Don’t Panic, and Thanks for all the Fish

[KenRexford]

Advice from a person who doesn’t take my own advice. When a tank emergency develops, count to 10.
Twice now I have had the airline on the aqua lifter for my hob overflow clog, causing the water level to get all stupid on me. Both times, even though the “emergency” was not an emergency, I started freaking out and created an emergency by sending water flying everywhere unless I unplugged everything. I kept forgetting in the heat of a self-created moment the the siphon broke and needed re-primed. Had I counted to 10 and planned out all steps, there would have been less cursing, a 9-year-old daughter not scared, a wife not angry, fish not hiding from the bad god from outside, and a simple problem easily solved. The reality was a tad different yet again today. So, take my advice and count to 10.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Great advice! Butttt if that's a cpr overflow with aqua lifter your gonna want to count to 100.... Those things are disasters waiting to happen

 

[KenRexford]

Great advice! Butttt if that's a cpr overflow with aqua lifter your gonna want to count to 100.... Those things are disasters waiting to happen

Yup. My daughter has learned quite a few swear words like MFCPR and GDALP

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Man, I had one for a couple of years and I'm still traumatized. The aqua lifter can fail (flood!) , the aqua lifter airline tube clogs all the time (flood!), it doesn't always start back up after unplugging the return pump or a power outage (flood!), so many bad memories.

If the cpr overflow was my only option for my reef tank I would leave the hobby. No question about it.

Sorry, I'll stop the rant

 

[Chuk]

Advice from a person who doesn’t take my own advice. When a tank emergency develops, count to 10.
Twice now I have had the airline on the aqua lifter for my hob overflow clog, causing the water level to get all stupid on me. Both times, even though the “emergency” was not an emergency, I started freaking out and created an emergency by sending water flying everywhere unless I unplugged everything. I kept forgetting in the heat of a self-created moment the the siphon broke and needed re-primed. Had I counted to 10 and planned out all steps, there would have been less cursing, a 9-year-old daughter not scared, a wife not angry, fish not hiding from the bad god from outside, and a simple problem easily solved. The reality was a tad different yet again today. So, take my advice and count to 10.

A towel is about the most important thing a hitchhiker (or reefer) can have.

 

[KenRexford]

A towel is about the most important thing a hitchhiker (or reefer) can have.

My wife has them on standby for whenever swearing comes from my tank area!

 

[KenRexford]

Man, I had one for a couple of years and I'm still traumatized. The aqua lifter can fail (flood!) , the aqua lifter airline tube clogs all the time (flood!), it doesn't always start back up after unplugging the return pump or a power outage (flood!), so many bad memories.

If the cpr overflow was my only option for my reef tank I would leave the hobby. No question about it.

Sorry, I'll stop the rant

17 years. 17 years of cpr&tom

 

[SDK]

Is this a HOB overflow designed with a powered point of failure? Have you considered getting a different of brand?

I may be missing something since I’ve been out of the HOB overflow game for 20 or 30 years, but in the 80’s/90’s they were standard equipment on my tanks. I had the classic “Amiracle” sump with the tower of blue bioballs. The HOB overflow on that thing never failed or broke siphon once in around 10 years of use. Even after power outages it would start right back up. You just had to make sure your flow was strong enough through the U shaped pipe to prevent air buildup.

30 years later there has to be something available that is better than what you are using. It sounds like an unnecessarily complex disaster waiting to happen.

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

I once had one of those CPR HOB overflows; IMO that priming thing with the aqua-lifter pump is just something else to go wrong. I ended up deciding that just a plain overflow with no priming connection is way more reliable; there is no way it can break the siphon and lose its prime anyway as long as both ends of the siphon tube are kept submerged.

 

[KenRexford]

It works well enough if I don’t panic. Granted, I would prefer a better tank, but my tank is on its 17th year so some old tech is just what I must use if not starting over. The cpr and Tom aqualifter work well together if the pump doesn’t die or clog. If either happens, the only downside is an emptied sump return area, lots of bubbles, and the tank at the brim. At that point, my plan that I seem to always forget shouldn’t be difficult. Power off. Replace tubing. Plug in aqualifter to make sure it has power and is strong. Attach tubing to nipple with aqualifter power off. Make sure cpr is primed. If all looks right, power back on but watch. If all seems good, all go. If not, quickly kill power again and reassess. Make sure ato is reset, possibly unplugged until evaporated back down. Using these steps, no flooding. My mistake is always stupid, either not replacing ALL tubing or not checking priming.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

It works well enough if I don’t panic. Granted, I would prefer a better tank, but my tank is on its 17th year so some old tech is just what I must use if not starting over. The cpr and Tom aqualifter work well together if the pump doesn’t die or clog. If either happens, the only downside is an emptied sump return area, lots of bubbles, and the tank at the brim. At that point, my plan that I seem to always forget shouldn’t be difficult. Power off. Replace tubing. Plug in aqualifter to make sure it has power and is strong. Attach tubing to nipple with aqualifter power off. Make sure cpr is primed. If all looks right, power back on but watch. If all seems good, all go. If not, quickly kill power again and reassess. Make sure ato is reset, possibly unplugged until evaporated back down. Using these steps, no flooding. My mistake is always stupid, either not replacing ALL tubing or not checking priming.

OK ok, who am I to argue, you seem to have it figured out. Apparently you understand the failure points but are still putting yourself through the stress... But at least your not panicking, that's good news!

I'm actually surprised yours has lasted so long. On mine after a few years the nipple that the airline tubing attaches too got brittle and snapped off.

Also if it helps, instead of replacing airline tubing all the time I had a faucet adapter for rodi that the airline fits over and id just blast some water through it periodically to clear it out

 

[KenRexford]

My overflow was changed once for a two-hole version when I upgraded to a herbie overflow design, but always cpr and Tom.