396 GPH air pump with two 8" inch round micro pore air stones

[JaguarStype24]

I was gonna buy a dual outlet air pump and run a 8" round air stone off each outlet. I have 5 gallon lowes buckets. Is that overkill? Here are the links to the exact air pump and air stones im talking about. Or should I run a T off each outlet and run four 8" air stones?

http://organic-hydroponicsupplies.thebigtomato.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=tbt&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=433651149&Count2=350791573&ProductID=2339&Target=products.asp


http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/dual-diaphram-396-gph-air-pump-p-234.html

 

[smallclosetgrowr]

yeah its overkill but your better off having more then less bubbles.

 

[JaguarStype24]

Are you saying that air pump with only two air stones is overkill? If so then what if I put a plastic tee on each outlet and run 4 air stones off that pump? thats like 100 gph for each 5 gallon bucket. Is that still overkill?

 

[researchkitty]

It has nothing to do with the gph the pump produces or how many airstones you have. It's about watts per gallon. 1 watt of air pump per gallon of water. So, find yourself a 5 watt pump and thats what you need. If you use a 10 watt pump that wont hurt anything either, you just want the water to not be splashing around and flying out of the reservoir.

 

[JaguarStype24]

It has nothing to do with the gph the pump produces or how many airstones you have. It's about watts per gallon. 1 watt of air pump per gallon of water. So, find yourself a 5 watt pump and thats what you need. If you use a 10 watt pump that wont hurt anything either, you just want the water to not be splashing around and flying out of the reservoir.

What do you mean it has nothing to do with the gph or the size and amount of air stones? That just doesnt make sense. I guess I will run 4 air stones off the air pump and see how it bubbles.

 

[researchkitty]

The "gph" of an air pump doesnt really bode accuracy at any level. The amount of power the pump puts out is going to truly tell the air it spits out. Usually the hydro stores sell 5-6watters that are two or four outputs. That's perfect. For your 5 gallon bucket you probably cant find a weaker air pump anyway. For those of us with large reservoirs, such as 55 gallon barrels, you need a pretty heavy duty pump, like the 8 output 24 watt units, and two of them. The air stones will release as much air as they get, so having 10 airstones is the same as having 2 or 50 airstones. Airstones dont generate air, the pump does. Hope this helps.