ALITAINDUSTRIES Air Pump 6 LPM

First of all I have been in the hobby 57 years . I have owned many air pumps in all those years and filters .Name the brand I had it and some no names .At one time ,in my younger days I had two 55's ,a 20 long an 2 tens would have more but ran out of room and oh yeah, money. Had an old belt drive piston pump that was always exciting because you never knew when it was going to screw up and drain the water from tank all over house . This Alita 6 is the best of the best . As others have said it is quiet. Hands down the most silent pump I have ever seen. Output is off the charts . Glad I bought the 6 because I don't know what I would have done with the extra air. In my 55 gal. tank I am running two Ziss fluid bed filters and a LARGE sponge filter,all three are cranking. In my 13 gallon I'm running normal size air stone , another Ziss fluid bed filter and a LARGE sponge. Again all three are cranking . in my 5 gallon I'm running a small sponge and normal size air stone . All cranking . The Alita replaced a Pawfly MC3000 which had real good output just a little noise and built well . The air with the pawfly had to be rationed to run all that equipment . The Alita is not straing at all in this application ,air to spare . It also is built like a tank . I probably am running the fluid beds too high but I have to do something with all that output from pump,to vent it would make noise . You do not hear this pump all you will hear is what is connected to it. Mind you I have only been running this pump a few days but what I am seeing is this pump is getting stronger the longer it runs. Oh did I mention ,runs stone cold . If you buy it I'm pretty sure you won't regret your purchase. Thanks for listening.

This pump is by far the very best one that I have ever used. It totally rocks in my 55-gallon aquarium. The only thing that you need to be concerned with is that it simply pumps a lot more air than you are used too, so you'd better have plenty of airstones on hand when it comes time to change them out because you don't want to back this thing up and damage anything.Pros: It is quieter than any pumps that I have ever owned including all Tetras, Whisper series, Fluval, and all of the others that I have purchased over the last 35 years! It creates the absolutes best conditions for under gravel filters and air tubes of any kind.Cons: NoneGo buy one and make certain that you size it correctly because these will blow your mind! I actually have a 5 inch bleed off stone behind some coral and it is merely used to blow off the extra air and help reduce back pressure. Meanwhile it super power lifts all of my 4 tubes better than when compared to my old setup of three separate pumps doing the exact same thing. You can barely hear it running.

The media could not be loaded.  This is the best air pump I've ever owned. I have a 75 gallon, 18-in deep fresh water setup with sump filter mounted below the tank. Air pump is next to sump. Purchased with 12-valve air divider. I am feeding (4) 8-inch long flat air strips and (1) 1.6 inch stone. I also run air to an auto fish feeder to keep moisture from clogging the feed hole. I have air left over, bleeding excess air into an under-cabinet air stone. I was hedging between the 6 and 12 LPM models, and researched a number of sites to determine a relative airflow, this model should easily put out enough air to support a 100 gallon tank with 6 - 8 attachments.There is no noise, the air bubbles make more noise than the pump, my sump pump makes more noise than this does.Just be sure to bleed off the excess air. Avoid creating too much back pressure by turning all valves down, leave one open with a dry stone on it. There is some talk about pump heat and ventilation, I don't see the issue with my setup, I have several small ventilation holes in the rear of the cabinet, the pump barely gets warm to the touch.I'm getting much more oxygenation today and I can see it in the fish activity, more swimming and less sitting.VERY VERY satisfied. $85 from Amazon - Arcadia International. The way it performs I'd pay $100+ every day of the week.BTW - I made the cabinet purpose built for this tank out of solid cherry. Looks and works as good as it did the day I set it up almost 14 years ago, with some darkening of the cherry over time.

We purchased this after receiving a Ehiem 400 that was noisy. I am happy to report that this unit is indeed quieter and more powerful than the Ehiem for use in our aquariums. We are running two 60 gallon sponge filters and a couple of 2" air stones. I believe that the pump output is capable of running more taps than we have purpose for. As delivered there was a 60 cycle hum from the unit when in contact with the stand. We used a piece of upside down carpet to mitigate the noise. This is an American built pump that is housed in cast iron. I'm a fan and can only hope that it provides the years of service I expect it to.

I don't know what everyone was complaining about with the noise. It is extremely quiet. I did put a towel underneath it but I don't think that was even necessary. This thing works great and puts out a lot of air. I use this in my 130 Gallon Aquarium with two 2-foot air stones and the amount of air pumping through them is rediculous. My fish are so happy! I have a 17inch pleco that just sits on the bubbles and I have 2 14 inch Megaladorus Irwini catfish that became very active constantly swimming though the bubbles. By the way, this aquarium is in the middle of my living room and the noise from it (or lack there of) doesn't interfere with TV or normal life. Highly recommended.