Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

What's the pump Arbe... must be pretty crappy....

I run 12 airstones of an ACO-008... to about 800mm.... and the water boils with each one....

Air requires balancing the same as water flow does.

If you have an air pump that can only deliver a small amount of pressure and you drop a tiny air stone in a deep tank, the air pump might not be rated to push the air down below that much water.

If you have a bigger air pump that can provide plenty of pressure to push the air down below a meter of water and through the air stones but you also have another air stone hooked up to the same pump sitting in only a few cm of water, all the air is going to try to go out the holes with least resistance , namely the air stone sitting in the shallow water. Also, if you restrict the output of a diaphragm air pump you will definitely shorten the diaphragm life. So when setting up air lines, you need some valves involved if you will be dealing with differing depths of water and stuff. In my system I have the valve for the big air stone in the deep tank wide open and then the air stones in shallow water I just crack open till I get bubbles and the final one I just open enough and watch when I see a slight decrease in the amount of bubbles in the big tank, I know there isn't any excess left causing a restriction to hurt my air pump.
That said, most of the diaphragms are meant to be replaced yearly.

Hi all, I have just caught up on this thread. I have a Pond Max 02 4000 but have yet to install as I am only in the process of starting up http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=10027&p=284240#p284240

Chillidude had some huge airstones I think from Spectrum(?). Anyhow I was looking through their site (http://spectrumaquaculture.com.au/categories/2-equipment) and was confused by the different types. There are high and low pressure types. So my questions are what size stones should I use and what type?
Looking at earlier where there have been problems with airpumps as they were too restricted, would I be right in saying that if I have a pump that blows 35l/min then I should have air stone(s) that will take that much air?
My system is in a green house so planning on mounting the pump up high during late autumn, winter and early spring so it pumps warm air into the water and so hopefully raises them temp enough to get an extra month or 2 of SP growing.
Thanks for any help.

Some airstones have the litres per minute rating to them. Cheaper ones won't.

Just attach as many stones as you can.

A 35 lpm pump will likely come with a 6 way splitter. I would connect 6 x 150mm stones.

Darn thats why i have all the bubbles in my 50cm depth tank and just a little in my 100cm tank!

I will be buying some taps this weekend. Thanks TCLync!

thankx VLT. - Marc

if your getting no air at the bottom of your tank you can lift your air stones up to a depth where they will pump air bubbles.

Would that mean the DO level below the air stones will be less than above it? Or does it get all dissolved anyway?

DO = Dissolved Oxygen....

The water in the tank is constantly moving so it won't be an issue really... Less time the air bubbles are in contact with the water before they reach the surface.. But, better than no air..

Ah ok

So doesnt matter if they are dissolved on the bottom or at the top.

Is there a difference in the DO levels if the bubbles reaches the surface or not? I think i saw somewhere that with DO levels it depends on the bubbles breaking the surface of the water?

That's correct... so more bubbles breaking the surface is better than fewer bubbles...

Great will get to it tomorrow hopefully, any chance a low DO level will cause trout to stay at the bottom of the FT when im feeding them? Im still stumped about that. Trout has been in the bigger tank for about 8-9 days still no change.