Hello everyone, here is my latest update from today. Today’s update I will discuss the addition of a 2nd MP10w ES on my tank, and also review of the BRS shipping / packaging of the Reef Octopus NW110 Skimmer, and finally a review of the Skimmer assembly and installation.
First, the MP10w ES (I’ll refer to this as MP10 throughout the review). As I stated in my previous review of the MP10, the shipping, packaging, etc. was all good. Exactly the same as the other MP10, installation was a snap; however, there was a catch with this one. For whatever reason, when I started up the MP10 in the aquarium, it was VERY loud. Like much louder than anything else on the tank, ever. It sounded like a high pitched whining, that did not occur even at the highest settings of the previous MP10.
I played with the placement in the tank, unhooked it and hooked it back together, power on and off, changing modes, and no change. However, after giving up and letting it run for about 10 minutes, the noise went away completely and it is just as silent as its predecessor.
One thing I noted right away when I came home last night, was that my sand bed looked unbelievable CLEAN. The extra power and “undertow” effect of the MP10’s really did a great job of removing waste and detritus from the sand bed.
As soon as I had installed the second MP10 in my tank, one thing was obvious: It was completely too much flow in the tank. My sand bed, corals, and fish were blowing around everywhere. I immediately unplugged my last remaining Koralia which is in the back of the tank. This had little effect.
I initially had the 1st MP10 set up at about 80% speed at MAX, but with the addition of the 2nd MP10, I’ve had to dial them both back to 50%. Most of my corals look okay, but unfortunately I think I smoked my bubble coral! The flow was so much that half of its bubbles went away, and it looks as if the flesh was blown off the skeleton. I’m hoping it pulls through! My hammer was also pretty upset and it wouldn’t drop its hammers down very far.
Syncing up a MASTER and SLAVE relationship was very simple. I looked up the Youtube video and it sets you up in about (1) minute. I have mine set up for running opposite each other. So when the Master is at 80% the Slave is at 20%. You can also run together so both Master and Slave will be at 80% at the same time.
Once everything was dialed back down and I set the Mode to what I wanted, the tank looked ok, it was an extreme sandstorm and first but it was starting to settle out.
Another thing I noticed was that there isn’t nearly as much surface agitation with the MP10’s compared to the koralias. However, if I move them any higher, I start to get a whirlpool effect and they start sucking air. We’ll see how that plays out, but it makes looking down into the tank a much nicer experience.
The 2nd thing to review is the Reef Octo Skimmer.
1st impressions:
Made very well, much more heavy duty than expected, the size was much bigger than I anticipated, and it was very nice overall.
The installation was easy, though the directions were less than desired. I’m still not 100% confident that I set it up correctly. I did watch a Mr. Saltwatertank video or two on you tube explaining the basics of the setup.
The first thing I did was plug it in and watch the cup overflow all over the place. I then turned down the gate valve and lowered the bubbles in the neck.
I ended up unplugging the skimmer because I was nervous that it would be overflowing when I was at work.
It looks like its already picking stuff out on the bubbles within the first half hour, but not nearly what it needed to be doing.
Overall, I will update more when the time comes that I have actual data to report out.
. What could I be doing wrong?
