Adding O2 to sump return

JCA

JCA

Candiru
MFK Member
May 12, 2006
837
4
48
Washington, US
Hi All,

Wanted to pick your brain on adding oxygen to my 180 gallon fw tank. I already have a ton of surface agitation and flow using a sump and circulation pumps for laminar flow, but wanted to add bubbles for a bit more whitewater effect for my ATF.

I could always place an airstone below my return in the tank and have it distributed that way, but not very aesthetic in my opinion. My question is, could I place an airstone in front of the intake of the pump that then returns to the tank, or would that damage the pump? Or what is the best method to add oxygen to the PVC return line from the pump back up to the tank? Worse case I could drill a hole in the return, stick an air tube in, and then silicone around it, but I was hoping for some better methods you have used in the past.

Thanks for the help!
 
M

MilitantPotato

Candiru
MFK Member
Jul 19, 2006
722
2
48
Missouri, USA
No problem! There's a slight drop in flow rate due to the decreasing diameter inside the venturi as a heads up. Also I'd tee off the return line, with a ball valve each line to fine tune the flow through the venturi.


P.s. make sure the venturi as at the very top of your return line. Otherwise water can spill out the air intake when the pump shuta down.
Sent from my LG-E980 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
JCA

JCA

Candiru
MFK Member
May 12, 2006
837
4
48
Washington, US
I'm thinking of trying the method of drilling a hole at the top of the return line (directly into the 90) and sticking an air tube down first.Then if that isn't sufficient, I'd run with a venturi setup.
 
P

PhysicsDude

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Aug 18, 2011
190
28
61
Dallas, TX
I did exactly what you're describing on my tank. I have an air pump injecting oxygen into the filter/pump line and bubbles shoot out of my return bulkheads from the filter/pump.

I used this fitting from Home Depot, its for 1/2" PVC and fits a standard (1/8?) aquarium air hose. Its in the sprinkler section.
d5c61b35-0327-47ac-b8a6-8eae2ed8ed39_400.jpg

I personally inject the bubbles right before a circulation pump, I found that the impeller chops the bubbles up into little bubbles, which I figure help oxygenate the water. This does add a lot of noise to the pump. I've toyed with the idea of somehow putting an airstone inside the PVC or tubing to create a lot of little bubbles, but I don't know how you could easily do that.

Its hard to capture the effect on a cell phone camera, but this is what mine looks like. I have the air pump on low setting, on high it looks more like the picture in the post above me.


d5c61b35-0327-47ac-b8a6-8eae2ed8ed39_400.jpg
 
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