ECOTECH MP40 Nightmare !!!!!

motoxjunky21

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Hey everyone ! I am having severe issues with my MP40 pumps. THEY ARE EATING MY FISH LIKE CARZY !!!! I have a 125 gallon tank 72*18*22 and I have the pumps set on each side of the tank. I have tried many different spots on the sides along with different percentages of flow and NO matter what I do these pumps are sucking my fish right to them. It doesnt matter on size or not I have lost everything from 1-2" fish up to 4-6" fish. I Just dont get it !!! I have lost enough fish to equal the price of one pump and then some. This is getting out of hand. Is there anything that I can do to help stop this from continuing or is it just a factor of having these pumps ?
 
I think they sell a sponge to go around them and that should help.

Sent from my Note II
 
Sorry to hear about your losses, that must be incredibly frustrating! I think it's pretty rare to hear MP40 eating fish, although I have heard that MP60's have claimed a few lives, but they come with a mesh guard. Do they make a mesh guard for the MP40?

I think it is awfully strange that so many fish are being sucked in, do they appear healthy? Typically only weak fish will get pulled into a powerhead. I hope you figure this out soon so you don't lose any more.
 
The sponge should help, but are u running these at 100% and are the fish healthy? I have 2 MP10's and a MP40 on a 75 and have not experienced this.
 
Never experienced this with my MP40 or MP10. I have fish ranging in size from a clown goby to a foxface and many in between. In fact, I have a starry blenny that uses the suction from the MP40 to hold him in place as he cleans the glass. Odd that anything would get pulled into the pump unless health was a factor.
 
same thing with me, when I was using the mp40 on my small tank (35g), I lost at least one fish to the powerhead every week or two.
Because the tank had mostly sps so I had the pump running almost at 60%-70%. I lost almost 5-6 fish to this powerheads
 
craziness.. my baby clown swims right next to my mp10 and doesn't struggle a bit.. give the foam guard a try..
 
I think if the tank was very low flow before and the fish were all acclimated to that, I can imagine there being an adjustment period for them to get used to a high-flow environment - especially at night.

Definitely use the foam sleeves (and keep em clean) during at least this period.

-Matt
 
The two suggestions I would offer since I've seen this before is reduce the flow and increase it gradually over a few weeks, and also definitely add a sponge to disperse the suction area.
 
either that ^ or you have a mean fish chasing the others into it! I swear my clowns knew there was no top on my rimless
 
Thats bizarre. I have two mp-40's on a 448" 90 gal placed on opposite ends facing each other. The only thing I ever lost to one was a sea hare. My lawnmower blenny will sometimes sit on the 'cage' of the powerhead. Actually so does my flamehawk.
 
You need to educate your fish to not stick their heads in the fan...lol

Sorry for your losses. As stated this is something you hear more with sick fish or MP60s, however it can be caused with any powerhead in the right conditions. I would look into the mesh/foam covering for it or look into DIYing a cover with the knitting mesh stuff. Another option would be those really cool looking rocks that go around the MP40 to make it look less like a tank wart. They serve two purposes both making a powerhead look good while reducing the change of a fish getting sucked in.
 
I've never heard of healthy fish being sucked into an MP40 before, but inverts are another story. I had a starfish lose an arm and a shrimp get hacked into little bits from my MP10. If you put the sponges on your MP40s, it is going to significantly reduce flow and you are going to have to constantly clean them since there is a massive amount of flow going into them. You might be better off using plastic canvas between gaps in the wet-side cage.
 
I runt mp40s at 90% and haven't seen this before. I have had new fish get to close and pulled down onto it, but they are able to pull themselves right off. You might want to verify there isnt something else stressing and killing your fish and the bodies are ending up on your mp40s.
 
My Long Nose Hawkfish sleeps on one of MP40's every night.
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Thanks for all of the replies everyone ! My tank has been setup since the end of May and have had the 2 MP 40's in there from the start. I have been running them very sporadically with the different modes and speeds just to keep things mixed up in there from time to time. There hasn't been any real relation to that with when my fish end up in the pumps. They don't actually end up in them per say but more less stuck to the side of the impeller cage like a vacuum was drawn on them. I do have the socks for the wet sides but haven't put them on before due to info I have found that it does reduce flow a lot. I don't really have a lot of coral stock to really need the higher end of the flow capabilities but I do run it up from time to time. As far as the health of my fish go they all have seemed to be ok to me at least. I may be wrong but I have done the best I can to learn about habits they may have when the are not well and haven't ever really seen any of them to the point where I would notice it. all of them eat well when I feed them and are very active. My water parameters are spot on also. Ill have to give the socks a try. I put a list here of what I have for fish and coral. I would like to get some feedback on what speed and or mode you all would think to be best and go from there to see of there is any improvement. Once again thank you all for your input ! CORAL. 4 head Duncan, yellow torch, green torch, green montipora cap, red montipora cap, frogspawn, green acro frag, yellow/red zoas, purple zoas, ghost zoas, one other one that I have no clue what it is lol... its very small though. FISH. 2 yellow/black stripped chromis, 2 black clowns, nemo clown, coral beauty, yellow tang, blue regal tang, kole tang, sailfin tang, royal gramma, foxface rabbit, 3 yellow highfin damsels.
 
wow I hav3 3 on a 120 for years with no deaths . The foam guards will help . also I have mine set to anti-synch so one comes on the other dials down back and fourth so if one did get caught it would have a chance to get away ..good luck hope you don't loose any more..
Roger
 
Only fish I've ever seen in one of my 2 mp 40's was an already dead one. Sure your parameters are ok and you're not having another issue here?
 

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