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best air pump choice

F

fortphoenix

Member
was wondering what option you guys would think would be best and most quiet? I plan on having 8 50gal totes and want to pump around 250-400 gph into each res with 4 stones in each res while keeping noise and electric consumption to a minimum

my question:

should i get 8 4-outlet pumps (254 gph, 8.5W) for each tote? it’d be 68W total. i have a couple 2-oulet ones and they’re kinda noisy i used a decibel app on my phone and it said my 2-outlet is 60db but I’m not too sure how accurate it is

or should i get 3 (40w, 753 gph) 12-outlet pond master pumps which would be 120W total with 251/gph per 4 hoses? it’d be twice the electric but they say their pumps are 40 decibels and I’ve read they’re the best out

I’ve read pond master are the best and most quiet commercial type air pumps, would you agree or disagree with that?

or if you guys have any other suggestions or know of a more quiet/ecofriendly pump let me know. thanks
 
Critter

Critter

Think for yourself, question authority
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Id get the one that pumps air hehe sorry couldnt helpmyself , j/j with ya. I dont have experience with the larger pumps but plenty here do so im sure youll get a good answer to source the pump your needing. Most are loud btw, and i run the small little walmart ones and they are alittle onthe loud side

The gph is throwing me off isnt that for water pumps? or do they use that for the aquirium pumps as well?

When i ran big totes DWC i just had two of the small aquarium air pumps for each. But i think those were 25-28 gal bins
 
P

plutosmoke

Member
i use those eco plus commercial air pumps, pretty good stuff, durable, and if it breaks(i haven't had one yet) they sell the parts to them also. as for noise, you'll have to do some engineering with it. They already have rubber feet but you'll have to add some more rubber between surfaces to reduce more noise and vibration.
 
T

TreehouseJ

The 18 watt or 35 watt Eco air commercial pumps are great, they'll supply enough air for about as many buckets as you can throw at them, from quite a distance, but you need to have them suspended with rubber and muffle the intake a bit, and/or put them in a sound proofed box, or they'll run pretty loud. I have my 35w suspended in the attic by a couple o-rings. It supplies both my 2 moster veg plants and 2 monster flower plants from about 40 feet away. It has been running for a very very long time. The bigger ones run like a lawn mower. I bought the big one my first time round and my whole house rattled for 3 months. Either way I can't imagine d*cking around with all those pumps and cords. Commercial pumps all the way.
 
F

fortphoenix

Member
TreehouseJ said:
The 18 watt or 35 watt Eco air commercial pumps are great, they'll supply enough air for about as many buckets as you can throw at them, from quite a distance, but you need to have them suspended with rubber and muffle the intake a bit, and/or put them in a sound proofed box, or they'll run pretty loud. I have my 35w suspended in the attic by a couple o-rings. It supplies both my 2 moster veg plants and 2 monster flower plants from about 40 feet away. It has been running for a very very long time. The bigger ones run like a lawn mower. I bought the big one my first time round and my whole house rattled for 3 months. Either way I can't imagine d*cking around with all those pumps and cords. Commercial pumps all the way.
Click to expand...

yeah I've heard of people hanging them, attaching rubber all around them and even totally rebuilding them but someone made a good point with the smaller ones, they said the good thing with them is they have knobs to turn them down and when you turn them down they loose more noise then they do airflow, turning them down just a tiny bit greatly reduces the sound.... the only thing is even if i used the 18 or 35w ones id still need like 3 of them lol so using 8 individual ones doesn't make too much of a difference

plutosmoke said:
i use those eco plus commercial air pumps, pretty good stuff, durable, and if it breaks(i haven't had one yet) they sell the parts to them also. as for noise, you'll have to do some engineering with it. They already have rubber feet but you'll have to add some more rubber between surfaces to reduce more noise and vibration.
Click to expand...

yeah I'm not so much worried about reliability i have a piece of junk air pump right now and its been running 6 months straight with no issues at all so a brand like eco plus has my trust but thats true id just have to be creative as hell with it to keep it quiet lol

Critter said:
Id get the one that pumps air hehe sorry couldnt helpmyself , j/j with ya. I dont have experience with the larger pumps but plenty here do so im sure youll get a good answer to source the pump your needing. Most are loud btw, and i run the small little walmart ones and they are alittle onthe loud side

The gph is throwing me off isnt that for water pumps? or do they use that for the aquirium pumps as well?

When i ran big totes DWC i just had two of the small aquarium air pumps for each. But i think those were 25-28 gal bins
Click to expand...

does yours have the knob? someone made a great point that turning down the knob reduces way more noise than it does air flow but yeah the use they use gph with air pumps too, gallon is a measurement of volume. they either post gph or liter per minute stats
 
jammie

jammie

ganjatologist
Veteran
i find suspending them from several bungie cords dampens the noise significantly
 
B

badmf

Active member
All growers should know; you are pumping ambient air into the solution which can raise temperatures as well as has less oxygen than you'd think. Check out O2 Grow on YouTube it breaks down the H2O into O releasing the H. Costs a lot more but better in the long run. If you are sticking with the air pumps placement is critical, rooms with CO2 supplement for instance. Move em outta there, try for the coolest air possible. I use my return to splash like a waterfall it adds to it as well. Just got a new DO meter and will do some experiments I'll get back after. Peace
 
Critter

Critter

Think for yourself, question authority
ICMag Donor
Veteran
^That's what i ended up doing, having the return above water line making a waterfall producing DO(dissolved oxygen)

The one bigger pump i have that i got at the pet store i think, has the dial to turn down, i like it cause it has metal connector nipples .

The small ones i use in my little 3gal cloners have a ceramic piece you attach line to, all of em brake at some point, but i just stuff a tooth pick in the hole to make all the air go out the remaining one. Also i run a t connecting just one tube to the pump for the ones that still have both connecters, it gets the air from both connections .

I guess treehouse is right and good point ,if you need volume "dicking" around with a bunch of small ones could be a pain. I ran 4 and it wasn't a problem at all for me though. In two 6 site dwc tubs in a bath tub :D
 
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P

plutosmoke

Member
what if you supply your air pump inputs with Oxygen? Or say small amounts of cheap O3 that will break down into O.

From my understanding, there's surely an ample amount of odor in the room, therefore if you suck in that air(weather it be concentrated with c02 or not) for the air pump and supply some o3, then the results once it reaches the air-stone should be oxygen.

All that said, there is some very complicating equations to derive to get a safe level of o2 and not o3 at your air-stones and i am just not a math or physics whiz.
 
S

Speed of green

Active member
Alita. 15L $100 The smallest one does my two 55 gallons no problem.

This is the cadillac of air pumps, super quiet, mounted on top of my r/o unit. it shares a wall with my living room and i can't hear it.

Happy shopping :)
 
PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Another way around this is to use a ~ 250 gph water pump. Cut a riser tall enough the extend 4"+++ above the rez water line. If using 3/8" flex tubing, get 2 barbed elbows to redirect back into the rez; if not, use pvc elbows

Quiet and highly effective
 
O

OG Tree Grower

Pet flora knows what's up. No air pump is the best air pump
 
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F

fortphoenix

Member
badmf said:
All growers should know; you are pumping ambient air into the solution which can raise temperatures as well as has less oxygen than you'd think. Check out O2 Grow on YouTube it breaks down the H2O into O releasing the H. Costs a lot more but better in the long run. If you are sticking with the air pumps placement is critical, rooms with CO2 supplement for instance. Move em outta there, try for the coolest air possible. I use my return to splash like a waterfall it adds to it as well. Just got a new DO meter and will do some experiments I'll get back after. Peace
Click to expand...

yeah like i said in the other post the air pumps would be placed probably in the room underneath the room the res is in and kept cool which could help with res temps if its cold enough i was also thinking of keeping an ozone generator in the room the air pumps will be in to make sure the air pumped into tote is clean as possible but the only thing with using the return is that the water will only move once every 6 hours i like how airstones just move the water around and keep it active and the only reason i don't use a water pump is because it uses like 3 or 4 times the electric and it'll heat up the water in the res but if you could get back to us with those results that'd be awesome id love to see how it turns out
 
F

fortphoenix

Member
PetFlora said:
Another way around this is to use a ~ 250 gph water pump. Cut a riser tall enough the extend 4"+++ above the rez water line. If using 3/8" flex tubing, get 2 barbed elbows to redirect back into the rez; if not, use pvc elbows

Quiet and highly effective
Click to expand...

thanks for the input man... i thought about doing it but the water pump uses like 3 or times the electric of an air pump and I'm worried about he heat of water pump affecting my res temps.
 
F

fortphoenix

Member
plutosmoke said:
what if you supply your air pump inputs with Oxygen? Or say small amounts of cheap O3 that will break down into O.

From my understanding, there's surely an ample amount of odor in the room, therefore if you suck in that air(weather it be concentrated with c02 or not) for the air pump and supply some o3, then the results once it reaches the air-stone should be oxygen.

All that said, there is some very complicating equations to derive to get a safe level of o2 and not o3 at your air-stones and i am just not a math or physics whiz.
Click to expand...

i was actually going to keep the air pumps in the room underneath the room the plants are in (way cooler air) and run a ozone generator in the room to ensure the air going to the res is as cool and also as clean as possible
 
PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
fortphoenix said:
thanks for the input man... i thought about doing it but the water pump uses like 3 or times the electric of an air pump and I'm worried about he heat of water pump affecting my res temps.
Click to expand...

If your rezes are > 10G heat should be minimal, BUT, you can put the pump on a timer and run it intermittently 24/7
 
B

badmf

Active member
I suggest buying a dissolved oxygen meter so you know whats what nad not guess, same as a PAR meter know your lumens so you don't replace bulbs too soon or too late.
 
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