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Air pump!

krazypara3165

krazypara3165

Member
Joined
23 Aug 2012
Messages
591
Location
Warrington, Cheshire
As above, im looking to saturate my planted 300l (potential discus) aquarium with o2. I was wondering if anyone could reccomend a decent air pump, preferably with two outlets as an extra one will be used for another tank.

Also, what is the best way of getting it into the tank? Bubble wall, airstone, led strip ect.....
 
Sera and Eheim both make decent air pumps mate. I can recommend the Sera 400 :)
 
foxfish said:
Trying to get enough Co2 into a tank of your size is going to be difficult enough, an air pump is going to make that job even more difficult!
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Well, I want one to oxygonate the water to be used for my change anyway. But.in a different post ive made recently it was suggested that it is a good thing to have o2 on 24/7. No one seemed to mention that it would be harder to add co2 ?
 
You have to inject a bit MORE CO2 to compensate for the additional off gassing that the air bubbles create at the water surface, but I would not say its HARDER, just that you need more of it.
 
Hi all,
Ahhhh, may just have to put it on during lights off then
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You only need the air pump on when the lights aren't. Because you have light levels above "photosynthetic compensation point", and are adding both fertilizers and extra CO2, the plants will keep the water fairly fully saturated with oxygen during the photo-period. If the water becomes fully saturated with O2, no more oxygen can dissolve and the plants will pearl.

The major requirement for direct aeration is long residence time for the bubbles (oxygen isn't very soluble and air is only ~20% O2) and very fine bubbles (due to the surface area to volume ratio). Air pumps mainly work by turning the surface over as the bubbles rise, this increases the gas exchange surface area, and the diffusion of oxygen in and CO2 out along their diffusion gradients with the atmosphere. An EPDM or limewood diffuser is a good idea, possibly as a bubble wall (if EPDM).

cheers Darrel
 
Very eloquently explained Darrel, I found that useful to know too. I may even turn my air pump off for part of the day, although I like the extra movement, lol. I know what a limewood diffuser is (wooden block generally used for air driven skimmers in the marine world), but what am I missing with EPDM ? What does that stand for please?
 
Hi all,
The EPDM diffusers (ethylene propylene diene (M-class), a synthetic rubber) have come from the waste water industry, they offer advantages over ceramic disc diffusers in that they can operate at lower air pressures, and don't foul as easily. Just like Lime-wood diffusers they produce really fine bubbles over a whole range of water pressures, and that is what you want.

Because I don't add CO2, and my wife objects to trickle filters, I use a venturi on the out-flow of one filter (I have 2 filters on anything other than nanos), and I aim it at the intake sponge of the other filter. A lot of bubbles are retained on the sponge, and this ensures that the water entering the filter is fully aerated. I then aim for circular linear flow from the other filter, in exactly the same way a CO2 user would, but in my case to get as much water turn-over as possible. This allows maximum diffusion of gases at the larger effective gas exchange surface, meaning that both oxygen and CO2 are constantly equilibrating with atmospheric levels. It is probably still an order of magnitude less effective than having a trickle filter, but it works.

cheers Darrel
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all,
The EPDM diffusers (ethylene propylene diene (M-class), a synthetic rubber) have come from the waste water industry, they offer advantages over ceramic disc diffusers in that they can operate at lower air pressures, and don't foul as easily. Just like Lime-wood diffusers they produce really fine bubbles over a whole range of water pressures, and that is what you want.

Because I don't add CO2, and my wife objects to trickle filters, I use a venturi on the out-flow of one filter (I have 2 filters on anything other than nanos), and I aim it at the intake sponge of the other filter. A lot of bubbles are retained on the sponge, and this ensures that the water entering the filter is fully aerated. I then aim for circular linear flow from the other filter, in exactly the same way a CO2 user would, but in my case to get as much water turn-over as possible. This allows maximum diffusion of gases at the larger effective gas exchange surface, meaning that both oxygen and CO2 are constantly equilibrating with atmospheric levels. It is probably still an order of magnitude less effective than having a trickle filter, but it works.

cheers Darrel
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Do you have any links to these things ? Sounds interesting. :thumbup:
 
Hi all,
Are these them (bottom of link)
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They are the sort of thing. I've not had a look if any-one makes them specifically for aquariums, these are 8mm tailed and would need a meaty pump.

The "ANGEL-AQUA CERAMIC DISCS" in the link would run from 4mm air line, they would need cleaning more frequently, but would do the job.

cheers Darrel
 
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