Syntes her er et sobert indlæg sakset fra en af "Gyre" trådende på RC med de plusser og minusser han har oplevet.
#1543
msderganc
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 546 Ok, I've decided to write a review after using two XF150s for about two months. I don't like most reef-oriented reviews because they're either a) written after having the items for a week or two or b) after the item has failed. You either get a review before the true effects are shown in the aquarium, or an unfairly negative opinion. So I've waited to write up a full review of this pump.
I currently own two of these pumps: the first was bought as a pre-order, and I bought the second about three weeks later. I'm using them in a 60.5"x27.5"x27.5" tank (DSA 190 Pro) with a center overflow (I wish I'd gone with a CTC). It's primarily
SPS with two large rock islands. I have the Gyres on either end of the tank, facing towards each other and parallel to the ground. My Apex alternates the two pumps every six hours and fifteen minutes. They've mostly been running in pulse mode with a three second on and three second off cycle at 90% power.
Flow - 10/10
Overall, these are the best pumps I've ever used. I replaced two MP40s and two 6105s with one Gyre and had more flow. I should qualify that by saying I had to run the other four pumps at somewhere around 50-60% since they would kill my
SPS by blowing the tissue off the skeleton if I turned them up any further. I couldn't come up with a layout which would allow me to go higher. So I would say that the Gyre's flow is more usable.
As for my corals, they seem to love it. I've noticed significantly more polyp extension and growth over the past few months. My water parameters have not changed much, and my lighting has been constant. The only real change was the pump. Detritus accumulation has been just about the same as before. I still do have a few dead spots, but alternating the pumps eliminates them.
So what doesn't like the flow? My
anemone can't seem to find a good place to stay. I've been playing games with him over the past month to try to get him to a place he likes, but I'm so far unsuccessful. I've noticed that with the horizontal orientation, it creates an odd combination of flow and light. What I mean by that is that the majority of the flow is in the upper and bottom thirds of the tank. It creates a combination of low light and high flow at the bottom, which makes placement of corals in a mixed reef somewhat difficult. Most of my zoas have gotten used to it, but some had to be moved. I couldn't find a place for my frogspawn without turning down the pumps, so I ended up moving it to my frag tank.
The other part of the flow I don't like is that with only one pump, the flow underneath the pump is pretty nonexistent. With the two pumps facing each other, it becomes less of an issue.
Control - 5/10
The gyre is middle of road in terms of control (which should be improved once the advanced controller is released). The current control is sufficient, but is not very sophisticated. Specifically, I think the failure to include an option to set forward and reverse to different periods was a significant oversight. I think many people would have wanted a long forward period followed by a short reverse. Some people have gotten around that with creative Apex programming and long overall periods, but that's a no brainer to include. Wireless control or controller integration would be nice to have, and hopefully that will come with the new controller.
The second issue with the control is the period length visual indicator. Instead of having the rotary LEDs indicate the period length, it's a flash on the control Not a huge issue, but annoying. It's also pretty flimsy feeling, and the buttons feel very cheap.
Design, Maintenance and Build Quality - 4/10
Overall, it's a fairly well-built pump. The magnets seem to be strong and well enclosed. I'm not worried about them warping, but time will tell. The molded plastic parts are for the most part, pretty sturdy. In the tank it looks great, and being able to place it very close to the waterline really allows it to hide more than a Tunze or Vortech. I wish there was a better way to route the wire, but I'm not sure what they else they could do. A creative solution here would be really nice.
Downsides? The propellers are cheap feeling and fins break very easily. Dismantling and reassembling isn't too hard, but the first few times are a learning process, and many of the small parts can be broken easily. Even now, I still have to put it back together a few times before I don't get the red light on the controller. One of my propeller bushings broke after less than a month of use, causing that propeller to slip on the rotor and significantly reduce flow.
The basic design should have been tested further to identify the resonance issues and the updated magnet mount should have been released with the initial run.
Maintenance, aside from reassembling a few times each time, is relatively painless. I have noticed that I need to soak it in vinegar every month, or I lose a lot of flow - if I had to guess, I'd say 30-40%. I do like the fact that the controller is completely removable from both the power supply and pump.
Maxspect does include a lot of repair parts in the box, but they seem pretty consumable to me. I'd anticipate buying at least two replacement propellers per year, possibly more. At $20 per pair, that's not something to sneeze at.
Noise - 9/10
So this is a sensitive one for me. I really wanted to rate it lower, but with some modification and break in, it becomes a very quiet pump. I'm running it at 90%, and can't hear it unless I'm right next to it. I'd say it's nearly as quiet as my Tunzes. My tank is about 45 dB, and with the SPL meter right next to the pump, it registers about 46 dB at 90%. Not noticeable at all, unless you're specifically listening for it.
However, and this is a big however, it took some doing to get the resonance issue resolved. I tried the suction cup mount, and that did nothing. The final solution was 1/4" honeycomb silicone pads cut to size and placed between the pump and the glass. Those, combined with about six weeks of break in, and it becomes silent. This modification does weaken the hold on the glass, and occasionally the pump will shift a little bit (maybe half an inch on one side). CoralVue had said two to three weeks for break in, but I really believe it's a longer period.
Reliability - 3/10
So far, I haven't had great uptime. I've been lucky so far in that I've caught the issues early. Twice in two months, I've randomly gotten the red flashing light (no warning sound, by the way). There was nothing obstructing the pump that I could see, but a vinegar soak fixed it both times. Since my tank is on a six hour rotation, if I hadn't caught it, it could be six hours with just my return pump as flow - not a good idea. For those people with just one pump in a tank, this could be a much worse prospect.
I've also lost two propellers to small snails in two months. The flimsy propellers are just not of similar quality to a propellor from a Tunze or Ecotech. Two of my current propellers already have a broken fin each after just about two weeks in service.
Customer Service and Warranty - 2/10
I was really hoping to rate this higher, but in my experience with CoralVue, I haven't seen the service people rave about. To me, CoralVue was dismissive of my noise issue. They did offer to ship back the pump at their cost for repair, but as is now clear, it's a design problem. This isn't Ecotech, however. They're not going to ship a replacement pump before your pump is returned. This is a huge issue for me: now I have to keep spare pumps around. Ecotech would have a replacement to me in a day or two, where I could limp along with a smaller pump. Given CoralVue's policy, I need to keep another full sized pump around just in case. Who knows how long it'll be in for service? This was part of my decision to buy a second for my tank (I wasn't as concerned about unidirectional laminar flow, but that was the other part).
CoralVue, in their defense, was responsive to emails (but not very helpful). I think there's a lot of room for improvement in this area. Some sort of cross-ship program and a less defensive attitude would go a long way. How the replacement mounts are handled will be very revealing.
Value - 8/10
Any way you look at the Gyre, it's a great value. For $300, you get a pump with a very usable control and awesome flow. I replaced over $1000 worth of pumps with one of these, and added a second for peace of mind and a little more variety.
However, the replacement parts are expensive, and don't seem to last that long. I get the fact that the sum of replacement parts is always more expensive than the original item, but it's pretty egregious in this case. It's compounded by the fact that some of these parts haven't lasted a month for me yet. I'd say that the total cost of ownership is still a lot less than a Vortech (maybe closer now with the price drop on the MP40), but you'll be replacing parts much more often.
My Verdict - 7/10
It's a great pump, when it's working. It's by far the best flow I've seen. I think that this is a great base to build on, and Maxspect has already started to address some of the major issues. The advanced controller will be out soon. They've already made a new magnet mount to fix the resonance issue. Hopefully they'll do the right thing and give early adopters the updated mount for free.
I think Maxspect could really improve this pump by putting a little more work into the propellor so it's not as fragile. I also think that some type of feedback that the pump is obstructed other than a red light (maybe an alarm?) would be very useful.
I definitely recommend the Gyre, but I'd wait until the advanced controller is released and some of the major kinks are worked out. I'm also interested to see where Ecotech goes in the near future. The rumblings of a new product are interesting, but I doubt it will be a significant departure from their current designs.
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- Matt
Current Tank Info: 260g
SPS heavy system, 70g prop system, 29g Biocube
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