Thank you for the thorough explanation and for sacrificing a valve to show us the inside. Didn't realise I could run the pump without the valve if I put it in the right position. Unfortunately I don't think I can move my pump to above the aquarium but that is good to know for future troubleshooting.
Thank you for this video! Lucky for me i could cancel my order of check valves in time! I now put the air pump on top of my aquarium! I never thought of it! Thanks!
👍🙏👊 excellent freaking video!!!! It's the small things like this that people like me need to know and people like you that though of people like me!!! 😂 Thanks
Thank you for the super duper helpful video. My brain was struggling 🤣 I appreciate the experiment. You explained the pros and cons very well in an unbiased way. I also liked how you dissected each part of the check valve and explained/demonstrated each piece. It is important and interesting to see how things work. Looking forward to more vids. I will need the assistance 🤣
as a newbie i had no idea that this was something that was important to consider and I thought that valve was to connect it to multiple things so i threw it away 😂 im glad I am a nerd and spend my free time watching tank upkeep yt videos otherwise I never would have known! putting my pumps above my tank as we speak!
Thanks man it was kind of surprising that whenever using check valves could actually reduce the output and air pressure so amount of air is technically reduced.That was quite clear to me now and I even got one of these check valves just for stopping the water coming up to the hose and clog the airway but it seems that purpose is not working that way I don't know why but it shows I couldn't get any help of it so I'll just get rid of it.I just wasted half a dollar cheap check valve but saddest thing is when this is what and how they really do, minimize the air flow.
Just have a long airline.. similar to the drip loop for electrical cables around the tank. gravity is even stronger than a valve and won’t reduce the airflow.
Thank you so much for this video! I bought a aqua culture air pump, and it has the worst instructions! I couldn’t figure out which direction to put the check valve/ I didn’t know what it was for
I have a battery operated pump. The battery ran out. I opened the back to put more batteries in and it had a lot of water in it!!! Where I placed it, was almost up to the ceiling, way higher than the tank, so I advise everyone to put it on their pump. I just came here to be sure which way to install it, cuz mine only says, Up or Down, Lol. You explained it very well, God Bless! 👍
Really? Water that high? I run them but was thinking of putting it about 3 feet over the tank without a valve. It doesn’t make sense that it would flow up. Was it down before and maybe water got in them then?
I take your point about the air supply being restricted and the pump must work harder. Is it significantly more difficult to blow through when blowing harder/faster than blowing slowly? Could you make an inverted branch of air hoses and put a check valve on each of them, so the pump is not working so hard to push air through one narrow opening, but pushing a the same amount of air through multiple opening in multiple check valves. eg, a branch with 3 check valves?
Is there another style of valve, it looks like the check valve you held up, but inside we find a white plastic ball, that floats and plugs the air line when it doesn't pump, but as soon as you turn on the air the ball is pushed down and away from the high point of that plastic chamber. It doesn't matter which way you install it because the ball floats up as the water back flows into the plastic chamber.
i'm wondering if using a small hook to secure the air tubing in an arch, placed higher on the wall behind the aquarium would work as well? No room anywhere 'above' to place the air stone pump.
It has happened to me one time in the past when an aquarium was extremely full of water and we had a power outage. When the power came back on I noticed that there was water coming out of one of my air pumps, but this was a few years ago. It's an extremely rare occurrence but it does happen.
What if I have a 10 gallon with a small pump and a dual split check valve running one small stone and one 3 inch stone in one small aquarium. Wouldn’t that be more efficient then the one 3 inch stone I would have to run if I didn’t have the split check valve even though it’s at full power.
If you have one line that you split into 2 the air pressure will be cut in half to each line, once the stones are added the air will self regulate to follow the path of least resistance, if one stone has smaller pores it creates higher backpressure and forces more air to the other stone, if you want to run 2 stones its best to get a dual outlet pump.
Thanks for your video. Where do you get your valves? I've been trying to get one for a bubble wall application that needs to handle a lot of pressure since the pump is underneath the bubble wall. I know you work with aquarium stuff, but would appreciate any help for a vendor or a specific model of a check valve that could handle the pressure. Thanks in advance!
@@TrafishAquatics Here's the link: www.amazon.com/Hygger-Quietest-Aquarium-Adjustable-Powerful/dp/B07YDFVPMS/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=hygger+Adjustable+eco+air+pump+%28HG946%29&qid=1599687050&sr=8-2 Thanks for replying.
For any air pump, that uses standard airline, any standard check valve will work essentially the same. The ones that I reviewed in this video came with my tetra air pumps so I just have a bunch of them on hand. If I were to get some this is probably what I would use www.amazon.com/Pawfly-Aquarium-Valves-Plastic-Non-Return/dp/B01N92AXHF/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=aquarium+check+valve&qid=1599690230&sprefix=aqua&sr=8-3
Hello, I have a PowKoo bix corner filter. It has no air stone. Is there still a chance that a siphon will occur in a power outtage? Also, I've heard that they can help airpump last longer. I am very confused.
Air stones are not required for these, and airstones can actually slightly reduce pump life because they add backpressure to the pump when the start to clog up
traditional air stones can plug up over time and need to be replaced every couple months, the excess backpressure can cause damage to your air pump too.
No there's 2 things happening that I can see, there is a pumpkinseeds with a peice of shrimp that shows it's reflection behind the sponge filter. The other in the very bottom left near the substrate is a reflection of one of my Tamasaba ryukin goldfish in the 55 gal behind the camera. Good eyes though I never would have seen that lol
I have my pump on top of my Aquaclear filter, does that mean I'm in no danger of back siphoning in the event of a power outage thus don't need a check valve?
Correct, it wouldnt be able to flow up higher than the top of the tank, the reason why an air pump under a tank would need a check valve is if water flows up over the top and starts to go down the other side it would create a syphon, if the pump is on top of the tank a syphon can not be started
@@TrafishAquatics thanks! That's what I thought as far as the laws of gravity go, but I've never used a pump until tonight so wasn't fully sure exactly how they may or may not be capable of somehow interfering with the normal nature of gravity.. I keep having people in my fish groups tell me to add a check valve anyway? But that didn't seem to make much sense to me .
Yeah if the pump is above the tank you don't have to add a check valve, if it's below the tank I would consider adding one. In the future of the channel my fish room is going to be getting rebuilt in a different part of the house and I'm going to be running a central air system using a linear piston pump and PVC around the room hanging from the ceiling and with that system no check valves are needed because there's no way for the water to siphon uphill
Could be I would have to test different ones to see what the difference would be, generally products like these are all manufactured by the same company and just sold with different names, but it might be worth some testing
The issue I keep having is the airline tubing falls off. I’ve replaced my check valve and airline tubing and it’s still the same. Every couple hours, my filter dies cause the tube disconnects. I’m so annoyed. I push it as far as it can possibly go.
Whenever I put mine on no bubbles come out the airstone. I'v tried switching both ends and even bought ANOTHER check valve and still no luck. Do you know what's wrong? Tried blowing into both ends and no air comes out.
Depends on the setup, For example if you're running a barrel filter full of k1 media and your power was to turn off you don't want the k1 media to get sucked back out into the pond or whatever your filtering so you would want to check valve in that sense, but if the water's just going to flow from a waterfall feature back into the pond it doesn't really make a lot of difference.
@@aave865 that's more for when a pressureized system is suddenly blocked off and the water no longer has the ability to flow and quickly builds pressure. This shouldn't happen with a non pressurized system
Mine broke 😥 It came apart in the middle, and there's a tiny rubber thingy in the middle and I don't know what to do with it. I'm in the middle of a water change, and my fish is currently sitting in a half full tank with the heater and sponge filter off. Help me!! Update: Okay I think I got it Update-update: Okay it's running well and all done with the water change, and have a happy betta. 😁
if you check valve comes apart You may need to end up replacing it, You could snap it back together but there's a chance it could come apart again since it's supposed to be a single piece
Thank you for being awesome. Thats two days in a row now you've answered questions for me that nobody else could.
I appreciate how thorough you were in explaining, and even demonstrated comparison tests for us. Thanks so much!
Your welcome!
This is a very well put together channel (at least from what I can see with this video), I’m impressed
Thank you! 😁
Thank you for the thorough explanation and for sacrificing a valve to show us the inside. Didn't realise I could run the pump without the valve if I put it in the right position. Unfortunately I don't think I can move my pump to above the aquarium but that is good to know for future troubleshooting.
Great explanation of what and why a check valve is needed. Thanks!
You're welcome
The fish are so cute they know when you are about to feed them
Thanks for this video 💯💯 wonderful explanation. Just the one i was looking for ✌️❤️
Your welcome
Thank you for this video! Lucky for me i could cancel my order of check valves in time! I now put the air pump on top of my aquarium! I never thought of it! Thanks!
Your welcome!
This was very helpful. Thank you very much!
👍🙏👊 excellent freaking video!!!! It's the small things like this that people like me need to know and people like you that though of people like me!!! 😂 Thanks
Your welcome 😆
Honestly appreciate this video so much. Thank you for your help
Your welcome!
Awesome explanation, breakdown and video. Thank you so much!
Thank you for the super duper helpful video. My brain was struggling 🤣
I appreciate the experiment. You explained the pros and cons very well in an unbiased way.
I also liked how you dissected each part of the check valve and explained/demonstrated each piece. It is important and interesting to see how things work.
Looking forward to more vids. I will need the assistance 🤣
as a newbie i had no idea that this was something that was important to consider and I thought that valve was to connect it to multiple things so i threw it away 😂 im glad I am a nerd and spend my free time watching tank upkeep yt videos otherwise I never would have known! putting my pumps above my tank as we speak!
why are people being so stingy w/their THUMBS UP - this was an excellent video! ❤
Great advice…. Well done thank you
I didnt know about the reduction in output , great vid 👍🐡🇬🇧
Your welcome, alot of people don't think about it so I figured id make the video on it 😁
@@TrafishAquatics havent seen many that have spent the time on the subject. Thank you .
Thank you Sir, well done. I appreciate the breakdown, very helpful!
Thank you and you're welcome!
helped me A Lot when i got my betta.
glad it was helpful
Thanks man it was kind of surprising that whenever using check valves could actually reduce the output and air pressure so amount of air is technically reduced.That was quite clear to me now and I even got one of these check valves just for stopping the water coming up to the hose and clog the airway but it seems that purpose is not working that way I don't know why but it shows I couldn't get any help of it so I'll just get rid of it.I just wasted half a dollar cheap check valve but saddest thing is when this is what and how they really do, minimize the air flow.
Yea for sure, that's one of the reasons I ended up switching to a central air system.
Just have a long airline.. similar to the drip loop for electrical cables around the tank. gravity is even stronger than a valve and won’t reduce the airflow.
Amazing video had to like it deserves more attention in the aquarium/fish community
Thank you I appreciate it
Great video!!! So much information on just a little check valve
Great video
🙏🙏🙏Thank you buddy. Its small but it holds a lot of value.
Your welcome
Your blegills are like Piranha to goldfish! Hungry boys
Deffinately lol
Thank you so much for this video! I bought a aqua culture air pump, and it has the worst instructions! I couldn’t figure out which direction to put the check valve/ I didn’t know what it was for
Your welcome
Great presentation, informative and helpful. Thank you! 👍🏻🐠
Your welcome, glad you enjoyed!
I have a battery operated pump. The battery ran out. I opened the back to put more batteries in and it had a lot of water in it!!!
Where I placed it, was almost up to the ceiling, way higher than the tank, so I advise everyone to put it on their pump.
I just came here to be sure which way to install it, cuz mine only says, Up or Down, Lol.
You explained it very well, God Bless! 👍
Really? Water that high? I run them but was thinking of putting it about 3 feet over the tank without a valve. It doesn’t make sense that it would flow up. Was it down before and maybe water got in them then?
Multumesc pentru informati
Foarte utile
Actually have none of these and need to install them. Happy Easter
Happy Easter!
Helpful, thanks
I take your point about the air supply being restricted and the pump must work harder. Is it significantly more difficult to blow through when blowing harder/faster than blowing slowly?
Could you make an inverted branch of air hoses and put a check valve on each of them, so the pump is not working so hard to push air through one narrow opening, but pushing a the same amount of air through multiple opening in multiple check valves.
eg, a branch with 3 check valves?
You're awesome, thank you!
Your welcome
thanks for this video. I needed to know how these worked for my air pump and whether I needed it or not.
You're welcome
awesome information, thank you!
Great video, thank you so much
Your welcome
Good video, will follow and check out more of your videos!
Love your channel.
Thank you, I appreciate that!
Is there another style of valve, it looks like the check valve you held up, but inside we find a white plastic ball, that floats and plugs the air line when it doesn't pump, but as soon as you turn on the air the ball is pushed down and away from the high point of that plastic chamber. It doesn't matter which way you install it because the ball floats up as the water back flows into the plastic chamber.
Thanks
Your welcome
i'm wondering if using a small hook to secure the air tubing in an arch, placed higher on the wall behind the aquarium would work as well? No room anywhere 'above' to place the air stone pump.
Yes it would
Good info thank you
Your welcome!
How about using a check valve with a co2 system?
apprecite ur videos
Your welcome
Thanks bro
You got it
What an overlooked item! Have you ever had an airline siphon out of a tank, or is this something you just happened across?
It has happened to me one time in the past when an aquarium was extremely full of water and we had a power outage. When the power came back on I noticed that there was water coming out of one of my air pumps, but this was a few years ago. It's an extremely rare occurrence but it does happen.
@@TrafishAquatics yes it does, just happened to me a few days ago. What a mess. Thanks for this video!
Your welcome, deffinately does happen but it's not super common, but deffinately sucks when it does.
What are the plastic t's for?
They are to split 1 airline into 2 or combine 2 into 1
What if I have a 10 gallon with a small pump and a dual split check valve running one small stone and one 3 inch stone in one small aquarium. Wouldn’t that be more efficient then the one 3 inch stone I would have to run if I didn’t have the split check valve even though it’s at full power.
If you have one line that you split into 2 the air pressure will be cut in half to each line, once the stones are added the air will self regulate to follow the path of least resistance, if one stone has smaller pores it creates higher backpressure and forces more air to the other stone, if you want to run 2 stones its best to get a dual outlet pump.
I use Aqua one check valves. However some of the new ones I get don't work! (I have already tried putting them both ways)
Sometime the little rubber boot inside gets gummed up and won't open to allow air to pass through.
I managed to get it working by popping the seal in the test valve. Nice video!
Thank you I'm glad you were able to fix it
Dam what kind of fish are those again? Nice video.
Thank you, which fish? The ones behind me while I'm talking or the ones in the tank I'm testing In?
@@TrafishAquatics the ones at 8:08 with the check valve test.
Those are wild caught bluegills and pumpkinseeds
Thanks for your video. Where do you get your valves? I've been trying to get one for a bubble wall application that needs to handle a lot of pressure since the pump is underneath the bubble wall. I know you work with aquarium stuff, but would appreciate any help for a vendor or a specific model of a check valve that could handle the pressure. Thanks in advance!
What kind of air pump are you planning on using?
@@TrafishAquatics Here's the link: www.amazon.com/Hygger-Quietest-Aquarium-Adjustable-Powerful/dp/B07YDFVPMS/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=hygger+Adjustable+eco+air+pump+%28HG946%29&qid=1599687050&sr=8-2 Thanks for replying.
For any air pump, that uses standard airline, any standard check valve will work essentially the same. The ones that I reviewed in this video came with my tetra air pumps so I just have a bunch of them on hand. If I were to get some this is probably what I would use www.amazon.com/Pawfly-Aquarium-Valves-Plastic-Non-Return/dp/B01N92AXHF/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=aquarium+check+valve&qid=1599690230&sprefix=aqua&sr=8-3
Trafish Aquatics thank you! Much appreciated. 😀
Your welcome!
Hello,
I have a PowKoo bix corner filter. It has no air stone.
Is there still a chance that a siphon will occur in a power outtage?
Also, I've heard that they can help airpump last longer.
I am very confused.
Air stones are not required for these, and airstones can actually slightly reduce pump life because they add backpressure to the pump when the start to clog up
Who sells that particular check valve you demonstrated?
Yea I have one with one of those but the stone isn't working anymore idk why
traditional air stones can plug up over time and need to be replaced every couple months, the excess backpressure can cause damage to your air pump too.
@@TrafishAquatics hm well I replaced the hoses and cleaned both stones there working perfectly now
That's good, they must not have been clogged too bad then
At 7:28 bottom left corner was that a corycat
No there's 2 things happening that I can see, there is a pumpkinseeds with a peice of shrimp that shows it's reflection behind the sponge filter. The other in the very bottom left near the substrate is a reflection of one of my Tamasaba ryukin goldfish in the 55 gal behind the camera. Good eyes though I never would have seen that lol
I have my pump on top of my Aquaclear filter, does that mean I'm in no danger of back siphoning in the event of a power outage thus don't need a check valve?
Correct, it wouldnt be able to flow up higher than the top of the tank, the reason why an air pump under a tank would need a check valve is if water flows up over the top and starts to go down the other side it would create a syphon, if the pump is on top of the tank a syphon can not be started
@@TrafishAquatics thanks! That's what I thought as far as the laws of gravity go, but I've never used a pump until tonight so wasn't fully sure exactly how they may or may not be capable of somehow interfering with the normal nature of gravity.. I keep having people in my fish groups tell me to add a check valve anyway? But that didn't seem to make much sense to me .
Yeah if the pump is above the tank you don't have to add a check valve, if it's below the tank I would consider adding one. In the future of the channel my fish room is going to be getting rebuilt in a different part of the house and I'm going to be running a central air system using a linear piston pump and PVC around the room hanging from the ceiling and with that system no check valves are needed because there's no way for the water to siphon uphill
@@TrafishAquatics well I've subscribed so I'll be looking out for that!
Awesome, it's going to be a little while but I'll be recording the whole process when the time comes!
This is good but the different makes could measure diff. Maybe worst.
Could be I would have to test different ones to see what the difference would be, generally products like these are all manufactured by the same company and just sold with different names, but it might be worth some testing
My air pump causes little bubbles to pop above water and its hitting my light. I have a cover for the bulb but what can I do to fix that?
Put a glass or polycarbonate lid on the tank, that's just the way the bubbles inherently are.
@@TrafishAquatics okay perfect thank you so much!
Dam it 😂. I just bought one of the valves. All I had to do was put the air pump above my tank.
Pretty much lol
The issue I keep having is the airline tubing falls off. I’ve replaced my check valve and airline tubing and it’s still the same. Every couple hours, my filter dies cause the tube disconnects. I’m so annoyed. I push it as far as it can possibly go.
Add a drop of superglue on the check valve ends then put the tubing on
👌
Are they safe to use with a co2 system? Fluval 45g? 1500psi?
I wouldn't use these I would get something specifically made for CO2 systems as CO2 has a tendency to degrade rubber
@@TrafishAquatics thank you !! Will definitely be looking to upgrade when I can
Whenever I put mine on no bubbles come out the airstone. I'v tried switching both ends and even bought ANOTHER check valve and still no luck. Do you know what's wrong? Tried blowing into both ends and no air comes out.
Strange almost sounds like the rubber valve inside might be gummed up and stuck together, air should flow freely from one side but not the other.
@@TrafishAquatics Thank you for the quick response, I'm gonna ask my LFS about this tomorrow
Do i need it on a co2 tank? Thanks. Sub’d and liked..
You can if you want but they make specific ones that can handle the co2 exposure.
Where on the tube should it go?!
It can be installed anywhere in the airline
Do I need one for water pump?
Depends on the setup, For example if you're running a barrel filter full of k1 media and your power was to turn off you don't want the k1 media to get sucked back out into the pond or whatever your filtering so you would want to check valve in that sense, but if the water's just going to flow from a waterfall feature back into the pond it doesn't really make a lot of difference.
@@TrafishAquatics thanks ! I am using it for waterfall and has been wondering all these times if I should get one check valve.
Probably not necessary cuz when the water back feeds back into the pond it doesn't go anywhere except back to the source
@@TrafishAquatics heard about water hammering which may damage the pump. Not sure if it is related.
@@aave865 that's more for when a pressureized system is suddenly blocked off and the water no longer has the ability to flow and quickly builds pressure. This shouldn't happen with a non pressurized system
King Henry VIII is a fish keeping expert :)
Lol
@@TrafishAquatics Love your channel!
Thank you
Hahahaha I wish I would watch this video before I cut ✂️ the cord 😅😅😅
😂
I’m using one for my small disposable co2 system and the water keeps coming up the tube nearly to the regulator and I don’t know why
Check valve isn't on backwards is it? If not you may have a leak in the system allowing water to go up the line
@@TrafishAquatics I’m pretty sure it’s not backwards as the co2 wouldn’t be able to flow through?
Hmm I must be misunderstanding, not sure how water would be flowing up the tube if co2 is passing through it also
@@TrafishAquatics when I turn the co2 off at night when I check the next morning water is all in the tube and nearly to my regulator.
Ah I got ya, is it flowing up past the check valve?
Mine broke 😥
It came apart in the middle, and there's a tiny rubber thingy in the middle and I don't know what to do with it. I'm in the middle of a water change, and my fish is currently sitting in a half full tank with the heater and sponge filter off. Help me!!
Update:
Okay I think I got it
Update-update:
Okay it's running well and all done with the water change, and have a happy betta. 😁
if you check valve comes apart You may need to end up replacing it, You could snap it back together but there's a chance it could come apart again since it's supposed to be a single piece
@@TrafishAquatics yeah, going to Petco to get some brine shrimp and an air stone, I'll get a new one to.
My check valve must be broken air doesn't go through it no matter which way it faces
They do gum up and need replacing after some time
@@TrafishAquatics it's brand new. Bought today
@@galioncyapon3473 ah yea it may be faulty
🌞🐰🙏🏽
Thank you
20% reduction vs 2,000 -20,000 in water damages? Uhmmmm I rather have a 20 % reduction
Thanks
Your welcome!