheatomic/IMG_4566.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/juicytheatomic/IMG_4567.jpg

[Stumped]

came home from my parents on christmas day to my blue jaw trigger stuck to the side. Didnt make it. I've easily lost more fish to the vortech than any sickness. I've noticed that it's the "disc" shaped fish that I have issues with. Ive lost 3 or 4 yellow tangs and a hippo tang. Ive seen them get stuck 2 times. The fish will pick at algae or whatever that is on the vortech. When they turn around to swim off, they get pulled to the side. I have a blenny that sits on the vortech with no problems.


What vortech were you using? A MP40? I'll preface this by saying I'm well aware of the possibility of losing fish to a vortech. I posted a while back about losing my Wetmorella sp. wrasse to a MP10, but he was always an incredibly weak swimmer. I'm shocked to hear about multiple losses of strong swimming fish to a vortech. Are you sure they were all healthy at the time? Even my neon gobies can sit on top of my MP10 running at full power and swim away.

[screwtape]

I don't use foam and have had no problems with fish getting sucked in. My neon goby could outrun a dialed back MP40. I don't know how Vortechs could be that much worse than any other propeller driven powerhead that is pushing the same amount of water that the Vortechs do. They all have to suck in water from somewhere.

[davew0670]

What vortech were you using? A MP40? I'll preface this by saying I'm well aware of the possibility of losing fish to a vortech. I posted a while back about losing my Wetmorella sp. wrasse to a MP10, but he was always an incredibly weak swimmer. I'm shocked to hear about multiple losses of strong swimming fish to a vortech. Are you sure they were all healthy at the time? Even my neon gobies can sit on top of my MP10 running at full power and swim away.

5 year old yellow tang killed on the 2nd day of being in a tank with the vortech. Guess I'm just really unlucky since every claims there in no way a healthy fish can get stuck. I'm thinking of trading my mp40 for a couple of mp10's. My blenny also sits right on the vortech.

[orcus]

I added a 3" Foxface to my tank about a week ago. A couple days later I found him wrapped around my MP40 like the Blenny in the pictures above. I immediately turned it off, and he swam away. He has a couple marks that look like bruises, but seems to be recovering.

I think there was some bubble algae growing on the cage that may have lured him. Needless to say, it's been cleaned up now.