Vortechs on Mobius - can you turn them off?

[McArcher]

Is there a way to turn Vortech pumps off on Mobius? The Versas can be paused and stopped, but I don’t see a way to do it for the Vortechs. I need to clean the wet sides and can’t figure out how to turn them off.

 

[McArcher]

Never mind I figured it out

 

[Arcu2]

Never mind I figured it out

What did you do?

 

[CoralNerd]

What's the answer?

 

[LiamPM]

What did you do?

What's the answer?

If you head into live mode and scroll across to feed mode. Drag down to make the power meter zero and hold for 3 seconds.... a 3 second countdown will pop up and a warning saying you are turning the pumps off.

 

[El Grunto]

Couldn't you also just turn them off using the controller that comes with the pump? That's what I do since it's just one press of a button instead of unlocking my phone, opening Mobius, waiting for it to connect to the pump (possibly deal with connection errors), navigating the menus, then turning off the pump.

 

[LiamPM]

Couldn't you also just turn them off using the controller that comes with the pump? That's what I do since it's just one press of a button instead of unlocking my phone, opening Mobius, waiting for it to connect to the pump (possibly deal with connection errors), navigating the menus, then turning off the pump.

Of course you could - but some of us do have quiet a few pumps, hassle going to each one and to be fair what you wrote makes it sound a lot more of a chore than it is.

I set a scene in Mobius to turn all 4 pumps off.

I open Mobius and click the scene. That’s it.

No different than those that use an Apex. You could turn or unplug everything but the Apex does it for you after opening the app and clicking the function.

Not quite sure why the functions so hidden with the Vortechs though.

 

[Floribraska]

If you head into live mode and scroll across to feed mode. Drag down to make the power meter zero and hold for 3 seconds.... a 3 second countdown will pop up and a warning saying you are turning the pumps off.

Thank you for this, I have been trying to figure out how to do this exact function for quite some time!
What an intuitive and user friendly design!

 

[El Grunto]

Of course you could - but some of us do have quiet a few pumps, hassle going to each one and to be fair what you wrote makes it sound a lot more of a chore than it is.

I set a scene in Mobius to turn all 4 pumps off.

I open Mobius and click the scene. That’s it.

No different than those that use an Apex. You could turn or unplug everything but the Apex does it for you after opening the app and clicking the function.

Not quite sure why the functions so hidden with the Vortechs though.

Fair enough, I have two and Mobius takes a solid 10 seconds to connect and about 1/3rd of the time I get a connection failed error. If I'm turning my pumps off then I'm already at the tank doing something so I tend to just use the controllers for that since they're mounted on the cabinet door. I do like Mobius for setting up the pumps and tweaking settings but when it comes to turning them off or going into feed mode I just like using the controllers. Out of curiosity I timed how long it took to turn the pumps off from unlocking my phone to pumps off and it took 21 seconds. Either way, I'm glad there is at least some way for you to do it from within the app even if it's a bit buried in the menus and convoluted. It's always good to have options.

 

[tsouth]

Of course you could - but some of us do have quiet a few pumps, hassle going to each one and to be fair what you wrote makes it sound a lot more of a chore than it is.

I set a scene in Mobius to turn all 4 pumps off.

I open Mobius and click the scene. That’s it.

No different than those that use an Apex. You could turn or unplug everything but the Apex does it for you after opening the app and clicking the function.

Not quite sure why the functions so hidden with the Vortechs though.

Another hidden function (assuming all are connected to mobius) -

If you hold the power button on one controller to turn it off, it will turn off all units.

If you press the power button on one unit to turn it on, it will turn on all units.

Wish these things were less hidden for sure!

 

[Joe31415]

Quick question...since you wanted to turn it off to clean the wetside, couldn't you have just grabbed the wide side (or dry side, for that matter) while it's running and move it away from the glass. I can't imagine it makes all that big of a difference of the dry side still thinks the wetside is attached. There's no moving parts and no active cooling. It should be fine just sitting there against the glass humming along. When you're done just drop the wetside back in and let it recouple.
Could be wrong though. I haven't had mine long enough to need any kind of cleaning yet. I just don't see that there would be any harm in it. The only issue I could really see is if you have to grab it hard enough that you bend part of the outer cage into the fan. But even that wouldn't be an issue if you pulled the dry side away from the glass first.

 

[tsouth]

Quick question...since you wanted to turn it off to clean the wetside, couldn't you have just grabbed the wide side (or dry side, for that matter) while it's running and move it away from the glass. I can't imagine it makes all that big of a difference of the dry side still thinks the wetside is attached. There's no moving parts and no active cooling. It should be fine just sitting there against the glass humming along. When you're done just drop the wetside back in and let it recouple.
Could be wrong though. I haven't had mine long enough to need any kind of cleaning yet. I just don't see that there would be any harm in it. The only issue I could really see is if you have to grab it hard enough that you bend part of the outer cage into the fan. But even that wouldn't be an issue if you pulled the dry side away from the glass first.

When moving the wetside, you can feel a kick in the magnets. There's very much potential for the dry side to kick away from the glass and bang around too, especially if you don't have it properly secured.

When recoupling the two, again they will kick and even get into a knocking sometimes. The connection doesn't feel as clean when doing this either. It's the same feeling when you put two magnets together with the opposite polarities.

I can't say whether or not it's harmful to the product itself - but it's the same instinctive feeling when you do something and it just doesn't feel right, so you don't test the limits.

 

[spicymikey]

If you head into live mode and scroll across to feed mode. Drag down to make the power meter zero and hold for 3 seconds.... a 3 second countdown will pop up and a warning saying you are turning the pumps off.

What is "Live Mode"? I don't see anything with that name in this version of Mobius in November '21. Maybe they got rid of it. I also tried to create my own scene and use the builtin "Feed" scene. You can't lower it below 1%. On top of that, there seems to be a bug and setting it to 1% doesn't come close to lowering the speed to 1%. Don't you love this piece of garbage software with the G5s?

 

[LiamPM]

What is "Live Mode"? I don't see anything with that name in this version of Mobius in November '21. Maybe they got rid of it. I also tried to create my own scene and use the builtin "Feed" scene. You can't lower it below 1%. On top of that, there seems to be a bug and setting it to 1% doesn't come close to lowering the speed to 1%. Don't you love this piece of garbage software with the G5s?

Maybe im confusing things by calling it "live mode" - I believe on the home screen when entering the Mobius app it is called "live demo" - Image taken from Ecotechs site to show the one i mean. Its a default scene that comes with Mobius.

You certainly can lower "feed mode" below 1% - You drag down past the bottom of the bar and hold for 3 seconds. The below is a link to another comment i made with a video showing how to use feed mode to turn pumps off. This example is in a schedule but you cna do the same with "Live demo" or a cusotm scene to turn them off for a period of time at the click of a button.

Vortech programing

Hey I have three MP 40's in my 50 gallon... It's more than necessary, but i am just running them at lower settings. The broad flow is nice for sure. Question, how do i program them to turn on one at at time at random intervals? I think this would produce a nice flow.

www.reef2reef.com

Wont be the popualr answer - But yes, i do like Mobius. I find most people dont understand how to use it and hate on it before finding out.

 

[spicymikey]

Maybe im confusing things by calling it "live mode" - I believe on the home screen when entering the Mobius app it is called "live demo" - Image taken from Ecotechs site to show the one i mean. Its a default scene that comes with Mobius.

You certainly can lower "feed mode" below 1% - You drag down past the bottom of the bar and hold for 3 seconds. The below is a link to another comment i made with a video showing how to use feed mode to turn pumps off. This example is in a schedule but you cna do the same with "Live demo" or a cusotm scene to turn them off for a period of time at the click of a button.

Vortech programing

Hey I have three MP 40's in my 50 gallon... It's more than necessary, but i am just running them at lower settings. The broad flow is nice for sure. Question, how do i program them to turn on one at at time at random intervals? I think this would produce a nice flow.

www.reef2reef.com

Wont be the popualr answer - But yes, i do like Mobius. I find most people dont understand how to use it and hate on it before finding out.

Thanks for the video @LiamPM . I never knew that trick for setting a period of the day to zero using the Feed profile with that "trick" of sliding down and holding.

But the main idea for me is still being able to turn off the pumps on demand. I have 6 MP40s and the controllers are in a separate Filter room. There are many reasons we'd want to use Mobius on our phone to stop the pumps for a minute to take some action. Thats the thing I can't figure out how to do. That press and hold technique doesn't work in "Live Demo", or any other predefined scene. It only seems to work when choosing the Feed profile in a schedule for a particular pump, as you illustrated in your video. Maybe it used to work and was removed in newer versions of Mobius.

If you have a "hidden" technique that works with the current production version of Mobius then please share if you can. Thanks.

 

[LiamPM]

Thanks for the video @LiamPM . I never knew that trick for setting a period of the day to zero using the Feed profile with that "trick" of sliding down and holding.

But the main idea for me is still being able to turn off the pumps on demand. I have 6 MP40s and the controllers are in a separate Filter room. There are many reasons we'd want to use Mobius on our phone to stop the pumps for a minute to take some action. Thats the thing I can't figure out how to do. That press and hold technique doesn't work in "Live Demo", or any other predefined scene. It only seems to work when choosing the Feed profile in a schedule for a particular pump, as you illustrated in your video. Maybe it used to work and was removed in newer versions of Mobius.

If you have a "hidden" technique that works with the current production version of Mobius then please share if you can. Thanks.

It still works via live mode or a custom scene on the latest Mobius app version - Im not in front of my tank to create a video as a demonstration but i currently switch my pumps off (4 MP40's on one tank & 1 on another) by clicking one button - A custom scene i created in Mobius that sits on the home screen.

You need to create a new scene via the Edit button next to the word SCENES on the landing screen (home screen of Mobius). Select EDIT - (+) - then CUSTOM, not FEED MODE, we want them off, not just low.

Set the time duration to 24 hours, or any long length of time (well be turning them on and off on the click of a button anyway regardless). You then select your pumps as a group inside this custom scene and select feed mode to the off postion. Once this is set up correctly you will have a custom SCENE on the home screen of the app that on one press can shut down all of your pumps together.

This video is a poor example as it doesnt show exactly what needs choosing, the best i can do away from my tank but towards the end it shows a custom scene setting for the Vortechs - Do the same but instead of CONSTANT mode that they choose - scroll across to feed mode and pull below the bottom of the bar.

Its not very well documentated and this is the problem with Mobius in my opinion. Its capable of very good things, but most are a little iffy to experiment with it to find out what it can do and rightly so on living tanks to be fair.

 

[spicymikey]

It still works via live mode or a custom scene on the latest Mobius app version - Im not in front of my tank to create a video as a demonstration but i currently switch my pumps off (4 MP40's on one tank & 1 on another) by clicking one button - A custom scene i created in Mobius that sits on the home screen.

You need to create a new scene via the Edit button next to the word SCENES on the landing screen (home screen of Mobius). Select EDIT - (+) - then CUSTOM, not FEED MODE, we want them off, not just low.

Set the time duration to 24 hours, or any long length of time (well be turning them on and off on the click of a button anyway regardless). You then select your pumps as a group inside this custom scene and select feed mode to the off postion. Once this is set up correctly you will have a custom SCENE on the home screen of the app that on one press can shut down all of your pumps together.

This video is a poor example as it doesnt show exactly what needs choosing, the best i can do away from my tank but towards the end it shows a custom scene setting for the Vortechs - Do the same but instead of CONSTANT mode that they choose - scroll across to feed mode and pull below the bottom of the bar.

Its not very well documentated and this is the problem with Mobius in my opinion. Its capable of very good things, but most are a little iffy to experiment with it to find out what it can do and rightly so on living tanks to be fair.

So sorry, you are correct. The mistake I made is NOT swiping over to the FEED profile when setting up the new scene. It defaulted to "CONSTANT SPEED" and I was using that. Dumb mistake. Thanks for sticking with me. Hopefully this will help others

To summarize, if you want to stop pumps on demand in Mobius, do the following:

1) From HOME page, click "EDIT" button
2) From Scenes page, click "+" button and select "Custom" scene
3) A new Custom scene is created with a default name at bottom of list, select it to edit it.
4) In the Edit page for this new scene select "VORTECH".
5) Use displayed scroll bar to change speed . WARNING: Pump profile will default to "Constant Speed" option. Swipe left until you see "Feed"
6) Using the slide bar, slide down on the slide bar past the bottom. A countdown will begin. Continue to hold until prompted with warning. Press "Okay", Press "Done"
7) Press Home icon and you are back to home page and have a new scene. If you don't see it then you must have more than 6 scenes created already. Swipe left to see next page of scenes


It seems to work. Of course, a built-in dedicated STOP button would seem to make more sense, but what do I know, I only design software and GUI's for a living LOL

 

[LiamPM]

So sorry, you are correct. The mistake I made is NOT swiping over to the FEED profile when setting up the new scene. It defaulted to "CONSTANT SPEED" and I was using that. Dumb mistake. Thanks for sticking with me. Hopefully this will help others

To summarize, if you want to stop pumps on demand in Mobius, do the following:

1) From HOME page, click "EDIT" button
2) From Scenes page, click "+" button and select "Custom" scene
3) A new Custom scene is created with a default name at bottom of list, select it to edit it.
4) In the Edit page for this new scene select "VORTECH".
5) Use displayed scroll bar to change speed . WARNING: Pump profile will default to "Constant Speed" option. Swipe left until you see "Feed"
6) Using the slide bar, slide down on the slide bar past the bottom. A countdown will begin. Continue to hold until prompted with warning. Press "Okay", Press "Done"
7) Press Home icon and you are back to home page and have a new scene. If you don't see it then you must have more than 6 scenes created already. Swipe left to see next page of scenes


It seems to work. Of course, a built-in dedicated STOP button would seem to make more sense, but what do I know, I only design software and GUI's for a living LOL

No problem - And without a doubt a simple "stop" button would have been far better than the current implementation.

But ill gve Ecotech the benefit of the doubt in all honesty. They are fairly open with not specifically wanting users to turn their pumps off too easily. With them off, it can often lead to a disaster of fish, especially Blennies deciding to venture in and the nature of the pump coming back on can sometimes be fatal. Ive witnessed this myself with a bicolour Blenny constantly wanting to nap on the blades when they are off.

I can totally see why its not made simple to do so, from their point of view anyway.


Im also in the Software / UI design game, app wise and its always going to be personal preference - But i cant see too many things id do differently with Mobius's navigation design. Some things are painful and not so easy to see, but im not 100% sure how id accomplish the bulk of it any differently. In all honesty, its a very simply designed app.