My Air System

[Squiggle]

I've decided to post this thread as I was asked to elaborate on my air system & I didn't want to hijack someone else's thread, lol :encouragement: So here it is, I have a LP40 & I use heavy duty irrigation hose to make loops around the lower side of each shelf, then I drop airlines down through a 4mm tap, the advantages of doing it this way is that you can drop an airline where ever you need it & the main air hose is above the tank so no chance of siphoning back to the pump & slowly emptying your tanks. The reason I do complete loops around the under side of each shelf is to balance the system, you get an even pressure all the way round the system. Now I haven't done this yet but I'm hoping to do it soon but if you get a short length(about 500mm) of 100mm PVC pipe & place this in the system just after the pump, this will provide a reservoir which will help reduce back pressure into the pump if you aren't using enough air & help keep the pressure constant, hope you all enjoy the pics :encouragement:

This starts at the pump

Then travels up the support of the stand to a T piece

Then joins into the loop under the shelf(I secured it with every mans best tool, gaffa tape)

As you can see, I just punch hole anywhere & drop an airline

[Daydream]

This is the right advise all the way.Have run all my racks this way for 20 years.Good to see the info about back pressure as with diafram pumps they can have a blow out.I use a blower for extra volume but the rules still apply only problem with a blower is the sound of a jet engine starting up.

[Squiggle]

Lol, that's so funny Daydream, I originally bought an LP100 & when I plugged it in a almost blew myself out the garage, way too much for what I needed :encouragement:

[Dean]

Nice write up and explanation mate.

i have to agree it is the best way to do it. i run a

HG-370 Air Blower * 800 litres pr minute *

Model:HG-370

Power:370W

Pressure:11.76kPa

Output:48m3/h

Weight:12kg

Dimensions:379x250x259mm

with 140 airlines connected. :)

[Squiggle]

Thanks but holy sh!t dude, I'm only running 20 airlines, that's wicked! I would love to have that many tanks but my financial controller/feng shui consultant won't allow it :encouragement:

[Dean]

what are those LED lights you got on there also?

do they light up the tank well?

expensive?

[Heavyd]

Thanks for doing the writeup mate.

So where you punch the holes you never get an air leak?

[SUSS8]

what are those LED lights you got on there also?

do they light up the tank well?

expensive?

they look like led light strips Dean, Nice Yes! Expensive No!

I made my own light out of these strips for my 4ft

[blindfisherman]

I'm interested in the LED's too, wanna do another write up for them :P this one is great. An alternative to adding a thicker section of pipe for a reservoir is to add a bleed tap. You can then oPEn the tap to allow the excess air out so as to not over pressurise the pump and make it work harder than it has to. I add one at the lowest section as it also helps to let out any water from the humidity.

Thanks for doing the writeup mate.So where you punch the holes you never get an air leak?

I found with the black pipe it seals off very well. The little taps are threaded so when you punch the hole the excess plastic forms a seal around the thread when you screw it in. I ran over 15 sponges with a 20L/min pump and the 19mm tubing didn't have any leaks and had excess air I had to bleed off.

[Squiggle]

what are those LED lights you got on there also?do they light up the tank well?expensive?

Yeah dude' date=' they are just 5m rolls from eBay, two strips of 6500k, two strips of 10000k & one strip of blue, I use one 5amp 12v power pack per shelf(white) & one power pack for all three shelves of blue, my shelves are 1200 x 500. For the whole lighting system it cost about $15-$20 per 5m roll of LEDs(I used two of each white & one blue) $12 per power pack(I used four, one for each shelf & one for all the blues) I also have a remote switch on all the white strips so I can turn the lights off from the next room(yeah I'm lazy, lol) All up, the lights cost about $125 & I have some spare left on the roll. All my plants grow like crazy & I'm always pulling buckets of them out. This is a pic of the power pack[img']http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a580/Betta_lover/image-15.jpgthis is how you wire it up, just cut the strip, bare back the terminals & solder it together with speaker wireJoins across the center braceThe outer two strips are the 10000k

Thanks for doing the writeup mate.So where you punch the holes you never get an air leak?

Yeah, they do leak but it's not much compared to how much is going through, also you can put a spot of silicone on the thread if you want but the leak is caused by the back pressure, the more air you use, the less it leaks, if that makes sense :)

[Squiggle]

An alternative to adding a thicker section of pipe for a reservoir is to add a bleed tap. You can then oPEn the tap to allow the excess air out so as to not over pressurise the pump and make it work harder than it has to. I add one at the lowest section as it also helps to let out any water from the humidity.

I found with the black pipe it seals off very well. The little taps are threaded so when you punch the hole the excess plastic forms a seal around the thread when you screw it in.

It does seal very well but there is a slight leak :)

I have two airlines running full open all the time, I use one of them the inflate my fish bags when I'm selling fish, works a treat :encouragement:

[Eshrimp]

I run those same led's on my racks and as accents on my marine tanks and they work like a charm.

[Gbang]

wow nice thread! thanks for contributing man :) will defs look up the LED stuff!

[blindfisherman]

It does seal very well but there is a slight leak :)

I have two airlines running full open all the time' date=' I use one of them the inflate my fish bags when I'm selling fish, works a treat :encouragement:[/quote']

I used a drillbit to punch the holes, it was about 0.5 mm smaller than the fitting so it forms a VERY tight seal. Haven't been able to see a leak out of it. The SS taps on the other hand... I'm disappointed with them.

[Squiggle]

I have to agree, the taps are the flaw in the system :)