Reducing Air Pump Power/Flow

[SilverB]

Hi There

I have a 20 litre nano tank which came with an Aqua One Air Pump, as the tank has a built in filter compartment at the back.

Now, previously I had a Betta fish in this tank and even though I had the pump on the lowest setting, it was truly blasting out. I DIY'ed a solution by covering the outlet with a piece of clean nylon from a pair of tights! It sort of did the job but the flow was still pretty strong and of course, the nylon just became home to gross stuff, algae included.

I've set up the tank anew and it is currently planted with no livestock. I'm planning to house chili rasbora but know that they, like Bettas, don't appreciate a massively strong flow.

As of now, I've found a piece of tube which fits in the outlet and I'm directing the flow towards the glass wall. The water flow is hitting the wall and still managing to circulate the tank with good flow, but I'm concerned that this one side of the tank has a corner with a massive flow and the rest not so much. I'd like something overall, a bit more gentle.

Anyone got any clever or interesting ways that they've managed to control these outlets a bit more? I haven't been able to find any outlets to purchase that calm the flow down a bit and it doesn't make sense to me to have such a small tank with a literal water jet inside.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Can you take a picture of the output or the overall filter?
It will be easier.

Can you cover the output with a sponge, similar to the sponge used for covering the intake?
Or connect it to a spray bar ?

Do you know the flow rate of your filter?
Usually built in filter used a submersible water pump.
If you change the submersible pump to a lower power or slower flow rate pump, you can reduce the flow rate.

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[Colin_T]

Most air pumps have a small screw on the outside of the pump that holds the air chamber inside the pump. If you loosen the screw, it allows some air to leak out and the pump won't put as much air into the tank.

You can buy plastic T-pieces and taps that go on the airline. Have a 4 inch length of airline coming off the pump. Then put the T-piece in the airline. Run more airline from the T-piece to the tank.
Put a short length of airline on the open end of the T-piece, and put the tap in the airline. Then put 12 inches of airline on the end of the tap. You use the tap to adjust the amount of air going into the tank.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I had one of these tanks and I actually took out the compartment, I took a razor blade to the silicon. Then I put a sponge filter in. Fish had more space to swim and I wasn't spending money replacing the filter cartridges