Help sizing and picking an Air pump

[M Cosmo]

I have been building my tanks this weekend.  Now I want to design the air system.  There is a Qty of 5 tanks of 220-250 Gal tanks.  All about 30" deep.  I would like to have a 1 lb to 2.5 Gal fish ratio.  I believe that using the 6ft high vertigro stacks for the plants will add some air to the water when it goes through the media and flows to the next pot below.   I now have about 288 plants in 12 stacks of 6 pots, each with 4 plants.  The greenhouse can hold about 750 plants in this manor. 

Soooo! I need to pump air in to all of those 5 tanks.  

How about some help and suggestions on what pump to use - and maybe some suggestions on diffusers.  

No Air lift to move the water to the stacks just a normal Pump. 

I just bought the Danner MD18 Mag Drive Pump, 1,800 gph.

I want the air pump to as quiet as possible but not ridiculous in cost.  I want to be able to hang out in the greenhouse and read without a noisy air pump.  

I am looking at these two but I don't have any calculations to know what size I need. 

Commercial Air Pump with 8 outlets, 70 lt per minute http://hypnotichydroponics.com/commercialairpumpwith8outlets70ltper...

or the Danner  AP 40 2900 cubic inches

Danner Eugene Pond P Supreme Air-pump Ap-40 - 04240http://www.amazon.com/Danner-Eugene-Supreme-Air-pump-Ap-40/dp/B001B...

Possible diffuser - Self cleaning diffuser http://www.pondexpo.com/products/aeration/diffuser.php

[TCLynx]

Well, I've been told (so this may not be a hard fast rule but it's a place to start) that you want 1 Cubic foot per minute of air for each 400 gallons of fish tank and you need aprox 1 psi to push air through air stones and another psi to push air down under 28 inches of water. So your air pump needs to be able to deliver enough air for your tanks at 2 psi.

My air pump is the TL66 at this link
http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/2278/Whitewater-Diaphragm-A...
It is outdoors and I think it's quite quiet, it costs a bit extra for the outdoor rating but it's fairly energy efficient and quiet. I sometimes have to touch it to see if it's on if I can't see into the tanks for some reason (like checking on things after dark) I can't hear it over the splashing water and water pump in my system and my water pump is pretty quiet for an external pump too.
Here are the kind of air stones I got to use with it.
http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/2219/Sweetwater-Air-Diffuse...
I have different sizes appropriate to my different size fish tanks. I use regular water plumbing to distribute the air to the location of each tank and then a ball valve and barb fitting to get into the flexible tubing to drop in the tank and attach to the air stone. From the flexible adapter at the air pump I use 1" pipe and as I T out to the tanks It reduces down to 3/4" and finally down to 1/2" pipe and ball valve to adjust the air flow to each tank. I try to keep the path as open as possible for the air the same as I do for water pump plumbing to keep the efficiency up.

[TCLynx]

When I Give links to where I got my products or info about the product, it is just to let you know what I'm using. That doesn't mean it's the "best". All I can do is tell you what I think of things I have tried.
I like my air pump and it's been good for me for the past year and a half or so that I've been running it. I've never had to clean my air stones even with my high pH water.

I will tell people not to try aerating a bit aquaponics type system with a little 3 watt aquarium air pump and the cheap 59 cent air stones. Neither last and the little aquarium air pumps can become shockingly noisy as well as not being appropriate for outdoor use. Also, most of the little aquarium size air pumps only deliver between .01 and perhaps .1 of a cubic foot per minute. A 200 gallon fish tanks wants at least half of a cubic foot per minute of aeration at least when the water pumping and circulation isn't providing aeration.

[TCLynx]

When I Give links to where I got my products or info about the product, it is just to let you know what I'm using. That doesn't mean it's the "best". All I can do is tell you what I think of things I have tried.
I like my air pump and it's been good for me for the past year and a half or so that I've been running it. I've never had to clean my air stones even with my high pH water.

I will tell people not to try aerating a big aquaponics type system with a little 3 watt aquarium air pump and the cheap 59 cent air stones. Neither last and the little aquarium air pumps can become shockingly noisy as well as not being appropriate for outdoor use. Also, most of the little aquarium size air pumps only deliver between .01 and perhaps .1 of a cubic foot per minute. A 200 gallon fish tanks wants at least half of a cubic foot per minute of aeration at least when the water pumping and circulation isn't providing aeration.

[TCLynx]

OOps sorry I tried to edit but it simply wrote the comment again, just with the change.