How many air stones on one aeration pump?

[BenHehle Beamz]

Hi all,

can anyone tell me how i can calculate the amount of air stones which can be generated by a

16 Watt - 2.100 ltr/h aerator?

and....you think 55 dB is too loud?

[RupertofOZ]

You could run 4-6 air stones off that if you wished...

 

I wouldn't run less than two... four would probably be optimal...

 

If you were running 4 air stones... then that's roughly 500L/H through each stone.... buy air stones that are rated accordingly...

[BenHehle Beamz]

i need to run 1 IBC tank approx. 700 l, and 4x 300 l DWC beds. So i thought 4 air stones (diamter 5cm - 1.9 inch) for the IBC and 1 stone for each DWC bed, total 8 air stones....well, it said: 2100 l per hour, and my systems requires 1900 l to be aerated, so i thought i will go for this one.

[RupertofOZ]

Don't forget... you will gain some passive oxygenation via the water return from the beds...

[BenHehle Beamz]

thanks rupe :D what aeration pump do you use for your system? how many l per hour?

I found some datas of an aearator which was the same as my old one. It can generate 210 l per hour with 2 air stones (4watt). I used 2 pumps for my IBC tank, which was totally fine.

So, if my new pump generate 2100 l per hour, it means i could hang in around 20 air stones??? am i wrong? I think it has more to do with Mpa then l/h. I dont know how to calculate from l/h to Mpa or bar .....well, i think i will give it a try and will let you know in 1 month.

[RupertofOZ]

Yep... different stones require different Mpa... but I don't see anything to be gained from 20 stones... you're just dividing the available pressure/flow down into little increments...

 

Six would be the max, or most preferred... for that unit I think...

 

The little air pump would be OK as a backup... preferably with a rechargeable battery backup.. to keep fish alive during a power failure...

[BenHehle Beamz]

my concern is that if i have ONE pump which is not strong enough,  cant aerate my IBC and my rafts enough at the same time. the hose from pump to ibc would be around 2 meters (4 stones)  and hose from pump to rafts (1 stone per raft) around 4, 5 and 6 meter.