my air pump's too strong

[Tostada]

I have a 30 gal. hex tank with a Bio-Wheel 200 on the back.

I just got an Elite 801 pump with 1 outlet. It's just a $5 pump and says "for up to 15 gal tanks on it." I was planning on just getting the smallest thing I could, but they're all about the same price, and the Elite 801 seemed like the nicest cheap single-outlet air pump.

So I just hooked it up with an 8" bubble wand on the back wall of my tank. This has at least doubled the water current in the tank. It circles up the back with the bubbles, across the top with the Bio-Wheel, down the font, then back around.

I don't think it's really irritating the fish. I have a tiny Danio that likes to get in the bubbles and swim against the current. I have a 3" Koi that likes to go up and down on the front of the tank, swimming against the current, then relaxing and getting pushed back down. There isn't much of a current on the sides, and they don't have any problem finding spots to just sit there.

I just don't like the look of having a washing machine with fish in it. If I use some sort of valve to reduce the pressure, will it damage the pump? Should I just look for some kind of rheostat to make it not pump as hard?

I'm also planning on adding plants as soon as I finish making a new hood. Seems like I'd have trouble keeping them anchored the way it is now.

 

[Peyton]

I too have a 30 gal hex, with a biowheel 170 though. You really don't need to add air to the tank as the movement of the water through the filter, past the biowheel, and into the tank will provide enough. I would do away with the bubblewand and airpump esp if your going to have live plants as the extra movement of the water will reduce the amount of co2 in the tank.

Also your koi will very soon get to large for your tank, not to mention koi are a cold water fish and danios are tropical. IMHO I would find another home for him.

 

[Tostada]

I've got the water at 76, and I was thinking of turning it down to 74. I haven't seen a single thing saying that's a problem with any of the fish I'm looking at (right now the only thing in there is 3 Danios and 1 Koi).

Everybody seems to think it's strange having Koi in a tropical aquarium, but stuff I've seen says Koi can actually tolerate higher temperatures than most tropical fish. I don't understand what the problem is. I'm not going to have a bunch of them, so the filtration should be fine. I'll find a new home for her when she gets big, but that'll be awhile seeing as she's 3" right now.

Anyway, back to the topic ... is it a bad for the air pump to just get some kind of valve and turn the air down?

 

[tropicfishman]

no, buy an airline control kit, you et valves, T valves and suction cups for a couple dollars, the pump I have usues a rheostat to control the amount of air, instead of decreasing air pressure it reduces the motors power, eliminating a lot of damamge done ot the diaphrams

 

[Guest]

Well as far as the koi I believe that they have an acceptable temp. range of 65F to 85F, however because they can get around 3' and 30+ pounds I don't think they should ever be kept in a 30 gal of any kind not to mention a hex.

I am not trying to beat you up, just MO

 

[BillD]

Stifling the airflow will shorten the lidfe of the diaphragm. The best way to deal with too much air is to bleed a little of the extra off. This can be done with a 2 gang valve. You leave the one to the airstone wide open, and control the flow with the other one, which will be exhausting the extra air.

 

[greenmaji]

Stifling the airflow will shorten the lidfe of the diaphragm. The best way to deal with too much air is to bleed a little of the extra off. This can be done with a 2 gang valve. You leave the one to the airstone wide open, and control the flow with the other one, which will be exhausting the extra air.

This is exactly the correct way to controll exess air from an air pump

 

[Tostada]

Well as far as the koi I believe that they have an acceptable temp. range of 65F to 85F, however because they can get around 3' and 30+ pounds I don't think they should ever be kept in a 30 gal of any kind not to mention a hex.

I am not trying to beat you up, just MO

I understand what you're saying, but do you really think it's a problem with a 3" Koi in an extremely under-stocked tank?

If we're talking about cruelty to fish, there were about ten 3 - 4.5" Koi in about a 15 gal. tank at the LFS, so I'm sure she's much happier now.

Stifling the airflow will shorten the lidfe of the diaphragm. The best way to deal with too much air is to bleed a little of the extra off. This can be done with a 2 gang valve. You leave the one to the airstone wide open, and control the flow with the other one, which will be exhausting the extra air.

I got a little kit with 5x air control valves and 4x T-valves. My filter takes up all the space on the back of my tank, so I really don't have a place for a gang valve.

Right now I've got just one air control valve that I spliced in and just turned down the flow a little. I definitely believe you guys that it would be less stress on my pump to just split it and leave one side wide open, but when I do that it sounds like some kind of mini chainsaw.

You guys have any ideas for muffling the wide-open end?

 

[greenmaji]

You adjust the air flow untill you have the desired amount of air going to your stone..
in other words it shouldnt be wide open BUT

you can add a long peice of cheap air hose to go up and over the filter (the pushing of the air up should decrease the preasure) and over to the other side of the tank off the exess air port (ventrui filters from power heads, and other ideas come to mind for the end of it if its still blowing out alot of air)

This is keeping in mind you can put a 2 way gang valve right were your split is.

And it sounds like your unit has a damaged diaphram already, you might want to take it appart and inspect it..

 

[BillD]

The 801 should be whisper quiet. You shouldn't hear it at all when the lines are open. If you have a gang valve, it can be located at the pump. It doesn't need to be on the tank. Oops, GM has basically stated this already.

 

[Tostada]

It is whisper quiet, except when I have an open air line that isn't going into the water.

 

[greenmaji]

Your saying the pump gets louder?
Or the outlet were the air is excaping is loud (I posted ideas on how to fix that above)

 

[Tostada]

Your saying the pump gets louder?
Or the outlet were the air is excaping is loud (I posted ideas on how to fix that above)

Yeah, I'm just saying the line that's out in the open is loud. I'll see if just some extra tubing is a good enough muffler.