Nanocraft

Thanks all. I’ll try replacing all the airline components including the check valve and air line. I’ve never had a check valve malfunction on any tanks before, so this is new territory for me in terms of its (possible) effects on pump itself.

No. The check valve has remained the same for the full 3-year lifespan of the tank. Do check valves go “bad” with age perhaps? Ever hear of that?

I have something of a bizarre mystery. I’ve used nano USB air pumps to power small sponge filters in my 5 and 10 gallons for years now. For some odd reason, one particular 5g tank setup has killed 4 such pumps from disparate dealers (including AC) in about a 3 week period. The tank has been established for roughly 3 years and never had an issue like this. The setup is a USB air pump to regulator valve to check valve directly to an AC small coarse sponge filter (no air stone mounted). The pump sits table top—hence the need for the check valve. I have my Aqueon heater and Finnex LED attached to the same outlet working great as always, so it does not seem to be electrical. I really hesitate to use any other air pump technology for this 5g, as it merely houses my daughter’s Betta and one 3 year old Nerite Snail feet from her bed, so the sound-to-filtration ratio has been perfect. Am I just unlucky this month or something, or is something else going on that is killing my nano equipment?