hobcas Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Well I finally paid the price for buying a cheap electromagnetic pump, it starting making a hell of a rattle and after opening it to fix it.........nothing. I have bitten the bullet a bought a LP60 and am wondering how best to rig it up. I have a few ideas but would like to learn from any members experiences. With the other pump I simply had a gang valve and a spaghetti junction of silicon air tube running to each tank and I know this wasn't ideal. I would like to know if it is best to use hard PVC piping or something similiar (maybe flexible) and run air lines off this central line? Does the unit have a fitting for attaching the PVC or how do I fit it to the piping? Do I cap the PVC at the end (obviously) and is there a maximum length of the central piping before it becomes ineffective? How much pressure to you loose putting in elbow joins etc How do you attach each airline, is it with one of those irrigation spray type spikey thingies? Do I run it around the ceiling and drop the airline all the way to the tanks on the bottom of the rack or.....? Do you need to space the airline drops out evenly? Anyway I guess you can see that I have a lot of questions and that any advice would be welcome, photos would be cool if you have em too. Cheers Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Hi Ross I have used the hard PVC piping in a loop around my room and have drilled and taped thread joiners into the pipe I also put pvc drops in the system, only so that I didn't have air tubing hanging from the room of the room. The drops are measured out so that they line up with where I wanted the air in the tanks. Alot of people also use the black irrigation pipe. I think they do the same job. I have heard that not having a closed loop can cause a drop in pressure at the ends of the PVC pipes, but I dont know if this is true or not Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobcas Posted November 22, 2007 Author Share Posted November 22, 2007 Thanks Josh that is very helpful, The pump arrived today so I have a project for the weekend I hooked up a few of the air lines to return oxygen to some of the tanks where I didn't have any single pumps and effectively there was so much pressure that it was pumping so much air that the tanks were almost like a spa bath. I liked your idea of the drop pipes to reduce the airline mess. I noticed in the pictures you have a control valve, I think these will be a good idea, where can I source these and the threaded joiners from....LFS, Bunnings? I am assuming when you say you taped the threaded joiners you meant tapped as with a hammer not sticky tape Can anyone confirm the closed loop theory ?? Can the loop be as simple as feeding the end pipe a couple of feet or metres back into itself or does it need to be a complete circular loop?? Any thoughts on the size of the PVC pipe 10 / 20 / 30 mm??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted November 22, 2007 Share Posted November 22, 2007 I think mine is 20mm PVC with 15mm drops. There should be a fitting with the pump that fits over 15mm PVC pipe. You will have to check the sizes of the pipe I dont know the exact size but you need to use PVC pressuer pipe and not electrical conduit. All the joiners I got through an online place called wet earth (www.wetearth.com.au) but bunnings or any good irrigation supplier will stock them. By tapped I mean threaded. I cut a thread into the PVC pipe and screwed the joiners in with a dob of silastic around them to ensure a good air tight seal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colfish Posted November 22, 2007 Share Posted November 22, 2007 i've used 25mm pvc, but my pump has a much larger output try a hydroponics store for the 4mm taps. my local Bunnings no longer stock them. definately go with pvc, it does a far better job, black ag pipe and the fittings are cheaper but it requires a lot more saddles to keep it nice and straight, and the joins can leak, losing output from the pump. do it once, do it right, you'll never regret it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishdance Posted November 23, 2007 Share Posted November 23, 2007 If you use the search feature, this topic has come up several times and is well covered. Just make sure you have a bleed valve to release any exess pressure otherwise the back pressure will ruin your diaphram which is only thin silicon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THEFATCATFISH Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 LP60 are the airpumps jesus would use if he came back down and setup a fish room. Feel like going out to the shed and giving mine a hug right now. troopers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 Jesus might have used an LP60 while he was doing his trade, But once he got famous he would have used a HP60 instead. He actually probaly would have down graded to an HP40 and still had more air to play with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo2232 Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 Jesus might have used an LP60 while he was doing his trade, But once he got famous he would have used a HP60 instead. He actually probaly would have down graded to an HP40 and still had more air to play with. Even Jesus would of said Jesus if he read this thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobcas Posted November 28, 2007 Author Share Posted November 28, 2007 If you use the search feature, this topic has come up several times and is well covered. Just make sure you have a bleed valve to release any exess pressure otherwise the back pressure will ruin your diaphram which is only thin silicon. Thanks for the advice, a bleed valve will be a good idea, I'll probably just use an extra control valve.... I am intending to run a 20mm closed loop around the room 18 metres in length/ radius, 1 tee connector from the pump and 4 elbows joins to create a rectangle (6 metres x 3 metres) I will also have two drop pipes coming from another two tee connectors these drops will will add another 2 x 2 metres. Is there a maximum length before you loose pressure or as it a closed it will be o.k? Also should the drops be of a smaller dimension piping e.g. 15mm? Thanks again all for the info, I know I could probaly search and find out some of the answers but if everyone just searched and never posted questions no new opinions would be aired and it would make for a fairly inactive forum community made up of almost nothing but classified ads. IMO it is the interaction of the members that makes ACE what it is. Cheers Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted November 30, 2007 Share Posted November 30, 2007 I am intending to run a 20mm closed loop around the room 18 metres in length/ radius, 1 tee connector from the pump and 4 elbows joins to create a rectangle (6 metres x 3 metres) I will also have two drop pipes coming from another two tee connectors these drops will will add another 2 x 2 metres. Is there a maximum length before you loose pressure or as it a closed it will be o.k? Also should the drops be of a smaller dimension piping e.g. 15mm? G'day Ross The size of the circuit you have described will be fine. The diameter of the drop down lengths is no problem at all. Leave it or change it to whatever you have available to you. From my experience (These are after the pumps have been running for a while) an LP60 should run 30 - 40 airstones relatively well. a HiBlow 60 should do 50 - 60 airstones well. You may (or may not) find it hard to believe but with airpumps you really do get what you pay for! cya Matthew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobcas Posted November 30, 2007 Author Share Posted November 30, 2007 Cheers Matthew, Its good to know that the the distance around my tanks shouldn't be a problem and also that the size of the drop pipes also shouldn't matter. 30-40 airstones, excellent this gives me room to add more tanks int the future if I can find some way to fit them in. I think I am now armed with enough information to start the ball rolling, lets hope I am not dangerous as well as armed. Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobcas Posted November 30, 2007 Author Share Posted November 30, 2007 Woops a double a post....sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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