AP 100 air pump

[Mr Blah]

How many air stones can I run on one of these?
Does anyone know?

I have a few rooms with 8 -27gal totes.
with 2-6" blue stones in each one.

If I were to run 3/4" schedule 40 pipe (about30') through both rooms and place two grommets near each tote, put a small piece of 1/4" tubing attached to the stones. Would the AP100 run all 16 blue stones?

Or is it better to run a smaller pump for each room?

 

[queequeg152]

depends on shitloads of things.

elevation of the pump verses the diffusers.
pressure drop across the diffuser at your depth (dynamic wet pressure)
losses in the distribution, losses in valves etc.

if you can find the pressure loss across a stone AND that pumps pressure curve i could tell you, but without those its all guesswork.

on an unrelated note.... does this thing really move 5cfm or is that bullshit? thats alot.

my rocking piston pump only delivers like 4 something with 0 fillter and 0 restrictions on the supply side.

 

[Mr Blah]

depends on shitloads of things.

elevation of the pump verses the diffusers.
pressure drop across the diffuser at your depth (dynamic wet pressure)
losses in the distribution, losses in valves etc.

if you can find the pressure loss across a stone AND that pumps pressure curve i could tell you, but without those its all guesswork.

on an unrelated note.... does this thing really move 5cfm or is that bullshit? thats alot.

my rocking piston pump only delivers like 4 something with 0 fillter and 0 restrictions on the supply side.

Thanks for chiming in.
Ya it claims 5.2....fm. I got 2 of them in front of me. I currently use the large commercial piston pump (magnet pump);
https://jet.com/product/detail/e2d4...sq0GXp7SvcC1bbeaAObsX2iCx_XAzNTMTFxoC6Grw_wcB
I have a couple of these and a lot of small ones. Trying to eliminate some with a larger better one.
The large one I have hooked up right now to 8 diffuses has been OK but makes large popping noises like a machine gun. I cleaned it boy do they get dirty inside.

 

[Mikell]

Compare amps/watts. How will it perform under load? Me thinks poorly.

I'd stick with Ecoplus and get the Commercial Air 7. They can run 8 stones in four 55g reservoirs and keep the surface moving.

I'm no pro at this but I think you'll need something more powerful to feed 3/4" PVC tubing if you're set on that.

 

[queequeg152]

something tells me all these hydroponic aerators have bullshit ratings.

personally i like to stick to industrial oriented shit... the rocking piston pumps are solid, with available parts kits etc.

you need to run any air pump with a filter though mr. blah. do they sell a filter kit for your pumps? there should atleast be some filter sponge or filter paper SOMEWHERE... even cheapo diaphragm pumps need clean air.

ive got one of these guys. though with a different motor. got it for like 50 bucks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GAST-115V-4...036771?hash=item43bbb567a3:g:dqIAAOSwBLlVB6tl

for a time there was a company on ebay selling parts from rebuilt oxygen concentration units. idk if they still are... might be worth investigating. gast pumps like this go for like 300 and up brand new though there are cheaper brands out there.

these will pump a LEGIT 4+ cfm at 0 head pressure. up to like 30 psi at 2 or 3 cfm.

 

[Jhhnn]

Pondmaster makes good stuff. An AP 100 puts out about as much air or more as your hydrofarm pump & will be quieter. It's a large pump so you may need to vent off air to quiet it down & extend diaphragm life. It's likely a lot bigger pump than you need so venting is important. Having two is good- you can quickly swap to a rebuilt spare annually, a very good idea. Diaphragm kits are $20.

High volume airstones help reduce back pressure. When I kept aquariums, I used these in my water aging barrels-

http://www.amazon.com/CNZ-10-inch-A...=UTF8&qid=1454520329&sr=8-7&keywords=airstone

 

[queequeg152]

Pondmaster makes good stuff. An AP 100 puts out about as much air or more as your hydrofarm pump & will be quieter. It's a large pump so you may need to vent off air to quiet it down & extend diaphragm life. It's likely a lot bigger pump than you need so venting is important. Having two is good- you can quickly swap to a rebuilt spare annually, a very good idea. Diaphragm kits are $20.

High volume airstones help reduce back pressure. When I kept aquariums, I used these in my water aging barrels-

http://www.amazon.com/CNZ-10-inch-A...=UTF8&qid=1454520329&sr=8-7&keywords=airstone

what is water aging? just waiting for co2 to leave? or... chlorine?

problem with air stones is none of them have any ratings right? you might be able to just run air stones in parallel of a 1/2" pvc manifold or something. you could just add air stones onto this manifold untill you got the flow rate you needed at the pressure drop that optimizes performance of the pump. problem with that is the bubbles will invariably get larger as the pressure behind the stones drops off.

also keep in mind that the clean water efficiency of any diffuser increases with the depth of the diffuser, but so does the pressure drop.

coarse bubble diffusers mix better than any fine bubble diffuser. if you are just trying to keep something mixed up, you might consider a slitted pvc diffuser.

you could toy with this idea maby... do they make any air stones that have a threaded connection? or are they all barbed?

 

[Mr Blah]

Compare amps/watts. How will it perform under load? Me thinks poorly.

I'd stick with Ecoplus and get the Commercial Air 7. They can run 8 stones in four 55g reservoirs and keep the surface moving.

I'm no pro at this but I think you'll need something more powerful to feed 3/4" PVC tubing if you're set on that.

Ive got 2 air 7's and 4 smaller ones.
queequeg152; I run 8 stones off one air 7. The pump is off the ground 36" and enters a 1/2" PVC pipe to go around the room 9'x9' ending with a cap. At each 27gal tote I have drilled two holes and installed 1/4" blue air line from the floor PVC up and into each tote supplying air to two 6" stones.

The air 7's have been cleaned each run and gets noisier each run. The AP 100 seems to be bigger and better but time will tell.

Gettogro has them in his rooms doing the same thing.
I'll send him a PM. Maybe he sees this and chimes in

 

[Jhhnn]

what is water aging? just waiting for co2 to leave? or... chlorine?

It's so that the water will be at the right temp, dechlorinated & have entrained air removed. Pressurized & heated water from the tank has more air than it can hold when the pressure is released, particularly in winter. Fish can get a version of the bends if you put in too much too fast. Aging the water lets the excess out & the breaking bubbles at the surface expedite gas exchange. Regular water changes are key to keeping delicate species in fresh water aquaria.

problem with air stones is none of them have any ratings right? you might be able to just run air stones in parallel of a 1/2" pvc manifold or something. you could just add air stones onto this manifold untill you got the flow rate you needed at the pressure drop that optimizes performance of the pump. problem with that is the bubbles will invariably get larger as the pressure behind the stones drops off.

also keep in mind that the clean water efficiency of any diffuser increases with the depth of the diffuser, but so does the pressure drop.

coarse bubble diffusers mix better than any fine bubble diffuser. if you are just trying to keep something mixed up, you might consider a slitted pvc diffuser.

you could toy with this idea maby... do they make any air stones that have a threaded connection? or are they all barbed?

I try not to overthink it. An AP 100 has a max rated depth of 11.5 ft, so it's got plenty of pressure for anything we might do. It'll deliver an enormous amount of air at a depth of 2', enough to run dozens of airstones & bubblers in a basement full of aquaria. It'll also provide aeration & prevent stratification in a large ornamental backyard pool.

Anybody who wants the Rolls Royce of medium size air pumps wants a Medo linear piston pump like the top row of these-

http://www.jehmco.com/html/central_air_pumps.html

They're almost silent, for real, & will run at least 5-7 years before rebuild if you just clean the filter regularly. They're widely acknowledged to be the best among serious long time aquarists.

 

[queequeg152]

how much is an enormous amount of air though? its nice to have facts and figures when you are building shit. especially if it means you only buy 4 pumps not 6, or if it means you avoid an under powered compressor...

if it were me i would be installing an ebay rotameter to experiment with.