Fishroom Air Loop Set Up Quesitons

Jose:

1. I thought about this as well. One reason for having the pump and loop up high is to prevent a siphon should there be a power loss. I have the ability to set the pump up high and would save some on plumbing to the loop. Although the pumps do put off some heat, I don't think it is a concern.

2. This could be true depending on the longevity of the pumps, but I also took noise into consideration. Everyone I have talked to that runs a linear piston pump says they are almost silent. The current diaphragm pump that I have works just fine, but there it is loud. My fish room is a converted bedroom, so the noise is noticeable. For a little bit more money, the lack of a constant hum in my house will be worth it. Most I have talked to that have linear piston pumps have reported years with little to no maintenance. Some have had their pumps running for 10+ years with no issues.

my was on the floor pvc above tanks and diaphragms in the bullpen ,alita 40 running 25 +tanks , my pc in same room and could hardly hear it run,bad thing was a 3/4 pvc and my last hole did messed up ,cut the pipe and added small piece and problem solved.next fish room will be bigger pipe for sure, pretty good with tools but was hard to drill.

My main reason for going with 1.5" PVC was for ease of drilling. Cost was negligible.


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Loop is installed. Pump is hooked up. Now to start drilling for valves.


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Looks good!

First rack is up and running.


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I got all the valves drilled and installed. Originally tried to go without gluing joints, but the splice fittings didn't hold air very well, so I had to glue one of them. I'm tired. More work to do in the morning.


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And you can see one of my light fixtures is bad on the bottom of the first rack. New lighting is on the agenda, but not until later.


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Just a little bit of info about air systems and valving. after a year or more of running these systems there is some maintenance involved . There can be some black debris that builds up on the inside of the little valves. My suggestion is to remove the hosing and try inserting a small pin , paper clip , pipe cleaner , very small drill bit ,into the orifice, you will be surprised at the volume of air once you clean/clear. I've installed more then one of these systems and this has been a maintenance issue. I also use the Lee's Discard A Stone Coarse plastic air stones inside all or my Hydro sponges this makes the room much quieter with smaller bubbles.
How did I find this problem? I had to open valves to get more air after they where preset months earlier. Most of my valves where half closed at the start of new installation.

Okay. I lied. Sitting here doing a water change and I looked up. I have 1 1/2 inch for air not 2 inch. Don't know what I was thinking. Guess I wasn't.


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Yep, David, I'll find a sponge filter about once a week that is barely trickling air (though I have considerably more tanks than most of ya'll . You can minimise this by putting a good filter on the intake of the air pump, and / or regularly cleaning the filter. Some types have pipe that pulls air in, and you can either put a filter on it, or put a hose on it, and bundle the hose with some sort of filter material (such as filter pads). It greatly reduces the amount of gunk sucked in -- though it does reduce the air intake, too.

I use the paperclip trick on them sometimes, but I find its better to just twist the valve out and THEN clean it. I figure that when I use a paperclip, I'm pushing the blob of dirt back up into the main pipe, and it's going to rattle around until it winds up somewhere else.

As an aside, I have a huge problem with them clogging up for about 3-4 weeks after I install them, and it's usually with shavings from the PVC. Even the little bits that come off when I first push the valve in seem to clog it up, until they've worked their way out. I reduce this problem now by closing all the valves, knocking the pipe open at a joint, and blowing air through it (running the pump).

It was a productive weekend for me. I got the loop all set up and all the existing air driven filters in my tanks swapped over to the new loop. Everything seems to be working well. I had to order some additional air line to set up more filters so eventually I can shut down the HOB and canister filters I had on the tanks.

The next step is to paint the backs of the tanks and paint the racks to be consistent. I also need to set up the 4 foot rack I got from Christine and add another 55G tank to my room.