New MP40 issues

[DarkReefer]

Hi all,

I apologise in advance as this is a bit of a longer post/rant.

Got to try out my Mp40's over the weekend for the first time.
I bought 4 in total for my new tank but so far 1 of them I seem to have issues with which is disappointing considering the cost of these things.

When I first set it up I made sure that the dry and wet side looked in line with one another and it sat for a week or so until I got water in this weekend.
I turned it on and immediately hear this weird vibrating/thudding noise. When I investigated it the dry side was bouncing around on the glass and didn't want to magnetise to the wet side (yet they were sitting magnetised initially).
I attempted to rejoin it by turning off the power and then lining it up again etc. Same thing. I tried spinning the wet side a little whilst it was on to see if it was an alignment thing, nope, I also tried another wet side to no avail.

I then thought, maybe it didn't configure properly when I set it up in Mobius. So I deleted it and readded it. Same thing.
Then I did a hard factory reset. Tried again but no joy. (can't recall if I tried whilst it was still on though). I gave up that day and the following day thought I'd try again.
I turned it on and low and behold it was working.. I felt relieved.

Then after a while I noticed there was a pitchy squeal/squeaking noise coming from it. dangit.
I took out and dismantled the wet side, couldn't find anything. Noise still there. I research online and on here and many people are commenting that theirs did it etc and that it'd go away with time. Left it a few hours, then got sick of the incessant noise and dismantled the wet side again. This time I used the existing grease and reapplied it onto the central disc part on the magnet and put it back together. Noise was still there.
I let it go for the rest of the day and night and this morning whilst it's much quieter, the noise is still there.

Firstly; It baffles me that these pumps are considered a premium pump if many people are commenting that they had noisy ones & to just let it sort itself out over time after they'd cleaned it or whatever, not to mention the issues of the dry side trying to jump off of the glass when I first started it. My Nero 3 on my old tank never had any of this crap happen and was a much seamless process and there's no way I want to deal with this sound every time I clean them.
On top of the noise, I also noticed how much the outer cage just constantly moves around on some of the heads. It's like it twists itself one way with the flow, and then back the other way, even though I've twisted it to 'lock' it in there's no lock and it's quite a loose fit.


Secondly; Does anyone have any suggestions or reasons as to why the noise is still there or how to get rid of it for good? & perhaps some info/advice on why the guards might be moving.
I suspect over time once the coraline algae etc builds up it might make the protective cage a bit stiffer to move and it'll sit in place better but still doesn't explain why a 'premium' product like this is like this in the first place and why people just seemingly put up with it ?


If the noise hangs around for much longer I'll hit up the LFS for a replacement unit but hoping it goes away...

Edit: I should note the other 3 have been working fine (apart from some of the cages rotating on them).

 

[TX_REEF]

First, these pumps are very finicky about alignment, ESPECIALLY when they’re new. I fiddled with 1 of my 2 MP40s for weeks to get the vibration noise to go away, many micro adjustments to the all is meant between dry and wet side.

Second, if you fiddle and fiddle and no matter what it’s still noisy, especially if your others are fine, just trade it in for a new one. These pumps are too expensive to require anything more than cleaning, in my opinion.

 

[TX_REEF]

First, these pumps are very finicky about alignment, ESPECIALLY when they’re new. I fiddled with 1 of my 2 MP40s for weeks to get the vibration noise to go away, many micro adjustments to the alignment between dry and wet side.

Second, if you fiddle and fiddle and no matter what it’s still noisy, especially if your others are fine, just trade it in for a new one. These pumps are too expensive to require anything more than cleaning, in my humble and slightly entitled opinion

 

[RedEyeReefer]

I understand you completely. I recently got 2 MP40s to upgrade from 2 Jebao that were on the tank for about a year and a half with no issues. These MP40s have upset me many times since adding them to the tank. I've never had to mess with something so much to just get it to kinda work. Brand new on arrival one had a damaged wetside(brs/ecotech replaced the wetside free of charge), one dryside makes noise no matter which wetside it runs(oddly it's not the one that came with the damaged wetside), one sometimes spins the wetside, the child pump sometimes doesn't run after powering off then back on no matter which controller/dryside I have set as the child(uggghhh mobius...ever have one of your lights randomly turn on at 3am?), had a wetside once fall off onto two scolys, the opening on the front is way too big allowing snails to get to the propeller(I think this is what caused the wetside to fall off. I've since went through 3 different styles of nem guards till I found one I liked), initial setup blasted at 100% pushing water out the end knocking over torches and ripping flesh on an indophyllia during the blast . I bought them at 25% off bringing the total to just over $750 for the pair. I dont think me getting a deal from BRS negates my frustrations. But...when they are working, they give my LPS tank a great flow. Just not convinced thats worth the headache I've dealt with. The only reason I guess I'm still running them is the $750 that I mentioned I spent. I'm still shopping for pumps I guess.

 

[exnisstech]

They can be finicky to align. It's more by feel than looking for me. Also you need to be sure and use the correct spacer. Correct spacer for me is just the thin rubber piece regardless of the glass thickness. I have 6 of them, two on 10mm glass and four on 1/2 inch. I just added 2 a month or so ago and I really didn't notice any noise from them.
I'm just glad to hear your dry side was bouncing around against the glass and not on the floor. They do not like that drop.
EDIT : I have also found it easier to hold the dry side and move the wet when aligning them.

 

[DarkReefer]

First, these pumps are very finicky about alignment, ESPECIALLY when they’re new. I fiddled with 1 of my 2 MP40s for weeks to get the vibration noise to go away, many micro adjustments to the alignment between dry and wet side.

Second, if you fiddle and fiddle and no matter what it’s still noisy, especially if your others are fine, just trade it in for a new one. These pumps are too expensive to require anything more than cleaning, in my humble and slightly entitled opinion

I don't feel like I've got vibration so much (maybe a little as I can hear the pumps ramping up and down), but I don't really have so much of an issue with this because it's more of a dull noise. You'd think if these things are THAT finicky to adjust, Ecotech could at least mark the wet/dry sides up in a way that makes it easier to align. All it would take is a notch or two on either piece to visually line it up. It shouldn't take us reefers weeks to get them to a happy place that we can work with.

I understand you completely. I recently got 2 MP40s to upgrade from 2 Jebao that were on the tank for about a year and a half with no issues. These MP40s have upset me many times since adding them to the tank. I've never had to mess with something so much to just get it to kinda work. Brand new on arrival one had a damaged wetside(brs/ecotech replaced the wetside free of charge), one dryside makes noise no matter which wetside it runs(oddly it's not the one that came with the damaged wetside), one sometimes spins the wetside, the child pump sometimes doesn't run after powering off then back on no matter which controller/dryside I have set as the child(uggghhh mobius...ever have one of your lights randomly turn on at 3am?), had a wetside once fall off onto two scolys, the opening on the front is way too big allowing snails to get to the propeller(I think this is what caused the wetside to fall off. I've since went through 3 different styles of nem guards till I found one I liked), initial setup blasted at 100% pushing water out the end knocking over torches and ripping flesh on an indophyllia during the blast . I bought them at 25% off bringing the total to just over $750 for the pair. I dont think me getting a deal from BRS negates my frustrations. But...when they are working, they give my LPS tank a great flow. Just not convinced thats worth the headache I've dealt with. The only reason I guess I'm still running them is the $750 that I mentioned I spent. I'm still shopping for pumps I guess.

This is my point. For such premium pumps, the amount of screwing around is a bit of a joke. I haven't even tried setting up anything in particular like the child thing you mention. I've got 2 pumps set on reef crest and 2 on lagoon (the ones closest to sand on lagoon) for flow, but eventually I'll look into how I can sync them up the right way to get the most out of them but again it's not super intuitive to do that either.

I do worry about how open it is a little, but I'll probably just see how it goes for the moment before I go running out to grab nem guards and spending even more on them lol.

They can be finicky to align. It's more by feel than looking for me. Also you need to be sure and use the correct spacer. Correct spacer for me is just the thin rubber piece regardless of the glass thickness. I have 6 of them, two on 10mm glass and four on 1/2 inch. I just added 2 a month or so ago and I really didn't notice any noise from them.
I'm just glad to hear your dry side was bouncing around against the glass and not on the floor. They do not like that drop.
EDIT : I have also found it easier to hold the dry side and move the wet when aligning them.

I think I have a fairly good eye for lining up things generally, but I've also tried moving the wet side like you've suggested and rotating it around in small increments hoping that maybe the sound would just magically disappear, yet it did not.

Mine are on 19mm glass so I'm just using the piece of rubber or whatever it is and not actually one of the thick spacers. I'd heard about the horror stories of stuff falling off tanks so I made sure to use the stick on clips & cable ties to keep them held up should they decide to drop. Even the sticky bits don't seem to stick super great as I've had several peel away from the glass already....
Hopefully I'm just having teething issues and don't have to screw around with a return/replacement but it certainly doesn't make it any less frustrating or disappointing having spent all that money on them.

 

[Scorpius]

Use the correct spacer on the dry side, align the wet and dry side to where it is mostly quiet. Run them low and varied for approximately one week to break in the bearings.

 

[DarkReefer]

Use the correct spacer on the dry side, align the wet and dry side to where it is mostly quiet. Run them low and varied for approximately one week to break in the bearings.

Correct spacer has always been used and dry and wet aligned as best as possible to run as quiet as it'd ever get.
The squealing type sound ended up fading away after a day or two.

Last night I was labelling up my control board and power switches and in the process was turning things on/off to determine what was what. When I turned it back on, suddenly the sound was back again.
Thankfully after a 20-60 minutes it seemed to disappear once more so might be a bearing thing as you say. Still a bit crazy this is somewhat of a norm considering the price of these things.

Also, I've noticed the Ecotech Battery Backup doesn't plug as flush into the MP40 driver as I would've hoped. It's like the silver connector is too long for the plug hole. It works fine though but again, for these products you'd expect it to be a bit more 'flush' fitting within their own eco system.