electrolytic cell

During lab I made 4 cells using CuSO4(aq) solution

1. one with a Cu (s) electrode on the negative terminal, and Al(s) on the positive terminal.....nothing appeared to happen during this reaction

2. Cu (s) on negative, Ni (s) on positive....bubbles formed at the anode

3. Cu (s) on positive, Al (s) on negative..... Cu plated out onto Al cathode

4. Cu (s) on positive, Ni (s) on negative ....Cu plated onto Ni

for each of these reactions I have to give half-reactions consistant with the observations, and then write the overall equation

I know that this shouldn't be difficult, but I'm not sure what I'm doing, especially for the overall equation for the cells with Cu at the anode....won't the reactions cancell each other out?

Thank you very much