The BEST air pump

[bostonrickb]

I am running a 75 salt with 3 undergravle lift tubes, the 4th has a power head on it, with a top fin 8000 air pump, rated for a much bigger tank than I have. I have been luckly to get 6 good months from this junky air pump. this is the third one I have gone through. I am asking what people would recomend for a air pump. I am looking to get atleast a year and a half out of. I think I should get 2 years of good output from them, but what is the opinion on air pumps. Also I am thinking of lowering the power head closer the the gravel, Its at the tup of the tube right now, in thinking I will get stronger water flow through that part of the gravel bed. What do people think about that? I am not going to swith all the tubes to power heads, I dont have the outlets for it.

[lou zello]

undergravel???WHY much better to use cannisters and a skimmer.i know it's WAY TOO MUCH trouble to remove the undergravel,been there done that.are the tubes big enough for powerheads???if so go that way,especially with reverse flow,your undergravel will be more efficant with the water going up thru the substrate,at least till you decide to change the tank around.thats what i did and when i did rearange the tank i then switched to 2 canisters,one on each end,rear corners,only one intake and one outlet in each rear corner,easy to hide,easy to service.you can go with 2 that are rated for like 100gal each and everyone in your tank will LOVE you for it!!!! your water will be a lot cleaner,your maintence will be easier and you will have less stuff in your tank to hide.i use marineland c-series cannisters on all my tanks(all freshwater now,saltwater got TOO expensive after the 7th kid!!!!!)

[lou zello]

by the way,use a power strip,more than enough outlets AND a saftey shut off if something goes wrong!!!!

[ballpc]

I'm running my whole fish room, (about 80 drops), with one of these.....

http://www.vminnovations.com/Product_10457/Pondmaster-04580-Deep-Water-Pond-Air-Pump-AP-100.html

1 year warranty, costs about $8.00 to $10.00 for a rebuild. Very quiet and lots of pressure.

Dennis

[C. Andrew Nelson]

I must agree with Sensei Lou, master of the harmoniously overstocked aquarium. I was an undergravel filter guy for years. I swore by them. Then in 2006 on a whim I switched to canister filters and have never looked back. I currently use a RENA Filstar XP1 canister filter. The Marineland model that Lou mentioned is excellent as well.

Lou is right though (and I'm not even paid by him to say that) when it comes to undergravel filters, powerheads are the way to go.

[C. Andrew Nelson]

I'm running my whole fish room, (about 80 drops), with one of these.....

http://www.vminnovations.com/Product_10457/Pondmaster-04580-Deep-Water-Pond-Air-Pump-AP-100.html

1 year warranty, costs about $8.00 to $10.00 for a rebuild. Very quiet and lots of pressure.

Dennis

Hey, that looks like a real winner of a pump!

[bostonrickb]

Hi, thanks everyone for the input. I am going to go with powerheads for now. I ordered 2, a 50 and a 70 reverseflow. I have one in there now but that was all I can aford at this time. I think in the future I am going to get that air pump you recomended. I am going to do a fish room some day in my basement with 4, 55's so the air pump will run 4, 55s, down there and a 75, another 55 and 2, 29s upstairs. I will have to run lines up through my basment but it should all work out in the end.
To tell you the truth. I have always been wary about the canister filters. I think the run about 100 and because they filter so well I imagen they need a lot of maintaince. I am going to have to read up and ask more about them. My 75 salt looks ok but when I see a tank that is realy done right it does look much better than what I have. Ill post more as time goes by. I do a diary on here too so if you want to know what I am up to you can look under, pen and pencil fish and its, All my Tanks, bostonrickb. Thanks again!!