help with overflow, or getting out of hobby sale

ahullsb

ahullsb

New member
I can't believe this is happening again, after the hours of work over the weekend. My CPR overflow is a piece of ****. It will not recreate a siphon, and I know I'm going to come home to a flood soon. The aqualifter pump is is one of the greatest frauds I've come across so far in this hobby. Now I've got airline tubing from the top of the nipple, to a powerhead in the tank, and it still won't siphon. I've poured about two gallons of water into the back of the overflow as it filled, and almost the same amount on the floor....What the **** it wrong with this thing? Are the lifereef one's that much better? Any troubleshooting would be greatly appreciated. As I said, I'm supposed to go out of town this weekend, but I won't leave if this is still going on. I can't handle this stress everyday and I'm about to give up.
 
I feel your frustration regarding that overflow. Why they invented it and made it dependant on a another product is beyond me...
Common ailment I found with mine that sounds like it could be the culprit is the nipple attachment.

On mine it just came with a hole to insert a nipple in. This is crucial, if you insert the nipple in to deep within the unit, the nipples opening inside will be below the air bubbles and create poor to no siphoning. Another problem is creating an air tight seal for the nipple to slip into the hole with. I used superglue gel for this, with carefull attention not to push the nipple in to deep into the hole.


-Justin
 
Thanks for the responses. I spoke with Ed who seemed to think my aqualifter pump was old and needed a new diaphram. I am going to get a new pump since no LFS that I could find just sold the replacement parts. I will post later and let everyone know if it worked. And thanks again for the help. Justin I agree with you 100 percent. The CPR is a poor design and an accident waiting to happen in my opinion. Is it true that the lifereef overflows are much more reliable and don't need external pumps to work?
 
here's what i observed in lucky goldfish in oakland and wished i would've done that when i was using an external overflow. They run the air tube of the overflow and connected it to the air intake slot of a powerhead. This will allow the powerhead to suck up the air that is trapped inside the overflow which eliminates the need of a aqualifter pump.

hope this helps....
 
Thank you. That helps a little, although I tried that with a small inexpensive powerhead over the weekend and it only worked temporarily. But I will post whenever I figure out how to fix it for good. If not I'm going to buy a lifereef, and maybe an extra one to mail to CPR!
 
Throw that CPR away!!!! It will cause nothing but problems down the line. They are junk. They are the one thing that you need to work right 100% of the time...... they are also the one thing that won't work right 100% of time.

Lifereef is the way to go.

Or better yet, ask funman1 to help you drill.

Just advice coming from a one time CPR user. It worked great with the pump for 2 years. They I came home one day and my sump was on my floor. Not too happy to say the least.

Jim
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10500248#post10500248 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ahullsb
Raphael thanks for the offer. If I can't get this to work properly I will pm you for sure!
Click to expand...

no problem, just let me know
 
Jimdogg, I would love to drill if I could, but I would have to completely empty the tank right? Does the tank need to go on it's back to keep it from cracking? I will check out lifereef now.
 
Another thing I forgot to mention regarding the pump after the guy suggested the diaphram could be worn. It may be, or at least in my experience it had developed a residue over time that eventually clogged enough to where it wasnt strong enough to keep the siphon going. Think clogged arteries and cholesterol. A snake like film that lined the innards of the tube and diaphram slowly poured out after I ran the pump with some strong distilled vinegar sollution and blew air through the tubes real hard with my lungs to stir up any cloggage. Worked like a champ again.
Knowing what I know now, these pumps demand cleaning for good consistant useage at least every 6 months.


-Justin
 
Thank you Ed for the help! You were right. I didn't know that these needed to have a diaphragm replaced every so often. My LFS didn't have the part, so I bought a new one....:( But it started the siphon immediately. Now I will buy the replacement parts and keep the other as a backup, or for dripping I suppose. I may order the lifereef anyway so that I don't have to risk this again. I'm not sure I want to risk an entire system failure and flood, based on the reliability of a 12 dollar pump.
 
I have an SOS overflow - when I first received it the weld sealing both half of the U-tube had a crack and would leak in air. My powerhead simply wouldn't draw a vacuum. Called them and they overnighted me a new u-tube. Haven't had a problem in four years. I agree there is probably a leak with the fitting. If you have any weldon-16 that might help.
 
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