Best Ceramic Air Stone/Pump

[crn005]

So I'm wanting to change my DIY skimmer from a Venturi pump to a counter current, air stone skimmer. What are the brands of ceramic air stones that I should be looking at? Also, the skimmer is 28" tall and 4" in diameter. I was looking at the Tetra Whisper AP150 to be the air supply. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance! :beer:

 

[peppie]

Goggle " Boss Hog air stones" they are ceramic.
I also suggest an " Alta" air pump

 

[crn005]

So Boss Hog is the new standard now? I was searching for an informative thread but the only ones that showed anything were all from archive. Those all talked about brands that I couldn't really find anymore. It's odd not to see any threads started about that in the past 6-7 years despite their proven effectiveness. I guess the marketing of modern skimmers is working? I feel like its a bit excessive to pay $200-300+ for a skimmer but that's just my opinion.

 

[crn005]

Just googled Boss Hog stones. All I'm getting is the duel 6" x 5" diffuser. I would need something smaller to fit inside my 4" PVC. Do they make smaller ones?

 

[tgunn]

I'll be curious to see how this turns out. I've got a 12" diameter 24" tall recirculating reef octopus skimmer with 3 recirc pumps. The pumps it has are terrible and I would like to mod it to be an airstone skimmer.

 

[KafudaFish]

Look up aquatic eco-system air stones.

 

[crn005]

I checked them out. They're about $40 for the 4" x 2" stone. I would probably have to put it in the chamber at an angle. Maybe use two? Anyone have any experience with how much surface area of air diffuser should be used?

I'll be curious to see how this turns out. I've got a 12" diameter 24" tall recirculating reef octopus skimmer with 3 recirc pumps. The pumps it has are terrible and I would like to mod it to be an airstone skimmer.

I'll keep you posted. It might take a bit to get the mods done to my skimmer though. I'm in the process of getting my 36 gallon up and running but I don't have much spare time these days. The skimmer is on my quarantine tank right now. It's housing my mated clowns until I get the main tank up.

 

[crn005]

So I'm finally getting around to getting my skimmer finished. What I found is that the Micro-Pore Air Diffusers (the brand that makes the Boss Hog) seem to be the best. They make the smallest bubbles (90-250 microns) when compared to other ceramic air stones and come at a reasonable price. Their smallest diffuser (Micro-Pore Single) is 5.25" and is recommended for every 5 gallons when used in a deep water culture. Considering that my skimmer's volume is right over a gallon, I think this should be in the range of desirable bubble production. I'll order it today and report back once I get it up and running.

 

[j tavares]

How about pics of skimmer I want to try DIY Thanks

 

[skunkmere]

are they better than the wood airstones?

 

[crn005]

Ok so I got my air pump in yesterday and I was excited to get to work. The ceramic diffuser wasn't in yet so I went online to make sure it was coming in today. Apparently, after a week, they hadn't even processed my order. I was not happy. However, I had an idea. I called up my local hydroponic grow shop, and low and behold, they had the diffuser in stock! I picked it up today and almost finished the skimmer (I was at work at 5am today and didn't get off until 6pm, so needless to say, I'm a bit on the slow/tired side). Anyways, I am making plenty of notes and will be able to pass along how to make a replica of mine.

Now, on to the actual stone. HOLY GEEZ, BATMAN!!! These things pump out some bubbles! It's not just the quantity, it's the quality. It makes a metric butt-ton of tiny bubbles. I made a video but it doesn't do it justice. Check out the micro-bubble collection at the top of my tank (I literally had just plugged the pump in).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-uYD8qxh8U

 

[crn005]

Keep in mind, this is just one diffuser and it's literally the smallest this company makes.

The skimmer will be external, but it would actually be easier to make it in-sump. The reason for me going outside of the sump is just space limitations. I only have a 10 gallon sump and a not-so-big stand. This is what happens when it's actually placed in my sump.

 

[crn005]

Ok so I got it all finished. I filled it up, and wouldn't you know, the bottom cap has a minor leak. Off to Lowes to get something to fix that. Remember though, if this were being used inside the sump then it wouldn't be a problem. Frickin small sump....

 

[crn005]

So this has pretty much turned into a DIY skimmer thread, but oh well. Just chalk another one up! Anyways, I finally got the skimmer up and running. I ended up making it an in-sump skimmer. This solved a few problems:

1) The outlet pipe took a lot of work to get water-tight and I still didn't trust it.

2) Due to the outlet pipe needing to be high enough to get over the edge of the sump, it made a lot of gurgling sound trying to exchange air in the tube so the water could flow down. I lowered the outlet to below the water level and now it's completely silent (minus the pumps).

3) For my tank size, I need about 22.5 gph of flow through the chamber. That's quite low. After lowering the outlet pipe, it makes my pump (Rio 800) work much harder to maintain the appropriate water level in the chamber and it really slows down the water flow.

Having said that, I'm not sure what the flow rate is. My pump, with the fixtures and horizontal pipe length, was calculated to be pushing 167 gph. That's WAY too much. I thought about measuring the flow rate in the bath tub but freshwater has a different specific gravity and it wouldn't be accurate. If anyone has a way to figure out how to measure that, minus filling the tub with saltwater, then please let me know!

So, as far as the ceramic air stone, I think it's going to do a wonderful job. I noticed about a 4" jump between the water level and then the bubble level once I plugged in the air pump. The PVC is white so I can't see inside the chamber but I know it's probably a typhoon of bubbles in there. Just from seeing the stone in action while just thrown in the tank, I'm convinced. I can only imagine what it's like in a confined place. Anyways, if anyone wants some blue prints, parts/price list, or instructions on how to build it then let me know! Hopefully this skimmer lives up to my expectations. I have a lot of confidence that it will.

 

[crn005]

So just an update. The ceramic stone and Whisper pump work very well together. It's really quiet and produces some good skimmate. Here's a picture after 5 days of running. Considering that my tank is basically bare and I feed about a quarter of a cube a day (if that) to my two clowns, it's doing well IMO. There just isn't much in the tank to pull out.

 

[crn005]

For those that might reference this for their own projects, the stone and pump work well, but they could be better. I think adding another stone and getting a commercial grade hydroponics air pump would serve it well. The first step into those style of pumps isn't much more expensive, isn't loud, and produces just more air. When looking at a pump, don't just focus on the liters per hour. The psi is important too. That is a reflection on the strength of the diaphragm and will be important when trying to pump air through water and out of a micropore stone. For instance, I hooked my nebulizer from when I was a child up to the stone. It dramatically improved but was super noisy. You should be looking at a pump like this.

http://www.hydroponics.net/i/132949

That pump would rock the socks off of a couple of micropore airstones! It's not so much that it would cause large bubbles but would drive them well. I've heard them in person as well. As long as it's in a stand, it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[crn005]

Or you could go the Tim Taylor route and use your air stone pump to blow up your tires as well. Geez, this pump is a beast:

http://www.hydroponics.net/i/136485

I'm convinced you could run a few skimmers with this guy while the pump was in a remote room.

 

[crn005]

Just a heads up to anyone that is reading this thread, I went back to the hydroponic shop again a few days ago and found out that the company that makes the MicroPore air stone went out of business. I bought up a couple of extra stones that they had just to be safe. It sucks, though. Where else am I going to find a decent ceramic air stone if I need one?!