Battery Operated Air Pump

[paulthomas]

Anyone use these?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=3692&N=2004+113402

Where do you guys place the airstone? Should the airstone be cleaned or replaced every so often?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Behrmon]

I've only had to use mine once. I used a longer peice of airline then what came w/ it. I just put the stone down low and moved it around every 20-30 minutes.

 

[fulinn]

I have had to use mine twice. Once for very short time, like 10 min and the second time for approx. 4 hours.

I did not move mine at all, just left them where I had them.

I have a 75 gal tank, two battery powered air stones, the stones rest directly on the bottom, one at each end of the tank more or less.

I test mine once a month or so, and if the bubbles are not strong/numerous then I change out the air stone.

Bonnie

 

[paulthomas]

I test mine once a month or so, and if the bubbles are not strong/numerous then I change out the air stone.

Good idea.

Do you guys think it's of no consequence which battery powered pump I go with? They're probably all pretty standard.

 

[paulthomas]

Bonnie, did I read that right? You have no light on your display?

TANK:*75 gal*April 2006*50# LR*200# KolorScape Play Sand*NO Light*CPR Overflow*600 & 900 gph Maxijet

 

[Dave]

Check this one out: http://www.aquatichouse.com/Pumps_files/ppbatpump.asp
starts up itself when ac power is lost.

 

[fulinn]

Actually that was suppose to indicate Normal Output Florecent lighting, but I did not have enough room. so I shortened it, but did not realize that it says NO lights ! <lol>

I've actually changed the lighting anyhow to a pair of 28w T-5 lighting.

So I need to update that sig file.

Bonnie, did I read that right? You have no light on your display?

 

[fulinn]

Check this one out: http://www.aquatichouse.com/Pumps_files/ppbatpump.asp
starts up itself when ac power is lost.

These are what I have in my tank. I have them plugged into the wall and when I lose power they automattically switch to the battery power. They run on D Cell battery so I have bunch of extra just in case. Shuts off when AC power comes back on line.

bonnie

 

[paulthomas]

Yeah, you had me wondering.

Cool, those are the pumps everyone talked about. Thanks Rosey.

 

[MikeG]

Yeah, you had me wondering.

Cool, those are the pumps everyone talked about. Thanks Rosey.

Yup, those are the ones to get.

 

[paulthomas]

That's great insurance and piece of mind for the price. Would putting the airstones in the overflow to hide them work? Or would the oxygen have a tough time finding it's way into the tank? I'll have a Vortec on a battery back-up too for circulation if the power goes.

 

[MikeG]

That's great insurance and piece of mind for the price. Would putting the airstones in the overflow to hide them work? Or would the oxygen have a tough time finding it's way into the tank? I'll have a Vortec on a battery back-up too for circulation if the power goes.

Your tank will drain down to the overflow when the power goes out reguardless of where the return lines are. The oxygenated water would not get to the tank.

 

[paulthomas]

Duh... you're right. Dumb question.

 

[conrad]

Whoever named the Penn Plax Silent Air pumps had more balls than a pawnbroker. They are pretty bloody loud.

But yeah, there are a bunch of these products out there. I've got four of the Silent Air B11s, one each in the display and refugium of my 29G and my 5.5G tanks. These things work great and will go for an incredibly long time -- days I believe -- on their batteries. I have them plugged into my UPSes, so they only go on after the UPSes drain.

I had to deal with a multi-day power outage last year, and it prompted me to re-engineer everything in my tanks to be much neater, less junk in the tanks, and more efficient. What saved my tanks though was getting an inverter for my car and a long extension cord. You can't run heaters on batteries for very long.

 

[fulinn]

Can you give a bit more detail ?

* what is a "inverter" ?

* what is the connection between a car, inverter and extension cord ?

Great idea about plugging the battery powered bubblers into the ups, kind of a back up to the back up !

Bonnie