I have a Tunze 6055 in my 50-gallon reef. It is the only pump in the tank. The 6055 is rated as pushing slightly less water than the MP-10. I don't know how that plays out in the real world because I haven't owned an MP-10 before. However, I am able to push a ton of water with the 6055 with the pump positioned high in the tank as described in my post above. If I position it lower in the tank or pointed down into the tank then the water barely moves around the tank.

I have no experience with Tunze pumps either Mindy, so no idea about how that scenario works in a 50 gal or so tank. If memory serves, the flow patterns of VorTechs & Tunzes are somewhat different (VorTechs have a broader flow?), but I could be wrong, since I don't have personal experience with a Tunze 6055. I do know that if you put an EcoTech too close to the surface, it will pull a little vortex, a mini water tornado from the surface. The MPs do have a closed section on their cage that should be oriented to the top to prevent/minimize this, but there's a limit to how close you can put them to the surface.

Bottom line is, the OP has a VorTech, not a Tunze, so not sure if advice regarding placement would be comparable.

The Tunze will also pull a vortex in if placed too close to the surface. There is a wide-flow cage and a narrow-flow cage. I always use the wide-flow cage because it actually pushes more flow and is what Tunze came out with when it was discovered that Tunze pumps pushed significantly less water volume than advertised.

Anyway, the positioning advice has to with oscillating flow, and has nothing to do with the brand of pump used. The point is that you can create more flow with a pump by using it at the surface and creating an oscillating flow pattern where the water flows across the surface, hits the other side, goes down the other side, back towards the pump across the bottom of the tank, and finally back up to the pump. Since the water flow is circular or oscillating, it takes less power to keep that flow going. If you have random flow you will need much, much stronger pumps to achieve the same amount of water movement.

Think about stirring water in a 5-gallon bucket. If you go around in a circle it is easy to move your spoon around and takes little effort. If you go around in random directions it is difficult to move your spoon around and it takes more effort.

There is a great article in the March/April issue of Coral Magazine by Jake Adams on water flow. He talks about this same oscillating/laminar flow.

Hmm, makes sense about the circular thing, but don't most of us prefer random or chaotic flow in our tanks? Sure it will take more energy and/or more pumps, but that's kind of why I like my VorTech set up with multiple pumps instead of a single. Less chance for dead spots as well when you have a pump at each end of the tank.

Laminar flow keep detritus in the water column better than random flow.

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I am using MP40wESs at 20%. very quiet. I think the pumps would last longer than running an MP10s at 80-100%

I have 2 MP10s in my 75G and I usually run then at about 70% Im more than happy with the amount of flow that these little work horses provide :biggrin: