The smooth power of a big block…

In hot rods, I was always a big block fan…
So, I had been having a lot of issues with air lines, blowing off their fittings, this was while I was running one of the cheaper piston pumps… but I’ve now switched to a “big block” with my new air pump, and it’s too early to really pass judgement, but the new better quality piston pump, while putting out more air, maybe is more volume, but less pressure??? Or is smoother in it’s output… it seems to be anyway, maybe my air line issues are over, and it was the fault of my previous pump???

"There's no replacement for displacement"

I get hoses blown off filters all the time. It isn't the pumps. It's the hosing. Silicone airlines are the worst for it.

You could do what they do for hydraulic systems and add an accumulator to even out the pressure. For a compressible gas like air you just need to have a volume of air closed off but attached to the air line. When pressure will still vary with each stroke of the piston but it is acting on a larger volume of air so the swings in pressure would be smaller. Might make it easier for your airlines.

Cut a 1/2 inch of hose, stretch it a little with long nose pliers and put it over the end of the hose where it connects to your stuff. It double the thickness where the hose meets your equipment and give a much stronger grip.

My pumps (I have 2 linear pistons running) feed into 3/4 pvc that runs around the room in a 24 x 12 foot loop. I have 70 air valves drilled into it (60 in use), with airline descending from the loop. The only area I have problems is the airline to underwater device connection. really old airline that has become rigid lets go, but so does black and opaque silicone tubing. For whatever odd reason, I have less trouble with blue silicone airline. I assume different manufacturers, but it all came as no name.

well, now that I built a shelf for the new air pump, ( this pump is bigger, and didn’t fit where my old piston pump was fitted ) yesterday I worked on the manifold system... I put up a square of white board, to mount the valves all onto, & today I took advantage of the label / sticker maker machine, at work, and ran a 1st draft label to apply for one side’s valves, once I get the labels all done, & installed, I have a Penn Plax premium roll of 200 feet of air line, I'll begin replacing all those lines...

This is half of the air lines, for the tanks in my main group… so one sticker started… I’ll adjust spacing to fit the manifold

Still a work in progress… I got shorted a couple hangers in the package from the hardware store… and I bought all they had of the 2 sizes I needed… so the balance is at least a few days out…

BTW… this new air line is much thicker than the others I bought recently… the others were really an inconsistent wall thickness… this one has been great, at least on the outer coils I’ve used so far…

That's going to cause back pressure. These pumps are quieter and longer lived if they feed into a loop, and never a dead end. That's why I use pvc and drilled in air valves.

True, I am neither a mechanic nor an engineer, and in saying that, I'm going off advice from many other hobbyists who have run large systems.

Actually the gang valve on the left, with just the 2 lines on it, is just bleeding excess air right now… that whole 3/8 inch line will be running about 25 feet, to the upstairs, to the 250 gallon tank, for when that gets set up… there are enough valves on the gang valve on the right, to feed this whole group of aquariums ( I may actually be one short, for everything, when the rest of the tanks in this group get filled, and at that point, I’ll add an extra valve on the end, of the gang valve on the right… if I’m concerned about “back pressure”, I’ll add a pressure tank to the system… I could remove the elbow from the line on the left, and replace that with a “T”, I have a pressure tank left over, that I didn’t need from my aquarium fill water RO unit, that would work nicely, to equalize the pressures, I could set it on the floor below, and run a 3/8 inch line, down from the “T” to that pressure tank… my goal eventually, is to be using full pressure on everything ( valves all wide open ) and except for the ones running the sponge filters, thus eliminating any “back pressure” issues… the new pump is so much quieter, and smoother, than the previous…

Worked on the air lines again today… new one piece premium line, to just outside the aquarium, then a splice piece to the appliance, weather it’s the water, or being stretched, the underwater ends seem to be the problem, so each line has a short pig tail of line, from just outside the tank, to the underwater appliance, so these pieces will be easier to change down the road… the only line not run yet, is for the 2nd 30 gallon breeder tank… since I have the line run for the west30 gallon breeder tank… I suppose I might as well vacuum that one out, and fill it, and get a sponge filter going, maybe add a small specialty pleco, to get the BB going in that tank…

Next will be to reroute all my 18 inch plant lights, so those are routed, rather than all tangled in the vines

Magnum Man said:

BTW… this new air line is much thicker than the others I bought recently… the others were really an inconsistent wall thickness… this one has been great, at least on the outer coils I’ve used so far…View attachment 355931

Click to expand...

It's the best I ever tried.