# Ecotech Quiet Drive Upgrade



## nc208082 (Jun 27, 2013)

So after having issues with my mp40 ecotech told me my controller was shot. A new regular mp40 controller was 45 usd and the quiet drive was 65 usd so I opted to pay the extra 20. All I can say is WOW, what a difference in sound. You can barely hear it on. That's with a regular dryside and not the new one. My mp10 is very loud now in comparison and I thought it was much quieter before. So if anyone is wondering about how much of a difference it makes, it's huge. I highly recommend upgrading to the quiet drive.

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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

I was considering the upgrade too after seeing it in action at another reefer's place, but it's still very expensive, and I also need the wet side which is shot as well. Considering how much it costs brand new, the reliability was not up to my expectation, and this QD controller upgrade should have been provided for free. 

For the longest time I thought I didn't have it setup correctly, or I had a bad unit as it was touted as a QUIET and powerful power head. While it was on, it was loudest thing on my tank. Good thing it had a night mode, otherwise I'd have trouble sleeping at night.

The only reason I'm still considering it is because it's the only one that does not add heat to the tank from the motor which is outside of the tank.


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## nc208082 (Jun 27, 2013)

If you speak to ecotech directly they should offer you a good price on both the upgrade and wetside if you go that route. They did for me at least.

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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Never thought of that. Will give it a try.

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## ReefABCs (Nov 10, 2012)

I did the upgrade on my mp40 pair as well. ONE IS ABSOLUTELY SILENT . The other one didn't make much difference. I bought a set of bearings off amazon and changed them out non the noisy mp 40 but still noisy. I have extra bearings so will try swaping one more time. 

The noisy mp 40 was dropped a few times so can't really blame the device itself. Priced out a new dry side and it's like over $300 or something from this one place so ...

I truly like these pumps just don't like the price and they should have had this quiet drive from day one.


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## Flexin5 (Nov 12, 2011)

I switched from a regular MP10 and regular MP40 on my last tank to two MP40 quiet drives. for the first little bit one was quiet but the other one was making a ratteling noise from the wet side after about a month of use. ecotech told me to clean out the one making noise so i did and now they are super quiet. 

mix that with the silent over flow and silent sump and all you can hear is the AI hydra fans, basically my setup is no louder than a computer.


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Contacted Ecotech, I was told "the wetside must be serviced regularly to reduce noise". I replied saying that it was at the same level of noise right from the beginning. In fact, it was repeated cleaning that caused the wetside to malfunction eventually (the prop either get seized or not engage and there's one little screw that holds the prop to shaft).

I asked if Ecotech can ship the parts at manufacturer's cost and the answer I got was they don't ship the parts outside of USA and don't offer prices below retail prices. 

In short, not very helpful at all, waste of time. I'm still on the fence on this one, as spending another $250 will bring the total cost up to $750+ for a single power head. Probably not going to happen.


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## Vinoy Thomas (Jan 4, 2013)

conix67 said:


> Contacted Ecotech, I was told "the wetside must be serviced regularly to reduce noise". I replied saying that it was at the same level of noise right from the beginning. In fact, it was repeated cleaning that caused the wetside to malfunction eventually (the prop either get seized or not engage and there's one little screw that holds the prop to shaft).
> 
> I asked if Ecotech can ship the parts at manufacturer's cost and the answer I got was they don't ship the parts outside of USA and don't offer prices below retail prices.
> 
> In short, not very helpful at all, waste of time. I'm still on the fence on this one, as spending another $250 will bring the total cost up to $750+ for a single power head. Probably not going to happen.


I feel it sucks that even a $300+ powerhead is causing problems for you and other people. I have an MP10 and it is the loudest thing on my tank. I don't ramp it up more than half because the noise is so great.

It's even worse cause I switched from two RW-4's cause they die after a year, and the cost to replace the motor every year was not something I wanted to do.

Like, is there not a reliable, *quiet*, low-maintenance, powerhead that still looks good out there?


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Actually, I did contact Ecotech Marine before, 3 months into the use of MP40w. Here's the video I shared with them - can anyone tell me if this is usual or not?






So they said I need a new dry side, that I need to go through the vendor I purchased it from - Big Als. I don't recall if I did get it replaced or not, but I don't think I did.

So much for the great service. 3 months old, under warranty and push me to the vendor for service.


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## nc208082 (Jun 27, 2013)

Conix I know it sounds like the runaround but that's how warranties typically work. Big als should be able to tell you who their canadian distributer is and they should be doing the warranty work. 

After watching your video it could be two things. Either it is not aligned properly or the dryside is bad. 



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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

nc208082 said:


> Conix I know it sounds like the runaround buy that's how warranties typically work. Big als should be able to tell you who their canadian distributer is and they should be doing the warranty work.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk


No, this is NOT how the warranties typically work. Perhaps for aquarium stuff, but general electronics when I needed warranty services, it came directly from the manufacturer, not from a vendor.

I'd use vendor to get a replacement instead of a warranty service, if they have return/exchange policy. It would usually be vendor pushing customer to go through manufacturer's warranty service, not the other way around.

Anyway, the warranty period is long gone.


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## nc208082 (Jun 27, 2013)

conix67 said:


> No, this is NOT how the warranties typically work. Perhaps for aquarium stuff, but general electronics when I needed warranty services, it came directly from the manufacturer, not from a vendor.
> 
> I'd use vendor to get a replacement instead of a warranty service, if they have return/exchange policy. It would usually be vendor pushing customer to go through manufacturer's warranty service, not the other way around.
> 
> Anyway, the warranty period is long gone.


Conix the warranty services are not with the vendor, they are with the Canadian distributor who is working with ecotech. Ecotech is based in the US and offer their warranties through themselves in the US, in other countries you have to go through their distributor. Quite often with electronics they will have repair centers in most countries to assist with warranties. I.e. if you send your Samsung phone to be repaired it is not going to go to Asia where it was built and company has its head offices, it will be done over here at an authorized repair center. Since ecotech doesn't have this in any other country they are limited to go through their distributors for warranty purposes.


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

nc208082 said:


> Conix the warranty services are not with the vendor, they are with the Canadian distributor who is working with ecotech. Ecotech is based in the US and offer their warranties through themselves in the US, in other countries you have to go through their distributor. Quite often with electronics they will have repair centers in most countries to assist with warranties. I.e. if you send your Samsung phone to be repaired it is not going to go to Asia where it was built and company has its head offices, it will be done over here at an authorized repair center. Since ecotech doesn't have this in any other country they are limited to go through their distributors for warranty purposes.


I do not dispute that, but why would Ecotech push customer to the vendor for all these? When I need the service from Samsung, they take care of me, not their distributor, even though it may end up back to the distributor.

In this case, Ecotech said I need a new dry side. I do not recall if I did or did not manage to receive the new dry side, as it was few years ago and cannot find any record.

On both occasions, Ecotech's response is something along the line of " can't help you since you don't live in US".

Anyway, have you watched the video? Is that what everyone hears before QD? I still feel that I and others were misled that there were no issues and the noise is normal (but quiet??) - otherwise, why is there a QD upgrade?


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## nc208082 (Jun 27, 2013)

What setting and percentage are you running it at?

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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

I believe this was at 70% for max speed in wave mode. The noise was bearable at 30-40% constant speed.


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## nc208082 (Jun 27, 2013)

Yes that is too loud. Are you using the piece of rubber that goes between glass and dryside? Mine was making loud random noises until I played with the alignment and then it was silent.

Also you have it set to the correct glass thickness?

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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

nc208082 said:


> Yes that is too loud. Are you using the piece of rubber that goes between glass and dryside? Mine was making loud random noises until I played with the alignment and then it was silent.
> 
> Also you have it set to the correct glass thickness?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk


Yes, all those are done properly and checked many times.

So, it's possible that for me QD upgrade + wetside won't solve this noise issue. I guess it's time to throw this to garbage


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## zoapaly (Jul 10, 2013)

conix67 said:


> Yes, all those are done properly and checked many times.
> 
> So, it's possible that for me QD upgrade + wetside won't solve this noise issue. I guess it's time to throw this to garbage


Go with Gyre pump super quiet and strong 

( go with brand new not used )


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

zoapaly said:


> Go with Gyre pump super quiet and strong
> 
> I have brand new 130 for cheap if you interested


I'm not familiar with this product, how cheap is cheap? Is this more reliable than MP40?


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## nc208082 (Jun 27, 2013)

Zoapaly, this thread isn't about you selling your gyre. Please remove your posts and place them in the for sale section. Thank you.

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