Prince Powder

I am currently setting up tanks to re-home my bettas. I plan on having a 10 gallon divided tank and two smaller individual tanks. I already have one whisper 3i filter for one of the small tanks and was planning on using another small air powered filter for the other small tank. I was also planning on running two air stones in the 10 gallon tank. The two small tanks will be stacked on open shelves one above the other with the 10 gallon on a stand by itself directly beside the two small tanks. I was wondering if I could use one pump and a 4 way gang valve to power both air filters AND both air stones. I'll be keeping the mini air pump that came with the 3i in case of an emergency, I just don't see the point of having so many different air pumps running since the tanks are close enough that one pump could do the job for all three tanks.

aquarist48

Hello PP.
Your plan sounds good to me. As long as your air pump is strong enough I don't see any problems.
Ken

Llama

There are 3 way valves I saw at my LFS the other day, they might be useful for you - so you can regulate them seperatly.

Remember to always put in a one-way valve to prevent water shooting up.

stefjane

sounds like an excellent idea to me! VERY clever!

Prince Powder

YAY! I'm glad this will work. With all the hubby's electronic devices we tend to go rather overboard with the electricity and it would be GREAT to be able to free up some outlet space. In total I'll have about 15 gallons worth of tank so I was looking at getting a pump for a 20 or perhaps a 30 gallon. I read in another thread that the Whisper pumps are very quiet, I'll probably look into one of those. It seems that those mini pumps that come with the Whisper 3i's are LOUD. Perhaps it's just their placement, but they definitely seem to run louder than my larger Hagen pump.

bruiser

If you find your pump is too loud, put a sponge under it and don't let the sides touch anything solid. Or take a piece of fishing line or something and hang the pump. Either way it'll quiet things down.