Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I tried a search but did not find what I was looking for. Has anyone made their own air diffuser? I am thinking of using a pvc pipe with rocks in it to keep it at the bottom and just drilling lots of small holes in it. Any ideas I don't see why it would not work.

It would work... the smaller the holes the better. This is to maximize the contact of water to the air. This is why in the aquarium world, we use air stones at the end of the air tubes. I recently bought a 3 inch "Bubble Donut Air Stone" by Marine Metal Products. It is usually used in live wells in fishing boats or minnow tanks. I plan on using several in my two IBCs.

I have such a big air pump that the airstones I need are pretty expensive. If I use regular air stones (according to the instructions) I need to use 33 of them or I will have back pressure on the pump. So I want to use big tubing 3/4 from the pump to the manifold, then come off the manifold with six 3/8" in tubing to pvc diffusers. I don't want 33 air tubes running everywhere, and I don't want to spend the money of the big volume air diffusers.

Wow... I didn't realize your system was so huge! You are my hero helomech. lol

Well my aquapoincs has a 1550 gallon tank, and four 330 gallon IBC's for breeders. Also have some IBC's for sump tanks. The 1000 gallon pool is for my greenwater aquaculture that I raise the tilapia in. I am planning on about 40 IBC's cut 1 foot deep for my grow beds. When finished it should all fit inside of my 30'X 70' green house.

Nice! Sounds like your plans would work very well for you. I look forward to the day I can build such a system. With help, it could be a new source of income one day. Would be nice to be able to afford the flexibility to choose between, VA and private healthcare.

Thanks, we do plan to use it as a business. Not expecting much in return on investment, but that is okay.

We use both VA and private healthcare, I get healthcare at work, but my wife gets 100% free from the VA. She uses my healthcare more than the VA. Mainly because there are not many VA places near me.

Maybe another option could be to use some of that drip hose (porous hose) that you can use in gardens. I think Ive seen that used somewhere on this forum. You would still need to weight it down somehow.

good idea, thanks Charlie