With a couple of feet of line going from the pump to the bottle, you should have no trouble priming (they are self priming anway).
You would not be the first to have the pickup tube installed on the output of the pump instead of the input. Does the tube blow bubbles in the AF container?
If so then it's put together backwards.
The other possibility is the valve itself is installed backwards. Look closely at it and you'll see an arrow on the side of it to indicate flow direction. A valve installed backwards can allow air infiltration.