Mount Vortech MP40 on a 1 inch thick acrylic

[Abhishek]

Hi ,

Is there anyway I can mount the vortech MP40 on a 1 inch thick acrylic tank ? Any hacks you people know about ?

Also any probe and dosing line magnetic holder that can work against a 1 inch thick acrylic ?


Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Jason_MrFrags]

They barely hold onto 3/4"

 

[csb123]

I haven’t had a Vortec pump, but you can buy good sized neodymium magnets on Amazon. You just need to encase them yourself...epoxy, plastidip, etc.

 

[ccombs]

I haven’t had a Vortec pump, but you can buy good sized neodymium magnets on Amazon. You just need to encase them yourself...epoxy, plastidip, etc.

And be careful when you get high powered magnets against the glass. A piece pulled out of your hand and hard on the glass would potentially be bad.

I wonder if the magnets would mess with the operation though? Do the MP40s use magnets, induction or something else to run the wet side?

 

[stacksoner]

Hi ,

Is there anyway I can mount the vortech MP40 on a 1 inch thick acrylic tank ? Any hacks you people know about ?

Also any probe and dosing line magnetic holder that can work against a 1 inch thick acrylic ?


Regards,
Abhishek

There's more to it than just getting it to stay in place. The wet side requires a precise distance from the dry side in order to function correctly (ie why it comes with spacers for various glass thickness). The MP60 is rated for 1in glass I believe

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

When I was in physics studies, magnetism was one of my favorite. There are a couple of things you can do for this. Having the wet side and dry side 1/4 inch further apart will not affect it. It’s spinning based on the inner and outer magnets inside the wet side. The motor than attaches to the glass and dry side which produces the electric magnetic field. So do to that, moving it further away will not affect it. (Common sense please if you move it a foot away etc yeah it’s not gonna work unless the electric magnetic field is much higher. But 1/8 of an inch no. To make a magnet stronger two ways are pretty simple. If you have a much stronger magnet rub it across the one you want stronger. Very important to rub it in the proper direction, aka North Pole or South Pole. Another is you can have another magnet added to increase the strength simply by adding another magnet between the glass and dry side. (Don’t believe me get to magnets on dry glass. Use a deck of cards cut into strips. then add something of equal weight piece of metal whatever. See how many cards it takes before the metal drops. Then start over but this time add the second magnet with the correct poles. You will be able to place more cards between the magnets and metal. Adding a magnet does not make the first magnet twice as strong it simply makes it stronger than if it was the only one. This diagram will help explain why moving them further apart won’t prevent it from working like it should. Again common sense of one says well I moved it 5 inches away, yeah probably won’t work unless you increase the magnetic field. The spacers that have been mentioned do not do anything except prevent the Matt from scratching the glass or breaking it.

 

[Abhishek]

Hello,

When I was in physics studies, magnetism was one of my favorite. There are a couple of things you can do for this. Having the wet side and dry side 1/4 inch further apart will not affect it. It’s spinning based on the inner and outer magnets inside the wet side. The motor than attaches to the glass and dry side which produces the electric magnetic field. So do to that, moving it further away will not affect it. (Common sense please if you move it a foot away etc yeah it’s not gonna work unless the electric magnetic field is much higher. But 1/8 of an inch no. To make a magnet stronger two ways are pretty simple. If you have a much stronger magnet rub it across the one you want stronger. Very important to rub it in the proper direction, aka North Pole or South Pole. Another is you can have another magnet added to increase the strength simply by adding another magnet between the glass and dry side. (Don’t believe me get to magnets on dry glass. Use a deck of cards cut into strips. then add something of equal weight piece of metal whatever. See how many cards it takes before the metal drops. Then start over but this time add the second magnet with the correct poles. You will be able to place more cards between the magnets and metal. Adding a magnet does not make the first magnet twice as strong it simply makes it stronger than if it was the only one. This diagram will help explain why moving them further apart won’t prevent it from working like it should. Again common sense of one says well I moved it 5 inches away, yeah probably won’t work unless you increase the magnetic field. The spacers that have been mentioned do not do anything except prevent the Matt from scratching the glass or breaking it.

Hi Sarah ,

Thank you for the detailed post . So if I use say one of the magnets below between the dry side and the 1 inch thick acrylic, it might work according to your theory ?


May be I need to find the right size similar to the surface of the dry side ?

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[nezw0001]

If you handy with a router you could router out 'pockets' for the dry sides. I know a couple of the acrylic tank manufacturers do this.

 

[nezw0001]

you might be able to take your tank to the one in MN and have him do this for you.

 

[Abhishek]

If you handy with a router you could router out 'pockets' for the dry sides. I know a couple of the acrylic tank manufacturers do this.

Do you have any example or have you seen it done anywhere ? It would be great to have some example so that I can base it off there .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[nezw0001]

There's a picture most of the way down on this page.

Common Aquarium Options, Midwest Custom Aquarium, Starbuck MN

You can get customized tanks with many different options. Here we explain some of those common aquarium options.

www.midwestcustomaquariums.com

 

[ca1ore]

Hi Sarah ,

Thank you for the detailed post . So if I use say one of the magnets below between the dry side and the 1 inch thick acrylic, it might work according to your theory ?


May be I need to find the right size similar to the surface of the dry side ?

Regards,
Abhishek

Cannot see how that would work since the magnet needs to be able to spin.

 

[ca1ore]

If you handy with a router you could router out 'pockets' for the dry sides. I know a couple of the acrylic tank manufacturers do this.

I had this done on my tank to be able to use a couple of MP40 on the back panel (I use MP60 on the ends). They simply routed a 'pocket' so that the remaining thickness was 3/4". Only downside is that you cannot move the pump. You can see them just und

er the overflow box.

 

[Abhishek]

I had this done on my tank to be able to use a couple of MP40 on the back panel (I use MP60 on the ends). They simply routed a 'pocket' so that the remaining thickness was 3/4". Only downside is that you cannot move the pump. You can see them just und

er the overflow box.

Good thing is the tank is still with the manufacturer . I have send him the question if he can route the the pockets . Hopefully he agrees to it as I have no skill to do this .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[ca1ore]

Depending on the depth of the pocket, just make sure it allows for dryside cord clearance. On my tank, since the back panel is actually 1 1/8", I had to have them route out 3/8" which would have interfered with said cord if the hole was tight to the dryside. I just had them make the pocket a bit bigger. Kind of ugly though, and I would not have done it on any of the panels that show. My tank was fishtanksdirect.

 

[Abhishek]

Depending on the depth of the pocket, just make sure it allows for dryside cord clearance. On my tank, since the back panel is actually 1 1/8", I had to have them route out 3/8" which would have interfered with said cord if the hole was tight to the dryside. I just had them make the pocket a bit bigger. Kind of ugly though, and I would not have done it on any of the panels that show. My tank was fishtanksdirect.

Even if it’s ugly , don’t think there’s any other viable option unless I spend on MP60

 

[csb123]

I you get pockets routed in your tank, you are committed to using Vortec power heads, and their placement going forward. I enjoy tweaking and trying new things to make my reef perfect, so routing the tank itself would be too much for me. I’m looking forward to see what powerheads will be developed in the future...like bombproof gyres or Vortec like pumps that have durable parts, etc.

 

[Sarah24!]

Cannot see how that would work since the magnet needs to be able to spin.

Hello,

It wouldn’t matter we are not changing the inner outer magnets around the impeller. We are adding a magnet to the dry side to increase the magnetic field. When the impeller turns inside the wet side it’s because of the magnetic induction. But there is also another magnet that attracts to the dry side magnetic motor. The dry side and inner wet side magnets don’t spin, they only hold the electric magnetic field in place to allow the force to spin the impeller.

 

[ca1ore]

The dry side and inner wet side magnets don’t spin, they only hold the electric magnetic field in place to allow the force to spin the impeller.

I can assure you that they do spin. Dryside and wetside magnets couple and then the dryside motor spins them. Take a wetside apart if you doubt that. Bolstering the magnet on a more traditional powerhead where it is just a mount works fine (I've done it), but I cannot see how one could make that work with a vortech.