bell notificationshomepageloginNewPostedit profiledmBox

Hoots : DIY Aquarium air blower to run up to 20 tanks I have many aquariums each driven by individual air pumps, keeping them on 24x7 makes it bit expensive for me complying with the local electricity charges. I would like to make - freshhoot.com

10% popularity   0 Reactions

DIY Aquarium air blower to run up to 20 tanks
I have many aquariums each driven by individual air pumps, keeping them on 24x7 makes it bit expensive for me complying with the local electricity charges. I would like to make a single more powerful air pump to drive all the aquariums, in hope that it would consume less power than my existing system.
I am aware of such products being available in the market, such as this one RESUN Air Pump Blower for Aquarium, however they go beyond my budget too !
It would be really helpful if you guys could suggest a DIY project for this.


Load Full (1)

Login to follow hoots

1 Comments

Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best

10% popularity   0 Reactions

Depending on your aquarium setup, i.e. the arrangement in relative height and (over)flow from one to another it might be interesting to consider a trickling filter.
Please note that they have their downside like slightly increased production of NO3- in comparison to other filter systems which might result in higher costs for water changes or more advanced forms of denitrification, but that's another discussion.
The following is a trickle filter for freshwater aquariums. They're are or were (controversy) popular for saltwater aquariums for which exist smaller and more multifunctional systems including protein skimmers which aren't necessary for freshwater.
The system is very loud and needs to be placed with thought in a bedroom. It makes sense to let Philodendron's root grow inside the filter and create an excellent denitrification/fertilization symbiosis1.
The chamber is a PVC dirt water pipe with media container in form of half open cylinders with holes in the bottom and separators. Chose a size for the container and the length of separators like you wish or depending on the easiest way to get supplies locally. I chose 15cm for the chamber diameter and 10cm x 5cm for 4 media containers (3 in the picture) with 5cm distance between the chambers and 10cm at the bottom to increase the settling of particles. The media container have approx. 200 1.5mm holes in them and you need as many as you can drill in order to increase the contact with air. A vertical drilling machine is extremely helpful.
The media containers are socket plugs, the separators 3mm acrylic glass, cut with a table saw (if you don't have and can't find anyone who has, you'll have to find another separator which allows to leave water trickling as much as possible and hold the containers in position so that the water from the above container trickles down into the next one).

Drill holes into the sewer pipe to connect the tubes from the pump and two evacuations (extra one for security in case the main one is blocked in order to avoid water running output of the filter and flooding the room). Don't place the holes too low in order to avoid drilling into the socket plug which makes fixing tube connectors very difficult and don't place it higher than necessary because water will only flow out if it stands several cm above the hole and the bottommost container shouldn't be under water (notice the extra evacuation above the main one):

The top should be open in order to increase the oxygen level inside the tube and the tube connectors should the connected with joints. The higher you place the bottom of the filter above the aquarium the fast the water flow out of it, but the lesser pressure will be on the incoming water at the top.
Upgrade option: Window. It's helpful to check whether water is trickling as expected on all levels and furthermore might nice to observe the filter working. Therefore drill a few holes to be able to inspect the trickling between containers and the space at the bottom if you want (25mm min. in order to be able to see anything) and glue acrylic glass from the inside with silicon which has been shaped to match the pipes form. Acrylic glass can be shaped with a hot-air blower (hair dryer won't suffice) or in an oven. I'm about to finish this feature in the next weeks.
You can cut the separators in half and put more than one on each other in order to vary the trickling distance.

1 They're pretty popular and you probably know someone how can give you a piece of his or her plant.


Back to top Use Dark theme