how to make an air lift

[djs-sa]

today i'm experimenting with 50mm pvc to construct 6 airlifts per tank4 corner 1s and to centre 1s that create flow in two directions. This will cause to curcular whirls in my tank. will post my findings

[kenc45]

How'd you go with this, Dale? Is this just in your fish tank?

[djs-sa]

hi ken i had some luck with them as they are in my two tanks with stock in them and doing their job only problem is they are leaning on the edge of tank which if the fish knock them they slide over so i'm still looking for suction caps of a larger sixe with a zip tie or the likes

[djs-sa]

this is my mark 2 airlift with particle filter

[Jonathan Dyer]

Hi Dale,

Good stuff. I have been thinking of putting an air lift filter into my breeding tank that I will be setting up soon. My design is similar to yours but I guess the main difference I was thinking is an air stone is placed into the bottom elbow with a air hose feed in from the top and where you have a 150mm poly rise I have the sponge. It would then rest on the bottom of the tank. I have two sponges one that’s about 600x200mm and a smaller one that is probably 300x150mm I hope to put both to good use. I used my big sponge in my tank as a pre filter it kept the water very clean but it annoyed me having to clean it every 4-5 days so I removed it and installed a trickle filter and a sand filter, surprisingly not as effective as the sponge though.

Why have you placed the 150mm riser in your design and your sponge vertical?

[djs-sa]

JD,just so i can adjust the angles in my tanks depending where i mount them, more universal

[djs-sa]

also the air input hieght was the best spot that the bubbles champagne at and max water suction thru the sponge

[Hamish]

Nice design! Do you have any photos of it?

Can I ask why you used some PVC and some irregation tube?

Would it not be cheaper and easier to make it all out of irregation tube?

[Jonathan Dyer]

Generally not. Additionally PVC is much more ridged giving it stability in the tank, easy to work with, fittings to suite and has the ability to be tailor made to your circumstances as Dale explained.

[Hamish]

So why the mix of PVC and irregation - why not make it all out of PVC?

[djs-sa]

so a quick twist and it is shaped to suit the installation,
pvc would be fixed(glued) not threaded

[djs-sa]

hamish i found all cheap irrigation fittings going very cheap so hear is a all poly model for u
works great

[Jonathan Dyer]

I made an air lift pump a few days ago and is working very well. I had to take the air stone out as it wasnt working but with just the open tube of air it works great.

[Hamish]

hamish i found all cheap irrigation fittings going very cheap so hear is a all poly model for u
works great
Nice one! Well done. I will have to have a bit of an experiment with this to increase water movement in my tank. I like the fact that airlifts use very little power. If I end up on a remote property running off solar power consumption will be important for me.

[djs-sa]

i said that JD no air stone req.

hamish its more so a partical filter that i have shown but i did make 50mm air filt tho