Are they all made the same? Or are some more constricting than others? I just got a brand new Fusion 700 Air Pump rated to run 12 things off of it. And all of the instructions show with a check valve figured in to that equation. I put the check valves on just to run one small sponge filter and one small air stone (all in close range to the pump itself) and the air pressure is ridiculously low. I've checked the check valves under water and they aren't leaking. These are just cheap ones I got at Walmart so are there other brands that don't restrict the air flow as much? Without the check valves attached, yes this is a very powerful air pump that could definitely run a lot more on it. I got it to run 3 small sponge filters but there's no way in hell it will be able to do that with these check valves on.
I have an alita pump that can run 24 airstones but if I put one of those cheap plastic check valves on it barely any air will flow through. The back pressure will be bad for a diaphragm pump too. I don't use a check valve because of this, have not found a good cheap one. The swagelock check valves would be great but would be expensive to buy 24 of them.
Try it without a checkvalve and see if you get better pressure.
If you put your airpump above the tank, it won't usually drain water out as the water won't travel upwards. To be honest, I've never used a check valve. lol.
I mentioned it in my original post that without the check valve it has great pressure So hubby and I actually couldn't even blow air through the check valves on it. Found a different kind that is doing much better. However, I think I'll just have him put a little shelf on my wall above the tanks and run them without check valves. That's going to probably be my smartest bet.
Thanks for the others posts as well, I just wasn't sure if they were all the same but finding that other one tells me that no, and the ones I have on there were crap.
Keep in mind that getting air to your filter depends on length of hose and how deep the filter is in the water, too. (You can actually cheat a little if there is not enough air pressure on a specific filter to make bubbles, by moving it higher in the tank. )
The sponge filter basically sit on the bottom of the tank with the top plastic piece about 1/8" below the water surface (short tank). The tube running from air pump to filter is, oh, maybe 7-8 inches long so I'm trying to keep the distances very short.
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