vortech or tunze

[bignose]

Which pump has a wider flow?

[MarkoD]

vortech has wider flow. and it creates a major under tow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyZJR5Xs4eU

[viperfish]

The 6105 now has the wide flow option which makes it closer to a Vortech flow pattern.

[asylumdown]

It all comes down to what you are looking for specifically. For some people's applications vortech's are better, for some people, tunze will be better. My tank's going to have enclosed sides that will hide the external pump of a vortech, so for me, the low in tank profile works. You either have to have a big obnoxious cord in your tank or out of your tank - which is 'better' is up to you.

Yes, they make some noise, but it depends on what your noise threshold is. Like others here have said, my return pumps, skimmer, and the fan for my old MHs were way louder than the vortech's, so I don't know why the noise a vortech makes would be too much of a mark against it. I only ever heard my MP40's when I was sitting a few feet away as they were ramping up to full strength on reef crest mode, and even then I only noticed it for a second. To be honest I kind of liked hearing it - it wasn't an obnoxious sound and it let me know they were working for the money

They also don't transfer much by ways of heat to your water, which if you run halides can help.

never owned a tunze, but I hate, hate, hated the look of koralias in my tank when I had them, and they seem similar to me. Again, that's just a personal aesthetic thing.

So really, it just comes down to personal preference. They both move a vast volume of water around and are versatile in their controllability. The rest is just taste.

[lastlight]

I came really close to going with vortechs but didn't for a few reasons:

- I'm quite noise-sensitive. The larger Tunze are silent either but they are a lot more silent.

- Versatility. I don't think I can lose the ability to aim. I might change my rockwork down the road or the coral landscape will most certainly dictate that I change things up. Sometime just sliding a powerhead around or switching which pane it's on is not enough

- Long-term reliability. It's much more likely that a vortech will need a part serviced or replaced. Tunze powerheads seem to last forever.

And regarding the Tunze/Koralia looks thing... personally it's no contest there. Koralias I find to be pretty ugly. I like the looks of both the Stream and Stream 2s.

And cords... I mount all mine fairly high up or manage to have the cords behind rocks. Never really bothered me.

[doch]

I have both... Tunze for sure.

[Coleus]

You can't go wrong with either them. They are good products. You have to consider flow, design, and style and go with the one you suit you better. I have both and there are both pros and cons.

For noise, i would pick tunze
For flow and aiming, i would pick tunze
For space and wire hanging and cleaning powerhead, i would pick vortech
For control, i would pick vortech

[globaldesigns]

About people saying Tunze's can be pointed and Vortech's can't, this is true, however I run 2 MP40's and they are able to create the undertows and currents required that lift the garbage from the bottom, behind rockwork, etc. So in my opinion, they don't need to be pointable.

For the noise, they make a slight noise in the pulse modes, this is the ramping up and down of the motor. Is it loud, I would say NO, but it is there. In Reefcrest or Lagoon mode, they are virtually silent for me.

My vote is for the Vortech's, they just have so much more power and capabilities over any other brand.

Edit: I have also used pointable wave devices (Koralia's #4 with wavemaker) and have recently removed to let the Vortech's do all the work, and can say much much better. Didn't need any pointable powerhead in my tank.

[Parker]

I run a closed loop so my opinion in this discussion is useless. However, if I had to choose one over the other I would probably go with the Vortech, and mostly for aesthetic reasons. In one of my smaller tanks I ran Maxi-Mods and I just couldn’t get used to look of them in the tank and the Tunze are even larger.

[Sunee]

I have had both and prefer the Tunze. I ran my MP40 in lagoon mode at 70% and the whine of the ramping to the higher speeds really annoyed hubby and me (aquarium in the living room).

I notice a difference in the flow too, the MP40 did not move the sand around but I am currently getting drifts with the Tunze (the max is set at 60%, random flow, sinus wave). I will have to work on the positioning and the Profilux program as I don't like having to unbury my rics and zoas.