56097 Overflow Pre-Filter

This came perfect, no damage or missing parts and setup was a breeze. If needed, on the back of the box it has instructions to help you set it up and start the prime on the 1 1/4'' U tubes. The pvc risers fit loose in the bulkheads, so I suggest you silicone them in with aquarium safe silicone, so when you pull out the sponge to clean it, the riser doesn't come out with it. One more thing I will add is that most people and the instructions on the box to prime the U tubes do it the hard way.The following is standard [ for those that don't know] fill the skimmer box and the center chamber in the prefilter up with your prepared salt or fresh water, then fish a 3/16'' standard air line hose up each U tube up to the arch at top of U tube and leave enough extending past the tube to be able to get a hold of it. Place one end of the 2 tubes in the skimmer box and the other ends in the center chamber of prefilter making sure not to move the air hoses. This is were the common mistake happens where most people will suck on the air hose to draw the air out to prime the U tubes, but it is so much easier to BLOW in the hoses and you see the water in the skimmer box and center prefilter chamber rise up and meet at the arch of the U tubes and the tubes are primed and is much faster as well ! This is a 1000 GPH prefilter and comes in a AQUARIUM MASTERS box.

The whole thing looks Solid, but one of the two nuts has no threads. It is impossible to set it up without a trip to home depot.

I had these on my 150 and 125ga tanks. I found that they needed heavy modification to function properly. Even then, they sometimes failed. One unit was broken on arrival so I glued it back together with weld-on 4. The way the water pours into the Influent side creates bubbles. These bubbles end up stuck at the top of the siphon tube and eventually break the siphon. I fixed this by drilling and tapping an air fitting into the suction tubes and sucking the air out. I found that I could run an air hose from the fitting to my sump and the water would siphon through the air line and take bubbles with it. I was able to limit bubbles on the Influent side by placing a sponge in the filler box. The effluent side can be loud. The provided breather tubes don't help. I was able to make some that worked much better. The effluent side collects a lot of detritus. The units come with slip fit bulk heads to attach your plumbing. The problem with slip fit is it must be glued and then it's impossible to remove the fittings when you want to do maintenance. I replaced them with threaded bulk heads. The time and money I spend messing with these was not worth the lower cost. Skip these and get a nicer overflow box.

Packaged fine. Works good. Only issue were the cheap set screw. Change up the design a little with a dorso for one of the drains and it’s a solid unit. Used one 90 and a tee to tie the two drains into one and made the dorso for the straight drop side of the two to help release air and slow the speed allowing the water to now draw so loudly. Would suggest a power head with a bubble hose at nozzle to help pull the air for starting your siphons. Cheap like 12bucks for one. Take care while assembling unit is plastic and could crack. Doesn’t feel very strong.

Great product

The box that goes in the tank came with a piece broke off and the part that hangs on the back of the tank also has a crack inside the acrylic. One of the wing nuts had no thread. This thing is nothing but problems and not worth the money would not recommend this to anyone

I lost suction in one tube, I think I’m not pushing enough water through. Took out one of the U and one tube is keeping up just fine

The products acrylic is low grade and will snap easily. Got the product and the package looked flawless. Opened it and the product box was flawless. But when I opened the box I immediately noticed the top was snapped. I continued to open the package and noticed the other half of the plastic that seemed to have magically snapped off wasn’t even in the box. So the product gets one star but I can’t complain as Amazon compensated me $40 so now I can get a better unit for the same amount.

Me gusto el producto, pero durante el paso de los días forma dentro de los codos burbuja de aire y dejan de succionar el agua. Me vi en la necesidad de perforar la parte superior de cada tubo y colocar una válvula anti retorno de las que se usan en las bombas de aire, para que continuamente expulse la burbuja y asegurar el funcionamiento de forma permanente

Works great nice to have 2 siphons going

Once I installed the overflow, 1 of the 2 nylon bolts and wing nut were stripped and wouldn't tighten. I email the manufacturer and no response. I have a Marine ecosystem running off this. Once its installed I'm not able to uninstall it without loosing thousands of $ in corals and fish.

Product comes without clear instructions, needs a lot of adapters and extra pieces to work. Not worth it.

Arrived cracked. I believe I can still make it work and add some support to it. Beware im not the only review of it arriving broken in some way. Otherwise good product. Edit: new one on route quick and easy to get a replacement through Amazon support. Will update again when it arrives.