Central air system - Airpump suggestions

[Marz]

I know Jehmco has friendly staff who can make suggestions but I read a lot of good reviews about Alita and how quiet it is and that’s my pick but I’m not sure if 6 LPM (AL - 6 A) is good enough for 8 to 10 tanks or should I go with 15 LPM?

Air won’t be my main filtration solution, my tanks are mostly running on canister or HOB filters, I just want to add an air stone to each tank or maybe a small sponge filter.

Has anyone set up a central air system with Alita 6 A/ 6 LPM? Do you think it will be good enough for my scenario?

Cheers

 

[jonclark96]

I would recommend getting the larger pump if you can afford it. You'll have capacity to spare if you ever need it.

 

[Marz]

Jon, makes sense. The 15 LPM costs only $10 more than 6 LPM. My only concern is the noise. I found this video on YouTube, it's hard to tell how the noise will be heard from the basement in the living room:

 

[mchambers]

I have an Alita AL-15 in my basement fish room. It's very quiet. I doubt you would hear it on another floor.

 

[b considine]

Several years back, I asked my wife for an Alita AL-15 for Christmas. I received an AL-40. I've been too scared to set it up. I currently only have 5 tanks on air, and two of them are 10 gallons.

Blaise

 

[Marz]

I have an Alita AL-15 in my basement fish room. It's very quiet. I doubt you would hear it on another floor.

Matt, how many tanks are being aerated in your fishroom by the AL-15?

 

[Marz]

Several years back, I asked my wife for an Alita AL-15 for Christmas. I received an AL-40. I've been too scared to set it up. I currently only have 5 tanks on air, and two of them are 10 gallons.

Blaise

what's that disease called caused by too much oxygen in water?

 

[Becca]

I don't know if you can set the smaller pumps up on a loop, but I recently set up a loop system on an AL-60 (I think that's what it is...). I used to have the AL-15A. It was a little noisy, mostly because of vibration it caused on the shelf it was on and the wall to which the shelf was mounted. If you can mount a shelf on a perimeter wall, rather than one that is shared with another room, it should be pretty quiet.

 

[Marz]

Well, it's ideal but in my case it doesn't have to be on a loop, right? I don't have many tanks, I can probably use a manifold and some long air lines. The fishroom in the basement is not sharing walls with another room, it's just the ceiling and the living room above it.

Thank you Becca

 

[chriscoli]

I’ve had an AL-6 and a 15. I didn’t notice a difference in noise. You can always set it on a piece of foam to dampen any noise from vibration on a surface. I did have my 15 on a small pvc loop.

 

[Marz]

I’ve had an AL-6 and a 15. I didn’t notice a difference in noise. You can always set it on a piece of foam to dampen any noise from vibration on a surface. I did have my 15 on a small pvc loop.

Great tip! Thank you, Christine! AL-15 for how many tanks?

 

[mchambers]

Matt, how many tanks are being aerated in your fishroom by the AL-15?

About 20, with about 320 gallons, plus four breeder boxes. I think it could handle quite a bit more.

 

[zendog]

Jon, makes sense. The 15 LPM costs only $10 more than 6 LPM. My only concern is the noise. I found this video on YouTube, it's hard to tell how the noise will be heard from the basement in the living room:

Others have probably taken care of your noise fear, but I would add that video should be taken with a few kilos of salt in terms of noise.

The pump didn't appear to be attached to anything, plus it is on a solid hollow box. Just connecting it to tubing and air stones in a tank would massively drop the sound level.

 

[Marz]

"a few kilos of salt" would do

You're absolutely right! Thank you, Walter.

 

[Marz]

About 20, with about 320 gallons, plus four breeder boxes. I think it could handle quite a bit more.

That's a lot of air then, I don't have that many tanks. Should I break the look and use an exhaust / air diffuser if I go with a -15?

 

[Leffler817]

My AL-6 came with a 12 gang(?) manifold. I think the 15 could come with a 20 gang. I paid extra for the manifold. Either way get the bigger pump that way you can add tanks when the desire occurs.

 

[chriscoli]

Great tip! Thank you, Christine! AL-15 for how many tanks?

Let's see.....I had one driving mattenfilters on a 65, 55, 33, 4x20L plus several hang-on marina breeder boxes. I had another driving mattenfilters on 9x15 and 3x10.

As for needing a diffuser, not really. you can always leave a valve or two (with some airline attached to dampen noise) open. I have one of those diffusers, but I'm running a much larger pump now.

 

[Marz]

My AL-6 came with a 12 gang(?) manifold. I think the 15 could come with a 20 gang. I paid extra for the manifold. Either way get the bigger pump that way you can add tanks when the desire occurs.

Shawn, did you buy yours directly from Alita or from Amazon?

 

[Marz]

As for needing a diffuser, not really. you can always leave a valve or two (with some airline attached to dampen noise) open. I have one of those diffusers, but I'm running a much larger pump now.

Makes sense. Thank you!

 

[Marz]

Thank you everyone for sharing your experience.

Here's a little chuckle for your hump day afternoon: