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MP40 - Dumb Query

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I've had MP40's for a couple years. I clean the wet sides whenever I find the time....maybe every three months.....I know, not frequently enough. Never really paid attention to how I put the cleaned wet-side back in the tank.....just threw it in there. Well, I cleaned the wet sides tonight and wondered if it mattered how the powerhead was placed. MP40s have a portion of one side "blocked" off.






The rest of the powerhead has those "vented" ribs.


So do you place this "blocked" portion in a particular postion? When I put these back into my tank tonight, I put the "blocked" portion facing down. Don't ask me why. Does it matter, or am I an idiot even bring this up?
 
It says to place that side down.

It says it in one of the manuals. There is a reason but I don't remember.
 

arvin

NJRC Member
Facing the blocked off portion towards the bottom minimizes/eliminates sandstorm issues.
 

mrehfeld

Officer Emeritus
Not owning one I am merely speculating but if you had the power head near the surface the "blocked off" portion would prevent you from creating a Sort of venturi on the surface. I guess it would do the same if it was placed closed to the bottom.
 

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
I always ran it facing down because that was how they always had it in the literature and pictures.
 
MP10 also do not have this blocked area.....all ribbed all the way around. I also perused the manual and found no mention of positioning this blocked area.

My MP40s are ribbed (for my fishes pleasure) but have the blocked part as well. I always face them up, seemed to make for better flow but I get why they would say to face it down to prevent the substrate from moving.
 

Sunny

NJRC Member
Article Contributor
MP40 intakes the water from the top. If you want to place it a bit higher in the water column so it does not such air, use the solid part on the top side.
 
All are correct, depending on where you want the water flow to end up has to do with the location in the tank. If you are looking for water flow lower in the tank you are going to place closer to the sand bed, open sides up/ closed down to not pull sand up into it. If you are looking for flow higher, closed side up so you do not create a Venturi. If you are positioned close to the front of the tank, closed side there.
The way this pump works is by moving water from the sides of the pump forward, if you are close to an object it will create a cycle at that area because the water that it is moving is the same water that it is trying to pull in to push back out if that makes sense.
 
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