fecat Posted May 11, 2005 Share Posted May 11, 2005 Just purchased a Aqua Pro CF 1500 filter from our sponsor (Age of Aquarium). Now I am not sure whether I set it up properly. Because the filter itself doesn't come with any instruction! not even a single piece of paper. I did a little research before I buy it. Most people think they are quite good. But My experience so far is very bad, because the cycling rate and suction power is just disappointing... Well, as i said, i am not sure whether i set it up properly. I followed the simple instruction on the box. Connect the filter and pump the water in before i started the filter. As for the medium, I put the carbon at the bottom section, noodle (ceramic ring) on the third basket, Bio ball (15x) on the second, then the wool on the 1st basket. Is that the correct setup? i didn't put any extra as all of the medium (except the bio ball) came with the filter. Did i make any mistake??? Also, I place my filter underneath my tank. So there are some excessive hose which curl up a bit. Should i shorten it? would it gives me a better flow? I found that my old filer (very tiny one sit on top of the tank) does a better job than my massive new CF 1500. When a very light object (like a single frozen blood worm) gets near to the sucking cap, it doesn't go in at all... How disappointing... I had to switch my old filter off to feed blood worm previously to prevent the disappearance.. Sorry for the long post... Any comment is greatly appreciated. Regards, Felix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTR73 Posted May 11, 2005 Share Posted May 11, 2005 How far is the water shooting out of the spray bar? Is it kinda trickling out? And is it making a rattling noise and can you see lots of bubbles in the hoses as it pumps? Maybe you don't have it "primed" properly. It should be primed when the pump is very quiet, there's no bubbles in the system, and water jets out the spray bar at an even flow. The length of the house shouldn't be an issue unless you have something crazy like 2 metres or more attached, so the thing should still be pumping at a good rate. It's (dubiously) rated at 1500L/Hr so the water should be jetting out of the spray bar at least a foot or more. I would also check for any blockages, everywhere: - hoses, connections, pump housing. Could be something that simple. It doesn't sound like you have it crammed with too much with media, so that shouldn't be a problem. If you still have problems, I would ring Ben at AOA about it. He can advise how to stack and prime it properly. It could just be a faulty one (which isn't unusual for that brand) so I would look at exchanging and getting a replacement if all fails. I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem with AOA, just a hassle for you. Good luck with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fecat Posted May 12, 2005 Author Share Posted May 12, 2005 How far is the water shooting out of the spray bar? Is it kinda trickling out? And is it making a rattling noise and can you see lots of bubbles in the hoses as it pumps? Maybe you don't have it "primed" properly. It should be primed when the pump is very quiet, there's no bubbles in the system, and water jets out the spray bar at an even flow. The length of the house shouldn't be an issue unless you have something crazy like 2 metres or more attached, so the thing should still be pumping at a good rate. It's (dubiously) rated at 1500L/Hr so the water should be jetting out of the spray bar at least a foot or more. I would also check for any blockages, everywhere: - hoses, connections, pump housing. Could be something that simple. It doesn't sound like you have it crammed with too much with media, so that shouldn't be a problem. If you still have problems, I would ring Ben at AOA about it. He can advise how to stack and prime it properly. It could just be a faulty one (which isn't unusual for that brand) so I would look at exchanging and getting a replacement if all fails. I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem with AOA, just a hassle for you. Good luck with it. ← Yes, the water is trackling out. Definitely not strong at all, I would say it projects about half meter of water out. And no, there is no bubble in the hose. The pump is very quite. Does that placement order of the medium put any effect of the flow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTR73 Posted May 12, 2005 Share Posted May 12, 2005 Yes, the water is trackling out. Definitely not strong at all, I would say it projects about half meter of water out. And no, there is no bubble in the hose. The pump is very quite. Does that placement order of the medium put any effect of the flow? ← No I wouldn't think so. The carbon, noodles and bioballs wouldn't hinder the water flow no matter which order you place them, and I'm gussing you have the one mat of wool in there, so that shouldn't restrict the flow either. It sounds like it's primed properly, but one other thing you could try is take the trays out and run the filter completely empty with no media, just water flow. If it's still the same, and you've checked everything for blockages, I would just ring AOA. Ben's pretty good with after-sales support. Further, I wouldn't go fiddling with the inside of the pump housing (to look at the impellor for example), until you speak to Ben first. Because you don't want the possibility of voiding your warranty by breaking something. Talk to AOA - PH 07 3800 5592. They're good with things like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldfish Posted May 12, 2005 Share Posted May 12, 2005 I bought one from AOA earlier this year and its working grreat!,,,no problem with it!,,im using it for my standard 4ft tank!,,, the good thing i like about this filter is when cleaning it, its easy to disconnect the hose from the filter itself,...just remove the inlet pipe from the tank to let water drain from the pipes and then unlock it from the filter itself!!...much easier then the round fluval 403 i had!!,but 403 had stronger head flow!! ..fecat,,did u push the round thing on the top of the filter?,,push it a few times to get the water to flow!!,,the 1st time i used the filter i tried to push it down but it was abit hard,i thought maybe it wasnt suppose to push down but after a few hard pushed i thought i broke it but it actually got the water to flow!.maybe u should try that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted May 12, 2005 Share Posted May 12, 2005 If the outlet hose is shooting water half a meter I wouldnt think there is much wrong at all? It is rated at 1500lph, generally these ratings are taken using an empty cannister, and no head height to deal with, so to lose some of that is expected. My brother uses a few of the 1000lph models and they all work fine, but actual flow would be about 700-800lph with media and head height. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fecat Posted May 13, 2005 Author Share Posted May 13, 2005 Thanks for the advices. I have spoken to Ben fro AOA and explained the problems I have. Basically, He said it is very likely that there is a problem with the "impellar" of the motor. (Not sure that is the right spelling) He said that part might be faulty and would send a new one to me with no charge. Pretty good aftersale service, but just a bit of hassel for me I guess... He said that "impeller" needs to be replaced for every 12 months. I have to replace it myself and it should solve the problem. I will keep you guys informed of how i go. Goldfish - Yeah, I push the middle button many times, didn't improve the flow. Ducksta - it should be much stronger than shooting out for half meter. other ppl from the forum said the CF1500 is capable to shoot up to 5 meters. (not sure whether its true...) but the CF1500 shouldn't be weaker than my sml dodgy filter, isn't it? if so, why did i bother to replace it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted May 13, 2005 Share Posted May 13, 2005 What's your small dodgy filter though? You can get little Resun internals that do 2000lph through a tiny oriface & they almost work like a garden hose on full ball! shooting up 5 meters is enclosed within a tube is a lot different to doing it unassisted. ie: pointing straight up without a hose! When we tested our 6000lph pumps by putting them 30cm below the water level in a spa, water only shot another 30cm or so in a fountain above (as in 60cm) when they have a max head height of 8m! - and when I tested my King3 in a bucket, it barely got 30cm (ie: just outa the bucket) and it's 2400lph and can do about 4m in a hose. ~1000/1200lph or so that you'd get out of an unloaded canister like that won't have a lot of pressure behind it, it'd be like having a garden hose (no spray nossle) on maybe 1/4 of full? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.