# New Hydor Koralia Evolutions running backwards?



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Is anybody else having this problem? I did some searching and it seems some say it's because it's dirty or others say that you can flip the plug and make it run forwards. I'm getting tired of having to fix the thing every time after I stop the pumps for feeding. Some people say that Hydor's service sucks and others say they'll give you a bushing to fix it.

This is not a rant thread. I just want to know if anyone else is having this problem and whether there is a long term solution before I put them all up for sale and go to Tunze.


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## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

I have the same problem every once in a while, Gary.
It usually corrects itself when I unplug it, and plug it back in.
A couple of times, I've had to actually remove it, clean it up, and put it back. It is annoying !


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks for the response Paul. I never had a problem with the old ones. I did some more digging after this post, and it appears to be a design flaw as they have a FAQ on it: HYDOR componenti per acquari


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## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

Thanks Gary - I've contacted Hydor for the new bushing.


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## Ra's al Ghul (Apr 28, 2010)

I found them to have great service, one of the clips broke on the power head and they sent me 4 new covers for free. Great experience dealing with them


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

How did you guys contact them? Email? Can you share the address with me?

Edit: Never mind, should have checked through my own link.


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## mdwflyer (Jan 11, 2011)

I used to have the problem almost every tank clean. I would plug it in, and see if it was right or wrong, then unplug it again. Usually the 2nd time it worked. Lately I have had no problems with either, not sure why :bigsmile:


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## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

BTW, Gary,
After answering a couple of preliminary questions from them, asking me to check on certain pieces to make sure they weren't the problem, we mutually agreed I was missing the necessary bushing, and they said they'd post me their new version.
Hopefully that will solve the problem.
I can only speculate my original bushing must have come off during a cleaning of the unit, and I never noticed.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

That's what I am thinking too Paul, as I had it come apart once, which caused the original overhaul of the wood placement. Because this is the only unit that does it.


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## Ra's al Ghul (Apr 28, 2010)

Gary,

Send me a pm if you don't have the contact info.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Yup. Unplug it and see if it goes forward.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

That's the start of the problem. I stop it for feeding. And sometimes it runs forward and sometimes it runs backwards.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

You know you want the Tunze. 



2wheelsx2 said:


> That's the start of the problem. I stop it for feeding. And sometimes it runs forward and sometimes it runs backwards.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

tony1928 said:


> You know you want the Tunze.


Argggghhhhh


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

You win Tony. The thing was running backwards again this morning and I went to fix it and the impeller fell off into the tank again. I am not ripping apart the entire scape to find it again so that's it. Tunze it is!


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

i have had sooo many encounters with this problem it isnt funny, 

i have used there bushings and they too are garbagola, get a piece of airline and cut it aobut a 1/4 of an inch and place it in front of the impeller, it works for a while and it WILL fail again, i have found that when they start doing this it is time to get a replacement, you can jimmy rig it to work for another month maybe 6 months but it will always fail , if you plug it in and un plug it and plug it in again zfast it will start to spin the right way but as soon as it is turned off it will go tarded again, there is a perfect and bullet proof solution to this POWERHEADS, im sure the tunze stuff is great but who wants to go out of pocket another $200 for a stupid fan, think back when did those old aq 500 powerr heads ever fail.... oh yeah never they are the solution , those fans and wave makers are much prettier but they are garbage in my opinion, i have had hydor's crap out, i have had a few e bay chinese brands flop, an everytime i just resorted back to my old ugly aq powerhead, and finally i said enough is enough and thats what i use now, i bought that ugly aq one for $10 at a garage sale like 6 years ago and it has worked almost everyday since and never an issue, 

function over form people, 
sorry to be a party pooper , but if im dropping another 200$ on my tank it aint on some stuffy over priced fan,


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

not to mention but the 500 aq model power head puts out a stupid amount of water , and you can always modify how it sprays to a spreay bar or a direction thing quite ewasy and for a couple bucks with some diy magic, just take your powerhead to the hardware store, 
and for laughs when some employee comes to help, hopefully a cute 18 year old girl , you can explain in detail what you are trying to build and watch the facial expressions you get from someone out of our loop trying to process what you are doing........ priceless


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

I run mainly Hydor powerheads in my tanks that uses powerheads, so far so good and if they ever run backwards, I won't be too suprised. I have 1 baby Tunze, I forgot to plug it back in the day before and whatdoyaknow, darned thing ran backwards! 

I unplugged it, reversed the prongs and it's back to running normal again.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

macframalama said:


> but if im dropping another 200$ on my tank it aint on some stuffy over priced fan,


The Tunze is $10 more than an HK. The Vortech, on the other hand, pushing 2000 gph is $250.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

macframalama said:


> back when did those old aq 500 powerr heads ever fail....


Unfortunately, mine is in a planted tank, and I sold mine (think it was a 402) because it stopped all the time and got noisy after about 3 months. It also used 2x the power of the HK's or Tunze. A Tunze 6045 pushes over 1188 gph and uses 7 watts while an Aquaclear 802 pushes 400 gph and uses 20 watts. I think the Maxijets are more efficient that that. These specs are from J&L's site. Not knocking your experience, but I don't see too many reefers using Aquaclears, but plenty of them using HK's, Tunze, and Vortech.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

$200 was a imaginary number that i threw up to illustrate a point regardless of the cost when you spend the bucks it would be nice to get 12 months out of something before it is tossed in the crapper, 
frusterates me how companies can build something successful and have a following of people and then to save a few buck they come out with a model with a fancier "look" and the quality goes out the window, now a days your lucky if you get 12 months out of most things you buy, how many of you have purchased things new in the box and they come NFG happens to me more often than i would like to admit , granted its not all fish gear but , for example few months back my kid snapped my dvd tray off my old dvd player, nothing fancy just a brick that played dvd's, so i replaced it with a brand new toshiba, fancy smancy model plugged it in and it was broken from the factory, so back in the box... that i let my kids colour all over and half destroy , under the assumption that the product would work, all to box it up , take it to future shop, to have them dis believe me , test it and confirm that it was NFG to give me a new one that "worked" to get it home to have it read, disc error on 25% of my burnt movies that my old ugly brick played flawlessly..

$130 bucks later and 2 trips to future shop and i still have a useless piece of garbage.
i wasnt alive in the 50's but from my understanding everything was built to work, its too bad in the pursuit of $$$$$ quality and pride in your product went out the window,


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

macframalama said:


> $200 was a imaginary number that i threw up to illustrate a point regardless of the cost when you spend the bucks it would be nice to get 12 months out of something before it is tossed in the crapper,


I'm with you there, but unfortunately, everyone else wants cheap, so they build them cheap and to be throwaway. Almost anything electronic doesn't last more than 3 years now. I laugh when people ask me to buy an extended warranty. In 3 years, it won't even run any of the new operating systems properly so why buy a warranty?


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

I forget what you have to do to fix it but I think it involves super gluing the shaft to the motor housing or something like that


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Unfortunately, mine is in a planted tank, and I sold mine (think it was a 402) because it stopped all the time and got noisy after about 3 months. It also used 2x the power of the HK's or Tunze. A Tunze 6045 pushes over 1188 gph and uses 7 watts while an Aquaclear 802 pushes 400 gph and uses 20 watts. I think the Maxijets are more efficient that that. These specs are from J&L's site. Not knocking your experience, but I don't see too many reefers using Aquaclears, but plenty of them using HK's, Tunze, and Vortech.


yeah for reef tanks sure, and anything where a smaller casing is needed sure , I only really use mine to push water aimlessly and create movement,I just love my old work horse , i use it to drain tanks, fill tanks too.
but i guess i never factored in the electricity costs, my power bill is so flipping high anyways whats another $20 really lol, my powerbill is never gonna be good when we have a family of 7 , 5 kids under 6, 15 or so tanks running, 4 tv's going all watching the same show , laundry and bath time, im surprised i havent had a random inspection based on my power useage, lol


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

if there was an option though guys, pay more cash upfront ... but this thing is gonna work<doesnt matter what product> wouldnt you like it to run like it is supposed to

all im saying is , i would happily support a product or company if they were straight up, yeah it costs more now, but hey we guarantee this thing is gonna run 5 years no bs, if it blows up , breaks , we will send you a new one no bs.
cheap half way shook gear has a time and a place but , for filtration or anything in my opinion that keeps things alive or running properly id drop the bucks to avoid headaches, just no one does it like that,

anyone want to take a stab at what it will cost when those new ford focus's stop parking themselves, or your voice activated cup holders malfunction, jeez, 
its like everything is about packaging , what good is a tird even if it is wrapped in 24k gold.
like make up on a pig....

sorry for the rant, if i were to blow off the frustration of a power head or water fan to the wife ... she would look at me like i was from outer space..


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

2wheelsx2 said:


> The Tunze is $10 more than an HK. The Vortech, on the other hand, pushing 2000 gph is $250.


I live on the island too, our lfs's arent cheap over here, and because i live in the middle of NOWHERE shipping is crazy so my options are limited


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Well, I thought I would refresh this thread. Hydor finally responded to my requests. It appeared it was an email mixup. They sent me a whole box of parts including new front housings and new shafts. The Evos seem to be prone to splitting shafts. The new front housings have the bump stops. I put them on and it worked for a week before one starting running backwards.

So in conclusion, the service is exemplary but the product sucks. Some of my friends have gone back to running the shaft ones. I have 2 shaft ones which are still running after almost 3 years with maintenance maybe once every 6 months.

So you may be wondering why I refreshed this thread. It's because I found a solution, thanks to J&L once again:










A bunch of Hydor Koralia Evo's (425, 550, 750 and 1050) will soon be coming to an Equipments Classifieds near you.


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## smccleme (Aug 20, 2012)

I recently had the same problem with my 750gph hydor. In fact, it finally stopped working when the magnet split and expanded. I did a search and came across this:

Hydor Koralia Replacement Parts

It is a known problem, and they are offering free replacement parts. Hopefully they ship to Canada.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

It is extremely well known problem and most people who have had the new ones in Canada have had parts shipped to them. In fact I know someone who's had multiple replacements, which to me is a PITA. I want to set my powerhead not come home from a vacation and find my powerhead stopped so that's why I went to Tunza and I have never looked back. I only have 2 HK's working and they are the older ones with shafts. Only one of those have ever had a failure on me, while every single one of my new ones have failed and I had as many as 5 at one point.


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