Diaphragm Pump

Metasyntactic · Sep 14, 2018

I'm curious if people use diaphragm pumps with their aquariums? Since it's self priming, I'm thinking of putting my sump in a large plastic bin (one of those under the bed storage containers) with a diaphragm pump and a water detector so, if my sump somehow does overflow, the pump can drain the water into my waste water line.

The fact that they're self priming seems ideal in low GPH situations like vacuuming tanks or water change stations. The actual diaphragm mechanisms are generally corrosion resistant plastic and silicone so, as long as you aren't exposing the actual motor to salt water, it seems great for aquariums. I'm just surprised more people don't use them and wondering if there's a reason why.

Gareth elliott · Sep 14, 2018

I recently attached my ato to a diaphragm pump. Its louder than the submersible but i dont have the same worries. Also isnt in the reservoir so that is one less electronic i have to worry about water damage. Was definitely more expensive lol

ca1ore · Sep 14, 2018

There are certainly diaphragm pumps available for low flow applications. I use the avast version, for example, on all of my ATOs. There was an effort many years ago to market a diaphragm-based return pumps based on the presumption that traditional centrifugal pumps were lethal on plankton. I recall one unit coming to market (though cannot recall the name), but the GPH was quite poor and it was noisy. Disappeared pretty quickly. I think the general experience of most is that traditional pumps aren't actually as hard on plankton as had been claimed; plus free swimming plankton is almost non existent in captive tanks anyhow. Diaphragm pumps are good in certain applications with low flow and where noise is less concerning.

Metasyntactic · Sep 14, 2018

Yeah,

ca1ore said:
There are certainly diaphragm pumps available for low flow applications. I use the avast version, for example, on all of my ATOs. There was an effort many years ago to market a diaphragm-based return pumps based on the presumption that traditional centrifugal pumps were lethal on plankton. I recall one unit coming to market (though cannot recall the name), but the GPH was quite poor and it was noisy. Disappeared pretty quickly. I think the general experience of most is that traditional pumps aren't actually as hard on plankton as had been claimed; plus free swimming plankton is almost non existent in captive tanks anyhow. Diaphragm pumps are good in certain applications with low flow and where noise is less concerning.

Yeah, I'm looking at them as safety pumps in case of a sump leak, ATO, and for vacuuming, nothing that will be running constantly. I'd also be curious to see how it does dosing food since peristaltic pumps can be a bit slow if you want to put out a lot of food quickly. That said, I suspect the diaphragm would get clogged with any food and probably smush it. Mostly I like that I don't have to prime the pump since self priming pumps are normally so ungodly expensive.