Linear Piston Air Pump

[jcunningham0295]

Looking for some opinions here, I am looking at purchasing a linear piston air pump and leaning towards an LPH60 which will run 40-55 outlets. Right now I only need just over 20 outlets, but it depends what I do with my fry tank idea. If I add my fry tanks the 20 outlets will go up to 36 outlets. Does anyone run this model? Or would it be better to go with an LPH45 for now which is rated for 25-40 outlets? Looking for some feedback.

Thanks,
Josh

[steveh28]

I had the LPH 45 running about 20 outlets for a few years. It was great, I never had a problem. They are absolutely silent also. I had to upgrade because I have added too many tanks. If I would have not gotten a great deal on a used blower, I would have gone for the next size up. If you are looking to upgrade or add more tanks in the future, I would just go for the larger one now. Just add a line to bleed off the excess pressure.

[skuzzlebutt]

I too am looking into getting a pump for the entire room instead of having a bunch of pumps on my floor. curious why you are going the jehmco route instead of others? is it because of the noise ratings? I wouldnt mind trying out a pond master or even an ecoplus commercial pump.

88lpm for $69.75




90lpm for $129.95




The only concern i have about the ecoplus is it has a smaller barbed fitting on the end and adapting a small outlet to 3/4" - 1" pvc circuit, would that cause pressure problems in the loop?

[Don Danko]

Just to give you a reference point, I'm running 12 med - large tanks (40B to 125) plus 11 small tanks (10's and 20L) with an Alita 80 that I got from Ken's. It's doing a good job. I am in the process of starting up 5 more 40 breeders and hope that it still does well.
Regards,
Don

[Kyle May]

I run an AP100 and have been for several years.
Although the diaphram pump isn't completely silent,
the noise level isn't a deal killer here. I run a roomful of tanks
and am bleeding off air while have adequate pressure to literally churn tanks.
All while using only 90 watts of power. Cost for pump was under $140 from Ken's.

Whatever pump you decide to use, remember that you actually need two.
Your main pump will fail eventually and many times you won't get a warning.
Have a plan "B" ready. I have a back up to my main pump as well as a smaller
pump that would allow me to limp by until I could get parts here.

Don't forget to design your air system in loops to prevent dead spots or at least
create loop ends on your systems. I incorporated a muffler/equalizer on my system
and it works very well.

Kyle

[Dan Woodland]

Remember you can't make a little pump "bigger" but you can make a bigger pump "smaller". meaning you can't make a smaller pump do more so make sure you "over buy" to accommodate any future growth.

M2C Dan

[skuzzlebutt]

Ive read in order to calculate how much volume you need. You simply account for .1 cfm per hydro sponge. But have read others recommend .05 cfm per sponge. Which one seems more realistic? I know that if you had 10x 110 gallon extea talls at 30" depth. That would throw the calc off a ton. But im just talking averages.

[Jshakour]

I am running an AP-60, 19 tanks and 24 outlets in use with 1" PVC in a loop. In my fish room's current state I am bleeding air on 2 or 3 with them wide open. I plan on adding 4-6 more outlets within a few weeks, to which I am sure I will still need to bleed air.

Check out my blog site on my fish room filtration http://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=110&t=10055

A few things have changed, the AP-60 is mounted to the wall about 8 inches under the PVC loop and I added a "muffler" that can also be viewed on my blog under updates.

[Kyle May]

While CFM is most certainly a consideration, it is a fooler.
For example, I run 1" pipe in my air system. While I have tons of volume (CFM),
I have relatively low pressure. I can make any tank churn as deep as a 40 breeder, but any deeper
and my system cannot overcome the pressure of depth to effectively power the filters.

Andrew Subotnik has the same exact pump I do and but he runs 3/4" pipe in his system.
While he has much higher pressure and could pump to the bottom of a deeper tank, he has lower volume than I do.
He gets adequate pressure to run his sponge filters, but his tanks don't churn like mine do. He's also using air on bigger
tanks which I don't. Because my bigger tanks hold bigger fish, (and therefore much more biomass and waste), I choose
to use Emperor filters instead of sponge filters. They move a much greater amount of water than a sponge is capable of
moving and, because the filters are located externally, I can clean them often to keep up with the additional load.

In the end I think that you have to consider your fish room and design your system according to your choice of tank.
Both Andrew and I have systems that fit our particular needs and each is happy with his decision.

It's impressive to me that you guys are thinking these issues through prior to purchase. I learned by trial and error
and it was an expensive lesson to learn. I own four AP pumps as a result.

Kyle

[slimbolen99]

The Alita AL- 60 Linear Air Pump, in my configuration, runs on a 1" loop...
32 outlets in 20" deep tanks (75 gal) + 26 outlets in 12" deep tanks (10 gal)...total of 58 outlets.

As folks have mentioned, it really depends on your actual setup; I am about maxed out...although, i could add quite a few more 12" deep tanks, but only maybe 2 more of the 75 gallons.

If it were me, and you are thinking of going with something along the size of the AL-60, to simply add volume, I'd recommend going to the AL-80; if you are wanting more "umph", I think you'd have to go up to the AL-120.

These pumps aren't silent, but they are the least noisy. I can't hear mine over the bubbles in my tanks.

[Kyle May]

Slim is absolutely correct...I cannot hear the pump over the bubbling of the tanks,

Kyle

[Jshakour]

Slim is absolutely correct...I cannot hear the pump over the bubbling of the tanks,

Kyle

Me 3!

[slimbolen99]

Sorry, I didn't see this was in the OCA discussion. Try to keep my nose where it belongs next time.

[Lotsapetsgarfhts]

Slim that's ok (at least as far as I am concerned), I have been watching this thread since I am thinking about buying a backup pump.

[Kyle May]

Hey Slim...you had a good comment....it's all good.

Kyle

[JimmyFrontosa]

Guys, great topic. What kind of airpump would you recommend to run : one 120 gal, two 55 gal, three 30 b, seven 10's and three 5's?
Also, what kind of paint you use to paint the tanks on the outside?

[Kyle May]

That would depend upon:

A: How quiet you need the pump to be.
B: How much A influences how much you are willing to pay.

You can get great high volume pumps like the AP pumps that I and many others swear by.
These pumps provide good amounts of air for relatively few dollars. Their only drawback is
that there is a noise quotient to them. None of the AP Pumps that I've used, (AP-20, AP-50, AP-100),
cannot be heard above the bubbling tanks in the room. Although I have my AP-100 mounted near the ceiling,
it does not disturb my activities on the main floor of the house.

Vibrator pumps are noisier than linear pumps but cost less than half the price while putting out more CFM's (cubic feet per minute).
Linears are more expensive, but are nearly silent as Steve mentioned.

If money was no object and my tank was in my main living area, I would probably consider a linear pump.
But I'm cheap and I've got two AP-100's for the price of one mid-sized linear pump.
Remember..if you are running a bunch of tanks with pricey fish inside, you really need to think about
having a back up pump. No matter what pump you run..it will eventually fail. Guaranteed.

Another thing that you must consider is how deep your tanks are.
It's a tough job for a pump to run really deep tanks. Depth is a pump killer.
You can help your pump out by running a smaller diameter trunk line which
will allow it to develop higher pressure, which will help you
drive deep tanks, but you sacrifice air volume which will slow your filters making them
less efficient.

Kyle

[Kyle May]

Here's a more direct answer to your question.

Run the 120 with two Emperor Filters that Ken's fish has on sale for $40 ea this week.
Then get a Supreme AP-100 Pump for $145 and you are ready for today and the future.
All for under $250.

Kyle

[JimmyFrontosa]

Thanks Kyle, I was leaning towards the AP brand and your answer just confirmed my decision.
i need to make some tops for my tanks , what would material you recommend, plexiglass from HD ?

[Kyle May]

I'm not sure if a home center will have plexi glass that's thick enough to handle the job.
I've got glass on most of my tanks.

Anybody else have any idea?
What thickness of plexi will stand up to aquarium use?

km