Aqua Lifter Problems

[Ron Guiness]

Hey everyone, how ya doing?

I have a problem. Right now I use a hanging overflow and I have an aqua lifter aw 20 pump to keep my siphon up. But for some reason in the past week of so my pump has been loosing the syphon. I have checked the air hoses they are all fine. And I have everything plugged in the right places. Dose anyone know if there are problems with these, is there an alternative to using them besides drilling (that is not an option right now), if it just might be a bunk pump I will order another one tonight . Please help.

Ron Guiness

[Rob]

just some basic questions to get started

you are losing siphon even with the aqualifter running?
have you confirmed its working right (ie, lifter is sucking water/air)
any thing cause the return water flow to slow down?
is there anything in the U-tube clogging it?

[Ron Guiness]

hey Rob.

Ya I'm loosing siphon with the lifter running, I have the lifter plugged in a different outlet then the rest of my equipment. It is not sucking up water though. The motor doesn't seem to be burned out since it still has suction just not quite as much as when it was new, and not enough to suck water up. I replaced the two air hoses on it with new ones. My overflow is all clear also. Do you know if these loose power after awhile? I do keep it in a constant "on" state, just in case I loose power. Is there a lot of problems with these? Should I just buy a new one? I am in the process right now to try to get the overflow started without it.

thanks again
Ron Guiness

[lReef lKeeper]

i would order another one. it sounds like it is probably just worn out.

[Rob]

i have never had one personally, but if its on all the time, its possible that it could be loosing suction, or have a seal thats wearing out.
being that there are under $20, it might be best to just replace it.

[Ron Guiness]

Thanks a lot guys, I think thats what I'm going to do. Ive had my eye on some new power heads anyway. That being said have you ever heard of the Hydor Koralia Pumps. Ive seen them used at a LFS and they seem to work pretty good. Any input on those?

Thanks
Ron Guiness

[Rob]

i have a Koralia 4 and so far i love it...
it mounts great, moves great

the only thing i have found is the flow was a bit more focused in some directions than others... hard to explain in writing, but its not that big of a deal.. :)

overall they are great pumps for the price, i like them better than my SEIO

[Ron Guiness]

What size would you recommend for a 55gal tank. I'm going to use at least 2 to 4 of them, one on each side and maybe one to two in the rear. Right now I'm using zoo meds (hate em) and I have one on each side. I use one by the mouth to my overflow to keep most of the food from going into the sump and one on the other side for water movement around the middle of the tank.

[Rob]

you could use 4 of the #1 or 2 of the #2 depends on what your tank is like and what your target flow rate for the tanks is.

here are the specs
Koralia 1 - 400 GPH
Koralia 2 - 600 GPH
Koralia 3 - 850 GPH
Koralia 4 - 1200 GPH

there is also a Koralia Nano coming out that will be rated at about 240 GPH