Air Pump

[cookie_db]

I'm going to get an air pump but was wondering what ones people would recommend. Tank is 120cm (W) x 40cm (D) x 45cm (H), 57gallons/216 litres. Quiet is a must as my tank is in the front room. I've heard rena ones are quiet but I'm open to suggestions.

Thanx
Dani

 

[cookie_db]

I will hopefully be going out to get one today so any input to which one would be great

Thanx
Dani

 

[stang1]

I'd definitely recommend a Rena one. We have the Rena Air 100 on one of our tanks and it is very quiet.

 

[The-Wolf]

look for the tetratec ones, IMHO, they are the quietest on the market.
the boxes will say for tanks upto XXX, pick the one for your tank

 

[cookie_db]

Looks like we have two in the running Any other suggestions before I leave in about 20 mins?

Thanx
Dani

 

[cookie_db]

Well I ended up buying a tetratec pump as that's all they had where I went.The only other one was a brand I'd never heard of so steered clear of it. Set it up last night and it works lovely, nice and quiet. I have a problem though. When I got up this morning the airstone had partially buried itself in the sand and its throwing bits of sand around the tank. Anyone got any suggestions on how to stop this? The only reason it worries me is because of the filter. I think I remembering hearing that sand can ruin the filter if there's lots floating in the tank. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanx
Dani

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup too much sand can clog up and eventually break your filter if not cleaned out. with sand you need to have the airstone a good inch or so above the sand, attach it to the wall of the tank with a sucker

 

[cookie_db]

Thanx for the fast reply Miss Wiggle. When I bought it the guy offered me some suckers but I think they were for the airline. The airstone itself is a hagen elite aqua fizz stone, 15 cm long. Also I probably won't be able to get anything till the weekend, do you think it will be ok to leave it running still between now and then?

Oh and another question I had about this is does it need to be on 24/7? I probably will leave it on anyway just wondering really.

Thanx
Dani

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup, you stick the airline to the wall of the tank thus leaving the airstone dangling a bit above the substrate

it doesn't need to be on 24/7, you don't need one at all really as you can oxygenate the water in other ways. however it won't do any harm to leave it running 24/7 so you can do so if you wish or you can run it more sporadically.

 

[cookie_db]

Ok now I understand. The main reason I've got one is because I'm cycling my tank at the moment but my b/f likes the bubbles so will probably leave it in, plus I've bought it now so may as well. Nice to know I can turn it off when I want to though. I'll go get some sucker things at the weekend.

Thanx again
Dani

 

[The-Wolf]

you could silicon the airstone onto a piece of slate like this

you will get some sand being picked up in the bubbles as the fish kick the sand up
but it is far better than having just the airstone.

 

[cookie_db]

That's definalty something I'd think about in the future. Need to keep it going at the moment due to cycling my tank but once that's done I'd definalty consider doing that as I like the way the bubbles look at the moment, coming from the bottom and think I won't like it as much stuck on the tank.

Thanx
Dani