Uggg....tale of an experiment gone bad

[Limoncello]

Hello all,

I have two Vortex MP40s on my Red Sea Reefer. For the last year, i have been diligent in keeping on the mesh sleeve that come with the pump on the heads inside the tank. Unfortunately, they get clogged quickly and i began to wonder if i should remove them. Many videos and pictures of fellow reefers' tanks have shown no mesh sleeve so I decided to experiment.

For the experiment one pump head would have the mesh sleeve on and one pump head would not. Here is where it went bad. I had a beautiful copper banded butterfly who got curious and stuck his nose into the blades of the MP40 without the sleeve. Sadly he died.

Do people keep the sleeves on or not? And was this a fluke? Does anyone have a solution?

I did order a LIMPET WIDE FLOW PUMP GUARD to see if that is a viable option. It may prevent fouling like the mesh but it has holes which a curious copper banded butterfly may still try to investigate thinking a tasty treat is inside.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful ideas! This is a great group and I learn something every day.

 

[lakai]

No sleeve, it just gets saturated in food instantly. Also mine are always running between 60-90% so the fish know better than to get too close to it. It's possible that your copperband was so used to picking food from the mesh that it went to it this time to find there was no sleeve. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Marsh980]

I have 4 MP40s in my tank and none have a mesh sleeve. I just rely on the water pressure to push the fish away or that they understand they shouldn't put their faces in there. I agree with lakai that maybe your CBB was used to picking food off it which caused the accident. Sorry to hear that he passed.

I too will be buying a CBB in the near future so will ensure to be vigilant

 

[Victor_C3]

I never use the foam guards and I’ve never had a problem with any animals getting stuck or hurt on my MP40’s.

At first, I thought that those foam sleeves were just packing materials. I didn’t realize that they were supposed to be a guard until I read the instructions a month later.

I bought an MP40 in 2006-2007, when they first came out. I ran that pump for years and never had an issue there either. For what it’s worth, the newest MP40 is vastly superior to the first generation one. There is way more flow and it’s better dispersed. The best part is how much easier it is to get the wet and dry side aligned. The price I paid for a new one is almost exactly what I paid for a first generation one 14 years ago.

 

[Victor_C3]

I have 4 MP40s in my tank and none have a mesh sleeve. I just rely on the water pressure to push the fish away or that they understand they shouldn't put their faces in there. I agree with lakai that maybe your CBB was used to picking food off it which caused the accident. Sorry to hear that he passed.

I too will be buying a CBB in the near future so will ensure to be vigilant

I bought a CBB recently and he’s never even gets close to the MP40. I’ve also had them in the past and never experienced any issues back then either. My experience is they are delicate fish and don’t tolerate high flow well, so they usually never even get close to powerheads, especially if you have them cranked up.

 

[LxHowler]

I use the foam guards but only because I have anemones in my tank. If I didn't have them then I would take the guard off.
I did try to build a guard from egg crate to allow the better flow but the gaps where to big for anemones. Might work for fish

 

[Limoncello]

No sleeve, it just gets saturated in food instantly. Also mine are always running between 60-90% so the fish know better than to get too close to it. It's possible that your copperband was so used to picking food from the mesh that it went to it this time to find there was no sleeve. Sorry for your loss.

That is a really interesting angle. Thanks.