KoolaidMan
Active Member
I was on a mission to create a RDWC that had enough DO in the water, but was quiet and didnt use air pumps/stones. People recommended waterfalls to avoid airstones, but I found them to be noisy. A submersible pump in the res flooming the res adds heat to the water. After some research, I decided to create a cheap venturi valve for about $3 using parts from Lowes. This puts more then enough bubbles in like a hot tub jet and is essentially silent. This isnt to say this is better or worse then any other method, but if your looking for all the things I was, then this is the best method.
Parts:
•Tee
•Threaded Elbow
•Slip Plug
•Some PVC pipe
•Some 1/4” PVC pipe
Start by drilling a 3/8” hole in the slip plug so the 1/4” pipe slides in snug. You will want to make a 45 degree cut on the end. I secured it with some aquarium sealant.
The elbow, pipe and tee should look like this:
The plug goes into the Tee and the 1/4” pipe should be in far enough to basically sit in the center of the tee like the picture shows with the 45 degree cut showing its back.
Next we install it in the site and slide the plug in so the backside of the 45 degree cut faces the water inlet like the previous pic showed. I placed a tiny bit of cotton ball in the hole to make it dead silent and remove the faint slurp sound.
Thats it! This flooms the site while providing plenty of bubbles and is essentially silent. No more air pumps, no more stones, no more noise. The reason for offsetting it to the side is so its not directly over the return so the force hits the corner and flooms the entire site. You can see the current floom up in the corner diagonally across the venturi valve. The way this work is the pressure of the water flys through and goes over the air line, pulling air with it. Thus you get air/water mixture coming out.
Parts:
•Tee
•Threaded Elbow
•Slip Plug
•Some PVC pipe
•Some 1/4” PVC pipe
Start by drilling a 3/8” hole in the slip plug so the 1/4” pipe slides in snug. You will want to make a 45 degree cut on the end. I secured it with some aquarium sealant.
The elbow, pipe and tee should look like this:
The plug goes into the Tee and the 1/4” pipe should be in far enough to basically sit in the center of the tee like the picture shows with the 45 degree cut showing its back.
Next we install it in the site and slide the plug in so the backside of the 45 degree cut faces the water inlet like the previous pic showed. I placed a tiny bit of cotton ball in the hole to make it dead silent and remove the faint slurp sound.
Thats it! This flooms the site while providing plenty of bubbles and is essentially silent. No more air pumps, no more stones, no more noise. The reason for offsetting it to the side is so its not directly over the return so the force hits the corner and flooms the entire site. You can see the current floom up in the corner diagonally across the venturi valve. The way this work is the pressure of the water flys through and goes over the air line, pulling air with it. Thus you get air/water mixture coming out.
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