First Impressions: The Vectra M1

[picoreefguy]

I recently got a Vectra M1 made by Ecotech Marine and got it plumbed up this morning so I wanted to do an end user review since there aren't too many of them yet. It is the quietest piece of equipment I have on my tank. I couldn't hear it over anything else on the tank but I wanted to see just how quiet it really was, so i turned everything off including the air conditioning and the ceiling fan in my office and there was a noticeable hum. it is about the same or maybe slightly quieter than a Jebao dc3000 that is working properly. That being said there will never be a time when the when the return pump is the only equipment on a normal reef tank that makes noise so that tiny hum is, in all practical applications, negligible.

The flow rate is higher than my dc3000 by a good margin but not as much as I was expecting. My main drain line is 1/2" hard pvc and my secondary drain is 3/4" hard pvc. On its lowest setting the Vectra had no problem getting a full siphon on the main drain which it did in about 22 seconds from the time i hit the power button, and when it reaches the secondary drain just a little trickle goes over and into it making the lowest setting almost ideal for my setup. This is the same performance i got out of my Jebao when it was around 40ish% power (the 4th light on the controller). The highest setting is where I'm a little disappointed. This pump is rated at 2000 gallons per hour and when i ramped the pump up it didn't seem like it was actually pushing that much. At full power the main drain holds a full siphon and i would expect that the secondary drain would also achieve a full siphon, but it does not. Instead it gets close and makes a continuous sucking noise. I looked up the flow rates for 1/2" and 3/4" pvc under gravity which is 420 gph for 1/2" and 660 gph for 3/4". Combined this would give 1080 gallons per hour and since i have some bends in my plumbing we'll cut that by 3-4% and call it 1000 gph that my overflow can handle not including the third "emergency" drain which is also 1/2". This was surprising to me considering that it is rated for 2000. I can attribute some of this loss to the fact that I reduced the output from 3/4" to 1/2" to match my existing plumbing but I wouldn't expect it to cut the flow by more than half. Ill call Ecotech customer support soon to find out if im overlooking something or maybe i got a faulty unit. If nothing else I may try to convert my 3/4" drain into my return pipe and use the current return as my secondary drain.

One of the features of this pump that i really like is its quick couple fittings which allow you to attach standard pvc directly to the inlet and outlet of the pump while still allowing you to remove the pump for cleaning and maintenance without cutting plumbing or requiring unions on both sides. For those that like to use hard pvc when plumbing their tanks, this feature is a godsend. Pvc unions are bulky, ugly and expensive so the fact that unions are part of the pump is a big plus. And the build quality is very good on the Vectra, nothing less than i would expect from Ecotech Marine.

Overall id say it is an excellent pump that <span style="color: Red;">might</span> be over rated on the flow. If you can afford the hefty price tag than I'd say go grab one of these. Just make sure that you use the proper sized outlet plumbing.

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[axio]

I think swapping over to 3/4 will make a big difference... Wouldn't expect it to be cut in half, but you never know. How is your return plumbing setup?

EDIT

As in how many elbows/bends? is it feeding other things like reactors or UV? Etc...

 

[grouper therapy]

I'm betting your output restriction is the problem.

Shouldn't say problem maybe the reason.

 

[grouper therapy]

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If you look at their performance curve it only takes 6' of head to reduce it to 1200 gph.
that is not much head loss and is very easy to reach that point. Your reduction from 3/4" to 1/2" out put can easily create 2' to 3' of head loss.

 

[grouper therapy]

This quick reduction in flow on the low end seems characteristic of most dc pumps.

 

[picoreefguy]

aXio;1092294 wrote: I think swapping over to 3/4 will make a big difference... Wouldn't expect it to be cut in half, but you never know. How is your return plumbing setup?

EDIT

As in how many elbows/bends? is it feeding other things like reactors or UV? Etc...

the return starts at the pump with a barbed fitting and then a little over a foot of flexible vinyl tubing, into a barb fitting that joins it to hard pvc then to a 45 degree elbow, then straight up into the tank via a bulkhead and where its T'd off to get flow to both sides. i tried to put in as little resistance as possible when building it.

grouper therapy;1092299 wrote:

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If you look at their performance curve it only takes 6' of head to reduce it to 1200 gph.
that is not much head loss and is very easy to reach that point. Your reduction from 3/4" to 1/2" out put can easily create 2' to 3' of head loss.

i didn't take the head pressure into account, that's probably what the issue is. cause it starts with around 4 feet of head and when you add the extra pressure of reducing it that could bring it down to about 1000. also as i was thinking about it that rating probably applies more to the closed loop application since head pressure isnt a factor there.

 

[Adam]

Picoreefguy;1092320 wrote: the return starts at the pump with a barbed fitting and then a little over a foot of flexible vinyl tubing, into a barb fitting that joins it to hard pvc then to a 45 degree elbow, then straight up into the tank via a bulkhead and where its T'd off to get flow to both sides. i tried to put in as little resistance as possible when building it.

i didn't take the head pressure into account, that's probably what the issue is. cause it starts with around 4 feet of head and when you add the extra pressure of reducing it that could bring it down to about 1000. also as i was thinking about it that rating probably applies more to the closed loop application since head pressure isnt a factor there.

I've read that ideally you should start the plumbing from the pump at the size of it's output or slightly larger, then reduce it down stream. Here you might think about running 1" from the pump up to just after the 45 or all the way up to the T and dropping to 3/4 for the outputs off it. Also how is your T setup at the tank, does the flow run through it or come in from the bottom and exit out either end of the T?

 

[danh]

I have Jebao/Jecod DCT12000 and 8000. I had a blue 12000 and a grey 12000. The 8000 is grey. This is merely anecdotal. When I split the lock line on one of my 1200's it seemed to GREATLY reduce the flow. I had it turned over half way up and it still seemed pretty reduced. What was coming out of either one of them wasn't nearly as much as my single lock line return on my 8000 at the lowest setting.

I don't know that this has much bearing on your full speed observations but I don't think each setting on the controllers are proportional. At least not the first setting. I don't remember where I read that if there are 5 settings, it doesn't mean that the first setting is 20%. It's more like it starts at 50% and goes up proportionately from there.

 

[picoreefguy]

anit77;1092328 wrote: I've read that ideally you should start the plumbing from the pump at the size of it's output or slightly larger, then reduce it down stream. Here you might think about running 1" from the pump up to just after the 45 or all the way up to the T and dropping to 3/4 for the outputs off it. Also how is your T setup at the tank, does the flow run through it or come in from the bottom and exit out either end of the T?

at this point there is no way i could do anything larger than 3/4" piping. i could however do 1" from the pump then reduce to 3/4" somewhere before the bulkhead. but i think the easiest path would be to go from 1" at the pump and reduce to 1/2 so that i can use my existing plumbing without modifying it. the modification to use the 3/4" as my return wouldnt be hard but i would need to get more red pvc to maintain the look i have now so i'd rather just use what i have. the flow comes in from the bottom of the T and exits out the sides.

Danh;1092330 wrote: I have Jebao/Jecod DCT12000 and 8000. I had a blue 12000 and a grey 12000. The 8000 is grey. This is merely anecdotal. When I split the lock line on one of my 1200's it seemed to GREATLY reduce the flow. I had it turned over half way up and it still seemed pretty reduced. What was coming out of either one of them wasn't nearly as much as my single lock line return on my 8000 at the lowest setting.

I don't know that this has much bearing on your full speed observations but I don't think each setting on the controllers are proportional. At least not the first setting. I don't remember where I read that if there are 5 settings, it doesn't mean that the first setting is 20%. It's more like it starts at 50% and goes up proportionately from there.

when it comes to single vs split returns, split will always have less flow per outlet than a single will. did you try plugging one end of the split loc line with your finger to see if the flow out of the other was comparable or higher than your 8000? thats also why i was going by the water going into the overflow box rather than what was coming out of the return pipes. its hard to really compare how much is coming out unless its a huge difference.

 

[grouper therapy]

Whenever possible Wyes are more flow friendly than Ts

 

[danh]

Picoreefguy;1092361 wrote: when it comes to single vs split returns, split will always have less flow per outlet than a single will. did you try plugging one end of the split loc line with your finger to see if the flow out of the other was comparable or higher than your 8000? thats also why i was going by the water going into the overflow box rather than what was coming out of the return pipes. its hard to really compare how much is coming out unless its a huge difference.

Oh I know. I it had some power coming out of one but just trickled out of both when I had split it. Talk about underwhelmed. It was what I considered a huge difference.

I did see a slight drop in the water line in my overflow boxes.

Again, though, that is all anecdotal.

 

[Adam]

To maximize flow in any plumbing design you want to keep the inertia of the water (or air) flowing through the pipe in the same direction and hit as few obstacles as possible. Most fittings are a restriction but ones that bend are an obstacle where the direction of flow is changed.
So with this in mind. 2 45's are better than a 90, a long turn elbow is better than short, a wye is better than a tee and so on. But an improperly installed tee is about as bad as you can get. Tee's don't have to be as restrictive if they're installed correctly. You want the flow to go through from one of the top sides to the other and the middle output coming out the "bottom" which can be pointed any way you want it. See the pics in https://reefs.com/2013/03/08/aquarium-plumbing-guide-part-ii-basic-advanced-plumbing-schemes/">this link.</a> (I don't like his use of the final tee in the 3rd diagram.) When the flow enters from the bottom of the tee and out the top sides the water has to slam into the wall of the tee. So effectively most of the inertia is lost and what carry's the water out the top ends is now largely from the pressure built up from all this water slamming into the side wall of the pipe. This pressure results in quite a bit of headloss as it goes in all directions, including back towards the direction the flow is coming from. This gets even more exasperated as the tee gets closer to the pump.

With all of this being said I'm still using one wrong in my setup at the final termination on my return line until I can figure a better way to run it. :doh:

 

[picoreefguy]

i see your point Adam but as of right now i dont really see a better way to use my existing plumbing and still get water out at both sides of the overflow box. if they made a sanitary T that had that long curve on both sides that would solve both our problems lol.