What is Reddit's opinion of EcoPlus ECOair 1 Commercial Grade Air Pump 793 GPH - 18 Watt Single Outlet with 6 Valve Manifold?

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No problem if you have any more questions ask, and yes the main reason for it in this scenario is to ward off root rot gotta transform the bad microorganisms into food for your plant before they turn your plants into food, if you plan on getting a water chiller it won’t be needed though. The premade bucket brands all pretty much offer the same thing the Atwater is the cheapest one I found, but you are going to wanna upgrade your air pump the one’s they come with are kinda crap, something like this would be 3x better.

I’m on my second one of these, after the first lasted several years. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JLJC0W/ I keep it on a brick under an overturned bucket to keep it out of the elements directly (obviously not an air tight covering) and leave it running continuously throughout the year.

Sure. But not for much more. That's meant for aquariuams with little fishy friends like chobiitarro the bushy nose plecostomus.

This is what you really want.

This right here.

I am working on a simple write up of how I have my setup running.

The biggest thing I can say for DWC(or any grow) is get your environment setup right. Where my tent sits, it is 78-82 degree's with the lights on and 72 as a low with the lights off. Also part of their environment is having a good pump so they can get air. Nothing crazy, but Walmart fish pump is not going to cut it. I tried that. $37.95 on amazon covers 3 buckets with ease. After that and a nutrient schedule it gets a lot easier.

It depends on how many plants you’re planing to

this is my pump

So far I use it on two plants. And a mixing bucket for my coco plants. So it normally runs 3 unless I’m being lazy. Then it runs 2

Amazon would be the place to look for those. Something like this.

This is the exact one I ended up upgrading to.

https://www.amazon.com/EcoPlus-Commercial-Aquarium-Fountain-Hydroponics/dp/B002JLJC0W/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1526058157&sr=8-12&keywords=air+pump

I was worried it would be really loud. But with the unused nozzles closed off, it was barely louder than the 2x 4 gallon/hour pumps I had before it. And it would turn my resevoirs into foam baths. I got these airstone "rings" that are a porous plastic material wrapped into a ring and then to the middle where you attach the tubing. They were the same diameter as my 5g buckets. And using those with that pump created a REDICULOUS amount of bubbles in my res. I forgot the name of those rings, but you can make em yourself. They are 100x better than every airstone ive ever come across. They do seem to clog a bit easier tho.

I highly suggest you buy this pump if you want to do dwc.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JLJC0W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

was one of the better investments in my grow equipment, has 6 outlets and puts out retarded amounts of air. Quieter than the 2 2.4w pumps I was using before (only had 1 2.4w pump for each bucket) and I saw an increase of growth using the bigger pump (makes sense because I dont think the 2.4w ones were enough for a 5 gallon dwc)

I was about to say! I was barely getting by with 2 pumps not too different than that with my 2 5 gallons.

I got this and it is incredible. Running 2 5 gallons off it and could easily do 2-3 more and it didn't cost an arm and a leg, it's about as loud as the 2 pumps i had before

https://www.amazon.com/EcoPlus-728450-Single-Outlet-Commercial/dp/B002JLJC0W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481570695&sr=8-1&keywords=ecoplus+air+pump

Got this pump (https://www.amazon.com/EcoPlus-728450-Single-Outlet-Commercial/dp/B002JLJC0W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481570695&sr=8-1&keywords=ecoplus+air+pump) and 2 additional airstones today.

Each bucket will have 2 of the large cylinder airstones.

My question is: Is it best to have 2 air lines running to each bucket or can I put 1 airline and T split it into the 2 airstones? Does the efficiency change if I split it in 1 line vs 2 lines?

I just tried making this myself just today. I had to special order the hose to the store since they didn't carry it. No bubbles will come out! I am using the https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JLJC0W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 pump.

What am I doing wrong??

Built a DIY DWC using a 5 Gallon bucket (that one is from HomeDepot which I wrapped with electrical tape). I got this air pump which came with a 6 way diffuser to which I'm only using 3. I'm using this pump with 3 x 6" air stones for 3 x buckets. Does the air flow look right? I have no point of reference and want to ensure that the pump is operating as it should!

Edit: pump shipped with a diffuser

From what I understand, yes... This one is often recomended

I used an airbrush compressor, but its probably overkill. The important aspect isnt the pressure, but the volume it can pump (GPH). Though I'm not sure how much you actually need.

Mine are timed with the lights. I used a smaller pump at first, burn out. I grew without air, it was fine. Now I use this pump. Works great.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B002JLJC0W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JLJC0W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 be careful, you can only go a few seconds at a time, ITS POWERFUL

I'd say head toward solar + batteries (or even just a battery array charged from your normal home power supply). I've done a lot of thinking about the same requirements because I also have frequent outages where I live

A storage tank would work, but only for a short time. Most AP systems at your scale use a 300-900 GPH air pump, but from http://www.binks.com/resources/tip-of-the-week/how-much-compressed-air-is-stored-in-a-storage-tank > If you have an 80 gallon tank pressurized to 150 psi, the tank would store about > 880 gallons of air. This is typical of a two stage compressor. A single stage 30 gallon > compressor common to the big box stores usually maxes out about 110 psi and > would hold about 300 gallons of free air. It just wouldn't deliver what you need for long enough unless you scale up a ton.

You'd need something like 1300 AH of battery capacity assuming the following

-a 24 hour power outage

-an air pump that uses 30w 0.3amp 120v (e.g., https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JLJC0W)

-constant 24 hour usage of that air pump

-no recharge opportunity (no solar panels/generator or worst case cloudy/snowing)

Back of envelope estimations done using https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/calculator-sizing-a-battery-to-a-load.html and https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/ac-to-dc-amperage-conversion-run-through-an-inverter.html

Runtime gets much better if you use a timer to run on a cyclical basis, if you assume solar panels are available during the day, etc

You could always get a small commercial air pump like this :

EcoPlus 728450 1 to 18W Single Outlet Commercial Air Pump, 793 GPH https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JLJC0W/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_7SukwbK7J0RWP https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JLJC0W/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_7SukwbK7J0RWP

It's not free but this will do the trick. Or just use the one you have now until it dies, not like it costed much :p