Placement of air pump?
- Thread starter tks4d2
- Start date
The check valve is essential if you will be leaving it below the water line. When you have a power failure, we all do sometimes, the water in the tank will surge up the tube. It will usually stop a few inches above the tank level and then settle back level with the water in the tank. The problem is if you get it to surge high enough to actually start a siphon action. I would not risk it with an air pump below the water line. My preference is to sit the air pump on the back shelf of my tank,the one you cut holes in for you filter, etc. This puts it above the water and there is no risk of setting up a siphon. If you are not above the water, the check valve will at least slow down the surge quite a bit and make the siphon less likely to happen.
:iagree: Putting the pump above the water line is a good idea. What most people are concerned with when they post questions here about air pumps is the oise they make - they want to put them somewhere to keep them quiet. One answer is to suspend them from something above the tank so that there are no vibrations created from the legs of the pump sitting on a table, shelf, etc.