Air pump question

[caitlynnanne9189]

Good morning guys! I have a question!

I bought a terra whisper graded for a 10-30gallon tank to use for my angels plus filter and then switch it over to a little Skelton figure that drinks the rum when it fills up.

Now my question. I have decided I want to put a bubble wand in the back of the tank as well and the little Skelton. The air pump comes with a splitter that lets you be able to do 2 decorations at once but my concern is the size of my pump. Should I upgrade to the larger one? I have all the receipts and the box and all for it!

 

[librarygirl]

Good morning guys! I have a question!

I bought a terra whisper graded for a 10-30gallon tank to use for my angels plus filter and then switch it over to a little Skelton figure that drinks the rum when it fills up.

Now my question. I have decided I want to put a bubble wand in the back of the tank as well and the little Skelton. The air pump comes with a splitter that lets you be able to do 2 decorations at once but my concern is the size of my pump. Should I upgrade to the larger one? I have all the receipts and the box and all for it!

You could just try it and see if it's powerful enough to sustain both air stones. Does the splitter have a knob to adjust the air flow? If it doesn't seem to be working for both air stones you could try adjusting the knobs and see if you can find a good balance to run both (or buy a gang valve which splits the air and allows you to adjust the flow, they are very cheap). If it still doesn't work the way you want then you'll probably have to upgrade.

 

[caitlynnanne9189]

You could just try it and see if it's powerful enough to sustain both air stones. Does the splitter have a knob to adjust the air flow? If it doesn't seem to be working for both air stones you could try adjusting the knobs and see if you can find a good balance to run both (or buy a gang valve which splits the air and allows you to adjust the flow, they are very cheap). If it still doesn't work the way you want then you'll probably have to upgrade.

Thanks library girl! Your advice is always helpful! It is just plastic and it dosent seem to be adjustable. I'll go tomorrow and buy the one that allows me to adjust the flor cuz I was also worried about that any way and then if I have to I'll upgrade! Thanks!! I didn't know what the one you can adjust was called and now I do! I also gotta buy a check valve!

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Sometimes it is easier (and possibly cheaper) to just have two smaller air pumps rather than one bigger air pump.

Just because a pump says it is made for a 20 gallon tank does NOT mean it can put out twice as much air as a 10 gallon pump. More than likely, you would have to upgrade to at least a 40 gallon pump to get twice the air.

So if you have the space on the shelf and in the power strip for a second pump, it can be easier and not much more expensive to simply get a 2nd pump rather than buying gang valves and finding a place on the tank to install them.

 

[caitlynnanne9189]

Sometimes it is easier (and possibly cheaper) to just have two smaller air pumps rather than one bigger air pump.

Just because a pump says it is made for a 20 gallon tank does NOT mean it can put out twice as much air as a 10 gallon pump. More than likely, you would have to upgrade to at least a 40 gallon pump to get twice the air.

So if you have the space on the shelf and in the power strip for a second pump, it can be easier and not much more expensive to simply get a 2nd pump rather than buying gang valves and finding a place on the tank to install them.

Huh very interesting. I think I have the room. My question being can I adjust airflow like that though! My concern is my Skelton will need much less of an airflow than the bubble wand

 

[Josh1158]

I would get a stronger one. Like one that has two outlets on it. Use one for your filter then split the other one for your bubble wand and the other thing. Get a spliter that you can adjust cuz that bubble wand is gona neeed more pressure then the decoration. You will be able to adjust it so it moves exactly like you want it to. Don't forget some check valves too. If your power goes out it will siphon out your tank and kill your pump.

 

[caitlynnanne9189]

I would get a stronger one. Like one that has two outlets on it. Use one for your filter then split the other one for your bubble wand and the other thing. Get a spliter that you can adjust cuz that bubble wand is gona neeed more pressure then the decoration. You will be able to adjust it so it moves exactly like you want it to. Don't forget some check valves too. If your power goes out it will siphon out your tank and kill your pump.

Yes check valves are definitely on this list of thing to pick up at the lfs tomorrow. Now once my tank is cycled I'm going to get rid of the filter so should I still buy the one with the two outlets? Or just a stringer one outlet and split that?

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Huh very interesting. I think I have the room. My question being can I adjust airflow like that though! My concern is my Skelton will need much less of an airflow than the bubble wand

All you need to do is pick up a package of individual control valves like these: Plastic Air Valves | Control & Check Valves | Air Pumps & Supplies | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com

As you can see, they are cheap, and you can put one on each pump. That way you can control the flow to each of the two devices independently.

If you still want to use only one air pump, you need to either get a set of Tees and valves like these (Air Line Control Kit | Control & Check Valves | Air Pumps & Supplies | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com) or a gang valve like these (AccuAir Gang Valves | Control & Check Valves | Air Pumps & Supplies | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com) that you typically hang on the side of the tank.

 

[caitlynnanne9189]

Ok so I can buy air valves. I might as well see if I can get the pump with 2 ports idk if it's available. If not I'll buy a bigger one. I got it at Walmart do idk.

 

[Josh1158]

Yeah you have options. Y would you take the filter out after cycling the tank? I would think that would greatly reduce the good bacteria thats built up in the tank.

 

[caitlynnanne9189]

Yeah you have options. Y would you take the filter out after cycling the tank? I would think that would greatly reduce the good bacteria thats built up in the tank.

It's the angels plus filter. The one that I ordered just to cycle my tank. It's like an extra and it's huge and in the way. I have my regular filter that i run

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Ok so I can buy air valves. I might as well see if I can get the pump with 2 ports idk if it's available. If not I'll buy a bigger one. I got it at Walmart do idk.

From what I say, you have to move up to the 60 gallon Whisper to get two ports coming out of the pump. From the prices I saw, two 10 gallon Whispers are cheaper.

 

[caitlynnanne9189]

From what I say, you have to move up to the 60 gallon Whisper to get two ports coming out of the pump. From the prices I saw, two 10 gallon Whispers are cheaper.

Ok! I'm concerned about the noise though cuz its in my bedroom and the one already drives me nuts. I wrapped it in a towel and put it in the floor. I don't have a tank stand. My tanks on one of the night stands

 

[blert]

What really matters is how deep the tank is. I have this tiny little AirPod thing that drives three bubble stones like crazy because it only has drive the air down about a foot and a half. Try the small one running all three things first by using tees and valves. I think you will see that it will work fine as long as your tank isn't like two feet deep or more.

 

[caitlynnanne9189]

What really matters is how deep the tank is. I have this tiny little AirPod thing that drives three bubble stones like crazy because it only has drive the air down about a foot and a half. Try the small one running all three things first by using tees and valves. I think you will see that it will work fine as long as your tank isn't like two feet deep or more.

I honestly am not sure how Deep my tank is. It's a 20gallon tall.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

From what I say...

First of all... sorry, that was supposed to read "From what I've seen..."


As for the noise, unless your room is deathly quiet, I wouldn't expect it to be too loude. Given how cheap they are, I think they are pretty darn quite. However, they need to be on a firm surface without touching anything else so that their vibration reduction feet will work properly.

On the subject of tank depth, that is very important. But these pumps also have a limited amount of air flow rate (i.e. the total amount of air they can move at a given tank depth measured in something like cubic feet of air per minute (CFM). However with these things, you might have to measure it in cubic inches of air per minute to get a number greater than one.

And the other thing that effects what sort of pump you need is how much air the outputs require. You are going to get better results trying to drive three small air stones than you would trying to drive three bubble bars.

 

[caitlynnanne9189]

First of all... sorry, that was supposed to read "From what I've seen..."

As for the noise, unless your room is deathly quiet, I wouldn't expect it to be too loude. Given how cheap they are, I think they are pretty darn quite. However, they need to be on a firm surface without touching anything else so that their vibration reduction feet will work properly.

On the subject of tank depth, that is very important. But these pumps also have a limited amount of air flow rate (i.e. the total amount of air they can move at a given tank depth measured in something like cubic feet of air per minute (CFM). However with these things, you might have to measure it in cubic inches of air per minute to get a number greater than one.

And the other thing that effects what sort of pump you need is how much air the outputs require. You are going to get better results trying to drive three small air stones than you would trying to drive three bubble bars.

Ok thanks! At that point it will only be 2 things. One decoration a small Skelton man and one bubble wand. I'm thinking of getting the marine land flexiable 18" bubble wand I want one around the .plants in the back. And I'm going to get a background of some sort but any way. I have no where to put it where it won't hit another surface that's why the towel. I was told by another person on here that that's what they do. I'll go measure my tank once I'm off work to see what depth it is. I minus my gravel height right?

 

[doberman15]

I've never noticed anything bad from a less powerful pump. I had a lesser pump for a few months, the only reason I upgraded to a larger one was because I just wanted more bubbles. If you want a pump mostly for the looks of it you'd be fine with the lesser pump, if you feel that you need more oxygen in the water than you'd need a more heavy duty pump. At least thats what makes sense to me.