Best Air Pump for DIY skimmer

[hachadwick]

I am building a DIY PVC skimmer. I have some technical questions. First the skimmer will contain a 3 foot tall column of water that is 4 inches is diameter.

1. How power of a pump do I need?
2. What ideas do people have on the configuration of the "air stones"?
3. Should I use "air stones" to generate bubbles?

Thanks for any insight!

 

[kevdogg]

I would stay away from airstones. They are mainly used on small skimmers and need to be changed at least monthly to maintain the size requirements of the bubbles. I would go with something like this,

Reef Octopus Bubble Blaster HY-1000 Pump

As far as the flow requirement, you are going to need to check out some of the manufactured brands and see what they are doing with that size skimmer.

 

[kevdogg]

Here are other options for the air pumps.

Needle Wheel Water Pumps - AquaCave.com

 

[snyderju]

Jeesh for the price of those pumps you might as well just buy a skimmer....

 

[kevdogg]

Most of the pumps that you can find are meant for replacements on the larger skimmers. The small ones are hard to find with the venturi as an option. If I knew of any I would suggest one... Sorry

 

[hachadwick]

I am looking at buying a ASM 500 pump. I found one on Amazon for 59.99 and I have some points on there so I could get it a little cheaper. What do you all think of this one?
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EU7MJW/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001EHCET8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1AME5DZ34N7E37SN9CGJ"]ASM 500[/ame]
Is this brand as good as the Sedra brand? Also, I found another [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Hydor-Seltz-L30-Purpose-Pump/dp/B0002GTSHS/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2CJYV1B2O1G5C&colid=1B8R4V133GSCF"]here. [/ame]What do you think. Remember that my DIY skimmer in 4" diameter PVC, about 3 foot tall.