Air pump question

[Blaha]

I want to use the new ACO pump on 2 sponge filters. Would it be better to out the t-split after the check valve and closer to the sponges, or closer to the output of the pump and have a check valve on each line after the split?

[Levi_Aquatics]

Both would work, but it would take more airline to do the first option and more check valves to do the 2nd. I personally would put the T as close as possible to the sponges and then put a check valve right behind the T. This way you use the least amount of supplies. 

[CT_]

you might want to also consider what the checkvalve is for.  If its just to protect the pump then either is fine.  If you want to prevent an accidental disconnect from siphoning out your tank you may want one valve for each tank located right before the tube enters the tank.  depending on how everything is arranged one or the other may be sufficient or optimal.

[Blaha]

Well right now I have the 2 filters running on USB nano pumps each and got this because this new pump is stronger than 2 nano pumps, take less outlets and space/cord management stuff. I've never done a split airline before though and wanted some advice. The pump sits in the stand under the tank. The main point will be to protect the pump but also I want to make sure I'm not creating too much back pressure or creating a very uneven distribution of air to either sponge.

[Widgets]

Since the new pump is so strong, you may end up with more air than you want. I would put a T close to the output of the pump. One side of the T would go to the tank, and the other side would have a shutoff valve that can be used to let any excess air escape. The side that goes to the tank would have another T with shutoff valves on each side, then check valves on each side (preferably above the water line) and on to your sponge filters.

At first, the escape valve should be fully closed and the other valves fully open. If there is too much air you can slowly open the escape valve to reduce the air going into the tank. You can use the other two valves to balance the flow between the two sponge filters.

This may be overkill. You can omit all the valves and the extra T, but having them will let you dial in the air to your preferences.

[Blaha]

I went with the split near the pump. This was to split the line, not adding a valve there, but I did add some inline shutoff valves to each line so I could reduce the amount of air going to the left. I also discovered while cleaning that my Ziss stone was a little too tightly closed on the right.

It took a bit of trial and error, but thank you for the suggestions, everyone!

PS If you are running the new pump on the dual USB plug that comes with the nanos it doesn't provide quite enough juice to either to keep it charged. Over the course of two weeks I lost 1 bar of energy. Now that it's alone on the usb cube it came with it's already back up 2 bars.

[Guppysnail]

On 2/19/2022 at 10:28 AM, Blaha said:

PS If you are running the new pump on the dual USB plug that comes with the nanos it doesn't provide quite enough juice to either to keep it charged. Over the course of two weeks I lost 1 bar of energy. Now that it's alone on the usb cube it came with it's already back up 2 bars.

Thanks for this. I’m going to be getting some of these and my intention was to use the dual usb nano block. I need to rethink my strategy. Space on my power strip actual space from large blocks is an issue for me. How much larger are these blocks than the dual nano blocks please?

[gardenman]

If you have a cat/kitten or puppy/dog (maybe a teething child) that can get anywhere near the airline, putting the check valve as close to the aquarium as possible is smarter. One of my cats one day decided to see what airline tasted like. She chomped the line above the check valve and soon got a face full of water that had her taking off like a rocket. I caught up to her and saw how wet her face was and went investigating and found the severed airline.  This airline was to an air stone at the bottom of the tank, so a lot of water could have been lost. Since then, the check valves go as near the tank as possible.

[Blaha]

They are slightly smaller actually in physical size but provide the same voltage. It is a 5V 1Amp plug (the same as most phone banks or phone cubes) the dual port one is also 5v but 2.1amp which means it has the capacity to send energy to twice as many sources but still only 5v so each port gets 2.5v.

Fast charger phone cubes are sometimes 10v. You could probably find a dual port 10v 2amp cube from a 3rd party like amazon or something along those lines.

On 2/19/2022 at 11:18 AM, gardenman said:

If you have a cat/kitten or puppy/dog (maybe a teething child) that can get anywhere near the airline, putting the check valve as close to the aquarium as possible is smarter. One of my cats one day decided to see what airline tasted like. She chomped the line above the check valve and soon got a face full of water that had her taking off like a rocket. I caught up to her and saw how wet her face was and went investigating and found the severed airline.  This airline was to an air stone at the bottom of the tank, so a lot of water could have been lost. Since then, the check valves go as near the tank as possible.

That's no fun. My cat cannot gain access to behind the tank, and also got sprayed with a bottle whenever she tried to climb it so now she knows not to. She sits in a nearby table to observe now. The check valves are close to the tank top on the back of the tank though because I always thought that's how it had to be

Edited February 19, 2022 by Blaha

[Widgets]

On 2/19/2022 at 11:19 AM, Blaha said:

It is a 5V 1Amp plug (the same as most phone banks or phone cubes) the dual port one is also 5v but 2.1amp which means it has the capacity to send energy to twice as many sources but still only 5v so each port gets 2.5v.

Fast charger phone cubes are sometimes 10v. You could probably find a dual port 10v 2amp cube from a 3rd party like amazon or something along those lines.

That is not exactly how they work. USB has to be at least 5v and 0.5 amp. Each port on a multi-port supply will be at least 5v, the current (2.1 amp in this case) is what will get reduced. I have seen where either side of a dual-port cube will give 2.1 amp when used by itself, but if both ports are being used they only get like 0.75 amp each.

The fast chargers that operate above 5v will start at 5v and will step up to the higher voltage if the communication with the device being charged indicates it supports the higher voltage.