Time to buy an air pump.

[John E Windsor]

I am using a 275 gallon IBC tank for my fish tank. The Outdoor Air Pump 9720 was recommended by Aquatic Eco Systems. After doing some reading online I am now leaning toward the EcoPlus Commercial 1.

Somebody please point me in the right direction.

[TCLynx]

Hum, looks like a good amount of air from the EcoPlus Commercial 1 and the prices I see on a quick search look pretty good.  So if you are putting this indoors where you don't need to weather proof a place to put the air pump it might be ok.  Just make sure you can easily get the replacement parts since most air pumps require replacing certain parts every 6 months or so.  If this is going indoors, you might want to find out how noisy the EcoPlus is.  I know the 9720 is pretty quiet and weather resistant and the replacment diaphragm kits are easily available.

[John E Windsor]

Check out this YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teCoE66a0rU

[TCLynx]

Seems pretty quiet by the video.

[John E Windsor]

I see an EcoPlus Commercial 3 on eBay for $69.95. 65 liter / min. and 3.9 psi. @ 35 watts.

TC, did I read some where in this forum you have had no formal training? If so, amazing! I have come to respect your advice and look forward to visiting your garden some day.

[Brian]

I have been using the EcoPlus Air 1 like in the video link you posted for 5 months. It runs constantly and I've had no issues.

[TCLynx]

Thanks John,  Aquaponics and growing food has become a passion of mine and that makes it easier to learn as much as possible about it.  My formal training is as an audio engineer/entertainment technician so I figure plumbing is not that different from tracing signal flow, just a different substance moves.

[John E Windsor]

Brian, how big is your fish tank? How deep? I am thinking for $20 more I can go with the Air 3.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ecoplus-Commercial-Air-3-Pump-35-Watt-aquar...

Brian said:

I have been using the EcoPlus Air 1 like in the video link you posted for 5 months. It runs constantly and I've had no issues.

[Brian]

I have a 100 gallon indoors now after my move to Michigan, but I had 200 gallons outdoors in Florida. The Air 1 with 4 large airstones pushes a lot of air. If the extra $20 is no issue, then bigger might be better. I like the Air 1's 18 watt rating. For indoors I try to use the smallest amount of electricity possible.

John E Windsor said:

Brian, how big is your fish tank? How deep? I am thinking for $20 more I can go with the Air 3.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ecoplus-Commercial-Air-3-Pump-35-Watt-aquar...

[TCLynx]

Just be sure you hook up enough or big enough air stones to let out all the air produced at the psi you will be using the pump for.  If you restrict the flow out of the pump too much it will heat up more which will shorten the life of the parts.

If you get an air pump that will deliver an extra cfm of air beyond what you actually need in the fish tank, you need some way to let that extra air go some where.  Air stones are rated for how much air they can handle per minute so if your air pump will be producing say 2 cfm at the depth you are pumping down to, you will need to make sure you have enough stones to let out that 2 cfm or you will be shortening the life of your air pump or at least needing to replace the parts more often.

[jerry allison]

a ap20 air pump is more than enough, my cbi  only use a 360 gallon  water pump  that shoots water and air into the tank it's full of happy fish , more the air the better.  

[Mark Fleming]

John E Windsor said:

I see an EcoPlus Commercial 3 on eBay for $69.95. 65 liter / min. and 3.9 psi. @ 35 watts.

TC, did I read some where in this forum you have had no formal training? If so, amazing! I have come to respect your advice and look forward to visiting your garden some day.

 From marksnwv 

I just ordered the EcoPlus Commercial 3 from www.hydropnics.net.  The air pump was 44.94 plus 14.00 shipping.