Odyssea CFS500 Disaster

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I think you just over tighten it. I have 2 CFS500 and 4 CFS700 for over a year. Never had any serious issues. The only thing you need to make sure is that you tighten evenly. I tighten like your would a rim on a car. 2 opposite of each other. If the lid is tighten evenly then the seal will be tight. Doesn't need to be super gorilla tight!. I tighten just till it gets hard to turn with wet fingers then that's it. Over tightening can actually bow the lid and cause a leak around the seal. And in your case crack the lid
 
over tighten it? give me a break. no filter should split like this. man that really sucks, but thanks for posting. people should think about going cheap with the most important part of the tank. not only does the filter need to be replaced, but all the damage to the house. has anyone ever see this happen on an ehiem, rena, or fluval? I think not. a seal can go bad on any filter, but thats not the case here.
 
I have had a CFS-700 running non-stop on a 90gallon for 2 months now with no issues. Star pattern tightening to a snug fit was all it needed to seal.
Is your basement sealed against water intrusion? If not, that's where your water likely went. Get a bag of bentonite and pour it into some cat litter boxes. It should dry the room out pretty quickly.
 
two months? for a filter thats like 20 minutes. I ran two ehiems on a 125 gal. tank for ten years. when I sold the set up they still worked like the day I bought them. I hope it works out for you. personally, I would rather run a couple of good hang ons than take a chance on these bargain filters.
 
Well the new lid though it appears to be identical is actually just a smidge bigger than the old lid and isn't fitting. I'm wondering if maybe it was made for the CFS-700 filter.
 
Had the same problem with the leaking lid. It is not due to overtightening but poor design and weak materials. Remove the blue filter pad and close the intake valve 3/4. Basically the water fills the canister too fast and once the blue pad clogs increases pressure in the canister causing catastrophic failure in the lid. Or you can clean the filter weekly. good luck
 
I managed to make time today to DIY the lid support flange using 7/16" plywood, a drill, drill hole-saw, and a small jig-saw. Taking me all of about 20 minutes to make. The end result worked much better then I expected sine I only needed to barely tighten the nuts and it was leak free right from the start, no extra tightening here-and-there which is a good sign I think. Since the plywood was almost 1/2" thick I had to pop the nuts out of the orange plastic nobs to make more room for the threads, later I will pickup some more wing-nuts to make for easier lid removal.

This new lid was black in color and surprisingly the O-rings were the correct size this time. Let me add that my other CFS500 who's lid cracked 6 months ago was also replaced and that new replacement lid has not cracked yet even with regular mounting. So I suppose this new style wood flange I made today is a precaution in the hopes of eliminating lid stress cracks altogether as seen in one photo below. Hope this post helps. Now at least the entire lid shares in the load of pressing the O-rings not just the edges of the canister which caused the cracks.
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Just proves, where there is a will, there is a way.

Good for you.

A large number of folk would have just tossed the "leaker"and moved on.

BTW,

There are plenty of posts about people mucking up the more name brand filters, so it`s not just 'bottom feeders" that cause grief.

But yes, a more gentle touch is required on the more cheaply made products.
 
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