rdwc diy question

[pdasterly]

question on air pumps, can i connect 2 pumps together on a single manifold, any benefit to this or should i run each pump seperatly?

pump to check valve to manifold(4 way tee), 1 pump on each side and trumpet style manifolds on the other 2 sides

looking to supercharge my air supply

[thefunkdrspot]

This isnt really an answer to your question but I figured Id share my recent experience. Im still in the early stages of my first grow. I have two dwc totes with two large airstones in each. I purchased two of the ecoair pumps suggested on this site but wasnt happy with their performance. First thing was the noise. I dont understand all the positive reviews on these things. I had two of them in my tent which is in my basement and i could still hear them upstairs. I had to turn them down to maybe 1/4 strength before the noise was tolerable. The air flow was ok at full strength but having to turn them down made it less than ideal at least in my opinion. The other issue was heat. These things ran hot which isnt a problem yet air temp wise because its still cold outside but pretty soon it would have been. I decided I wanted more airflow and less noise. I know Im going to keep growing and most likely add more tents so I also started thinking about expandability down the line. I pulled the trigger on this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006H5WNBQ..._BisVAbN260MNG and i couldnt be happier. This thing puts out some serious airflow and it is almost silent. I run 3/8 ID tubing from the pump to an 8 port valve. Now im able to keep the pump outside my tent with the valve inside and just run the 3/8 tubing through one of those tent openings. I cant stress enough how quiet this thing is. It stays cool to the touch, only one plug instead of two, room for more airstones down the line, better airflow and perhaps best of all my water temp has dropped by 5 degrees.

[DW2]

howdy pdasterly, You might have to put check valves between the pumps and the manifold, but just running each outlet to a individual air stones would give better aeration of the water with out causing any back pressure or additional line loss trying to push more air thru the same size of tubing. I run a quad outlet air pump with four 2 inch x 4 inch air stones (one on each line) in each reservoir.
Good luck on Your grow.

[pdasterly]

i have 2 air force 80 pumps, super quiet, before i had 2 general hydroponics pumps both are silent
the air force makes lilltw noise, while the gh pumps the bubbles are loud

This isnt really an answer to your question but I figured Id share my recent experience. Im still in the early stages of my first grow. I have two dwc totes with two large airstones in each. I purchased two of the ecoair pumps suggested on this site but wasnt happy with their performance. First thing was the noise. I dont understand all the positive reviews on these things. I had two of them in my tent which is in my basement and i could still hear them upstairs. I had to turn them down to maybe 1/4 strength before the noise was tolerable. The air flow was ok at full strength but having to turn them down made it less than ideal at least in my opinion. The other issue was heat. These things ran hot which isnt a problem yet air temp wise because its still cold outside but pretty soon it would have been. I decided I wanted more airflow and less noise. I know Im going to keep growing and most likely add more tents so I also started thinking about expandability down the line. I pulled the trigger on this ALITA INDUSTRIES Air Pump, 15 LPM https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006H5WNBQ..._BisVAbN260MNG

[thefunkdrspot]

Those air force 80s look sweet. You must have one hell of a setup using two of them and still needing more air!

[pdasterly]

right, keep it simple

howdy pdasterly, You might have to put check valves between the pumps and the manifold, but just running each outlet to a individual air stones would give better aeration of the water with out causing any back pressure or additional line loss trying to push more air thru the same size of tubing. I run a quad outlet air pump with four 2 inch x 4 inch air stones (one on each line) in each reservoir.
Good luck on Your grow.

[thefunkdrspot]

To your original question Id say at best there is no benefit to connecting them together and it might even decrease airflow and/or make the pumps work even harder which leads to more heat, noise and wear and tear. Im no expert and this is pure speculation so take what I say with a grain of salt but I think of it this way; you have two pumps each with x amount of airflow going to however many stones. Even if you combine them in a single manifold you still have the same two pumps putting out the same amount of airflow to the same number of airstones and thats at best. At worst you could end up restricting airflow with all the tees and tubing your talking about adding which is counter productive and also works the pumps harder.

[pdasterly]

going to run 16 stones per pump, i have 14 55gal totes(4 sites per tote)

To your original question Id say at best there is no benefit to connecting them together and it might even decrease airflow and/or make the pumps work even harder which leads to more heat, noise and wear and tear. Im no expert and this is pure speculation so take what I say with a grain of salt but I think of it this way; you have two pumps each with x amount of airflow going to however many stones. Even if you combine them in a single manifold you still have the same two pumps putting out the same amount of airflow to the same number of airstones and thats at best. At worst you could end up restricting airflow with all the tees and tubing your talking about adding which is counter productive and also works the pumps harder.