Air Supply for Fish Room Question

[umfalcon]

Hello everyone,

 

I plan on building a rack using Cory's system of cinder blocks and ten foot two by fours. I am only going to build this rack (as it is going into a spare bedroom space is limited). At first I thought about using a linear piston air pump and pvc to power my sponge filters, but the pump is pretty expensive for just eight tanks. Should I go ahead and buy a linear piston air pump or just use eight individual air pumps?

 

I apologize for what are probably beginner questions, but this is my first time expanding to this scale and I don't want to reinvent the wheel. I'd rather people who have done it before advise me. 

[tolstoy21]

If you think you're going to be adding more tanks in the near-ish future, it could be worth the investment.

However, if you're not expanding anytime soon, or just don't have the money to justify an expensive air pump at this juncture, you could probably get by with a couple inexpensive Tetra Whisper pumps. 

As en example, I use a Whisper 100 to power 2 sponge filters in two separate 29 gallons. It's more than enough air for that. These run like $15 each. If you're not pushing much air to your tanks, then you might be able to split that across a few more tanks, but your mileage may vary and this depends on tank size and how much flow/filtration you need.

Really the decision comes down to what your tank sizes are, how many sponger filters you'll have in all of them cumulatively, and if it's worth the cost savings if you'll be adding more to that soon and find yourself adding more individual air pumps. 

This is a stop gap measure until you start expanding, and if you don't expand, its a waaaay lower-cost, plug-n-play solution.

Now if you're doubling the amount of tanks you're running anytime soon, then yeah maybe thing about the expense of a linear piston pump, plus the cost and time of installing a PVC loop. 

I'm sure there are other solutions available, but my personal path ran through the Tetra Whispers, so I can speak to that experience.

[Brandon1433]

Yeah, it all depends on your goals. Do you plan on having multiple shelves running double the tanks soon? Linear could be the better investment. Individual pumps will provide flexibility for now. Don't forget to buy at least 1 extra. 

 

End of the day. It is up to you and what you know your goals are for your fish keeping hobby. I find it helps to write down the plans I have and compare where I am at in thought. All the best to you!

[Siett88]

I have one of these powering sponge filters on 4 tanks. Its pretty powerful for the size and cost.  

Sorry! Something went wrong!

WWW.AMAZON.COM

Link says its broken, but if you click it takes you to pump. Let me know if it doesn't work for you.

Edited November 19, 2020 by Siett88

[Andy's Fish Den]

Would the linear piston pump be overkill for eight tanks? yes. But if you are planning to expand to more tanks in future, you could get it and not have to worry about needing to upgrade down the road. If you can't expand or don't want more than the eight tanks, you can find some pumps on eBay or Amazon that have four outlets on them, get a couple of them and you'll have one outlet for each tank. I used a couple of those on a rack of tanks before I expanded my fishroom and bought a linear piston pump.