Looking at converting fish room over to linear air pump filters

[Lollum96]

Currently I have 17 fish tanks and energy consumption is seriously going up! Some of these tanks contain 100w pumps. I'd say currently I'm running near to 600w and that's just from the pumps! Not including the wave makers on my Dorado tank or the heaters.

To save on energy consumption and maintenance I was considering switching a lot of these tanks over to air pump driven filters.

For now Im looking at at 70l/Min linear air pump which only uses about 45w of power. With this I would like to filter 14 tanks.

1 X 55g
1 X 50g
5 X 20g high
1 X 20g long
1 X 15g
2 x 10g
2 x 7g
1 X 5g

I would like to run air line tubing straight from the pump to filter all the tanks. Don't see much point running pvc around the ceiling of the room as all the tanks are on one long wall!

Does this sound feasible with a 70l/Min pump or should I go higher or lower on the specs?

Also, I don't really want to buy the air driven sponge filters. I feel like with a little work I could probably DIY filters for all these tanks including more than just sponge. Something ideally using lava rock (I have lots to use up) and filter floss to polish the water.

Does anyone have any links or information on building large and effective air driven filters ?

Also if anyone could give me the pros and cons of running these tanks on air Vs normal pumps and overhead tank sumps.

I am fairly curious on how effective these air driven filters are! As in my snakehead tank produces a ton of waste! But I still get away with only doing water changes once a month with the huge overhead sump filter which turns the tank over 15 times an hour!

Honestly any help or advice would be mostly appreciated!

 

[LukeOscar]

Currently I have 17 fish tanks and energy consumption is seriously going up! Some of these tanks contain 100w pumps. I'd say currently I'm running near to 600w and that's just from the pumps! Not including the wave makers on my Dorado tank or the heaters.

To save on energy consumption and maintenance I was considering switching a lot of these tanks over to air pump driven filters.

For now Im looking at at 70l/Min linear air pump which only uses about 45w of power. With this I would like to filter 14 tanks.

1 X 55g
1 X 50g
5 X 20g high
1 X 20g long
1 X 15g
2 x 10g
2 x 7g
1 X 5g

I would like to run air line tubing straight from the pump to filter all the tanks. Don't see much point running pvc around the ceiling of the room as all the tanks are on one long wall!

Does this sound feasible with a 70l/Min pump or should I go higher or lower on the specs?

Also, I don't really want to buy the air driven sponge filters. I feel like with a little work I could probably DIY filters for all these tanks including more than just sponge. Something ideally using lava rock (I have lots to use up) and filter floss to polish the water.

Does anyone have any links or information on building large and effective air driven filters ?

Also if anyone could give me the pros and cons of running these tanks on air Vs normal pumps and overhead tank sumps.

I am fairly curious on how effective these air driven filters are! As in my snakehead tank produces a ton of waste! But I still get away with only doing water changes once a month with the huge overhead sump filter which turns the tank over 15 times an hour!

Honestly any help or advice would be mostly appreciated!

if your at all considering filtering larger volumes of water with air. i would advise you watch fishman on youtube. i dont think anyone has done as much as he has with air driven filtration. he has a lot of valuable information.

 

[deeda]

70 LPM sounds like a lot of air for the tanks you listed but .... this might be appropriate if you will be using air stones.

You may want to consider checking out Jehmco's website for both diaphragm and linear piston air pumps that are used by many hobbyists that either have a fish room or multiple tanks that use air driven sponge filters. I would also suggest you call them and ask which air pump would be best for your needs as I found them extremely helpful when I set up my small fish room a number of years ago. All I needed to tell them was the number of tanks, number of sponge filters and the average height of the tanks I would be using. They also sell mini PVC manifolds with outlets so that is an option over using typical aquarium gang valves found online or most fish stores.

Jehmco has Diaphragm air pumps and Central Linear Piston air pumps . I don't think they offer online sales via a shopping cart at this time and you can check their ordering info page for hours of operation and payment methods.

 

[Lollum96]

70 LPM sounds like a lot of air for the tanks you listed but .... this might be appropriate if you will be using air stones.

You may want to consider checking out Jehmco's website for both diaphragm and linear piston air pumps that are used by many hobbyists that either have a fish room or multiple tanks that use air driven sponge filters. I would also suggest you call them and ask which air pump would be best for your needs as I found them extremely helpful when I set up my small fish room a number of years ago. All I needed to tell them was the number of tanks, number of sponge filters and the average height of the tanks I would be using. They also sell mini PVC manifolds with outlets so that is an option over using typical aquarium gang valves found online or most fish stores.

Jehmco has Diaphragm air pumps and Central Linear Piston air pumps . I don't think they offer online sales via a shopping cart at this time and you can check their ordering info page for hours of operation and payment methods.

Thanks! I'll check them out. Do they ship to the UK do you know?

Honestly my main concern is whether it's efficient or even possible to run a fish room on air driven filtration when the tanks are mainly housing high bioload species. Accept for the 10g and below tanks everything else houses mainly predators such as vampire tetras, snakeheads, Dorado, exodons ect! The Dorado tank and vampire tetras are in 125g tanks. Not sure I'd even consider putting them on air considering the filters for these tanks contain 10+ kg of bio media. Not sure how I'd even make that air driven!

I was hoping that a powerful pump like a 70l/Min pump would be able to give me adequate flow rates on the air driven filters and would keep up with the bioloads.

 

[fishguy1978]

I’m running a diaphragm air pump from JEHMCO currently. I ran a pvc loop but with your tanks being in line you could run a single pvc pipe. Purchase either these air valve or if you can find them these Not threaded air valve. You can make these air lift fairly cheaply and they can move a lot of water.

 

[deeda]

L Lollum96 , I don't know if they ship to the UK, it may be cost prohibitive and I'm not sure if there is a voltage/Hz difference where you are located.

 

[Lollum96]

I’m running a diaphragm air pump from JEHMCO currently. I ran a pvc loop but with your tanks being in line you could run a single pvc pipe. Purchase either these air valve or if you can find them these Not threaded air valve. You can make these air lift fairly cheaply and they can move a lot of water.

I absolutely love these air lift tubes.. sounds ideal for my needs but the video didn't exactly show any filter designs that can be made to fit them?

I know they can be fitted into a Hamburg mat style filter sponge but I really don't want to go this route as most of the tanks are filled with fish. Would have to drain them all to silicone in a frame for a Hamburg mat filter.

Anyone got any links for building large air driven filters? Most air driven filters that I've seen DIY on YouTube seem very inefficient. As in most of them don't even have a design which utilises filter floss so the bio media would just get clogged!

 

[dogofwar]

Almost my entire fishroom is run on air-driven filtration. I use one box filter and one sponge and/or Poret filter on most tanks. You don't need to silicone anything for Mattenfilters: just fit it to size in the tank.

 

[LukeOscar]

I absolutely love these air lift tubes.. sounds ideal for my needs but the video didn't exactly show any filter designs that can be made to fit them?

I know they can be fitted into a Hamburg mat style filter sponge but I really don't want to go this route as most of the tanks are filled with fish. Would have to drain them all to silicone in a frame for a Hamburg mat filter.

Anyone got any links for building large air driven filters? Most air driven filters that I've seen DIY on YouTube seem very inefficient. As in most of them don't even have a design which utilises filter floss so the bio media would just get clogged!

honestly you can get 3 pretty large common sponge filters on amazon for like $15. a plastic bottle on top with k1 media is probably going to be the best bang for the buck while not taking up a ton of room.

 

[LukeOscar]

XINYOU XY-280 Aquarium Fish Tank Bio-Sponge Filter, Black (3-Pack) : Amazon.ca: Pet Supplies you might have a cheaper option or the same option state side for even less.