Air Pump Stopped Working

[car.nelian]

Hey y’all, my air pump isn’t putting any oxygen out through the air stone right now, and i’m a bit confused. I noticed it last night, and today I bought new tubing, a new check valve, and a new air stone, but after running it for maybe 30 seconds, I noticed some water was in the tubing around the air stone. I did try running it on my spare air pump as well, but same results.

Right now, I’m planning on running by the store again tomorrow, and getting a new pump, but do you guys have any idea what might’ve been causing this? I’ve had this air pump for about 2 1/2 years now, and it’s been running without issue so far.

 

[Fishmanic]

the rubber valve inside the pump may have a slit/hole in it causing failure of the pump. I just had one of mine fail---luckily I had a spare from a tank I took down last year. You could open up your airpump...should be just a few screws on the bottome and see if the rubber is deteriorated and maybe has a hole in it.

 

[car.nelian]

the rubber valve inside the pump may have a slit/hole in it causing failure of the pump. I just had one of mine fail---luckily I had a spare from a tank I took down last year. You could open up your airpump...should be just a few screws on the bottom and see if the rubber is deteriorated and maybe has a hole in it.

Ok, I can try opening it up tomorrow to check for any holes in the rubber. Thank you

 

[Colin_T]

The diaphragm (rubber cup that sits over the plastic air chamber) probably split. The pump usually makes more noise when this happens but you don't get any air.

You can buy replacement diaphragms from any pet shop. Take the pump and diaphragm into the shop and get the right type of replacement diaphragm. Get a couple of them just in case one doesn't work and for when the next one splits.

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There are also two flapper valves (small flat pieces of thin rubber shaped like the figure 8 ). One half of the flapper valve will be under a piece of black rubber and the other half will be visible. If the flapper valves get a hole in them, the pump won't push any air down the airline. You can buy replacement flapper valves at pet shops. They don't pop as often as the diaphragms but it's a good idea to have two spare just in case.

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Check the to make sure it isn't being squashed or kinked under coverglass.

Try blowing air into the airline to check the airstone isn't blocked.

Try running the airline at the bottom of the tank without the airstone.

Plastic multi-coloured airstones don't block up as much as the sand airstones, and the plastic ones can be taken apart and cleaned so they last a lot longer. The sand airstones put a lot of back pressure on air umps and cause diaphragms to pop more often.

Tall (high) tanks will also put the pump under more pressure and cause less air and diaphragms to pop more often. If you have a tank that is 2 foot high and the air pump is going through a lot of diaphragms, raise the airstone up so it's only 18 inches down.