Cannot Find Air Flow Regulator!

[Gill Fisher]

At least I can't find one like everyone else is using to make a fluid bed. I can find 2, 3 or 4 of them ganged together, but the single one that people are using in building the fluid beds CANNOT be found in our part of the world! In the little town where I live, Wal-Mart is the only game in town, and they don't have them. But about 15 miles away is one of the larger towns in our state and Petsmart there doesn't have them either. In fact, the head of the aquarium department said he had never even seen one. He sent me to Home Depot, of all places, to the plumbing department, but the guy there had no idea what I was looking for. I finally ended up back at Wal-Mart where I bought an air pump, the hose, a splitter, a regulator which is for 2 lines ganged together and a thing called a check valve. Its purpose in an aquarium is to prevent a back flow of water from the aquarium in the event of a power outage. My thought is that I can build 2 fluid beds, one for each side of the regulator. I will use the check valve as the part that goes through the side of the fluid bed. So what I will have is the air pump with an air hose that goes to the splitter. From the splitter, I will have two hoses that go to each of the 2 regulator inputs. From the 2 outputs of the regulator, I will have 2 hoses that go to the 2 check valves, one in the side of each fluid bed.

Now, does anyone see a problem with that? Does it sound to you who have built a fluid bed like it should work or is there some fatal flaw in my design?

Maybe someone who lives in a place where you can buy the single air flow regulators should think about offering a kit of parts for sale on the c.com for those of us who live where you can't buy all the parts. The next alternative for me would be to drive at least 60 miles one way to either Charlotte, NC or Columbia, SC to look there & that's too much trouble for such a small item. But thanks for your response to this post.

Take care

GF

[Fatman]

With my dual air pump I run a hose from each nozzle to a y connector which then puts all the air into 1 line which plugs into my three way flow control which is how I run 3 beds at once. Here's a pic of the three way, just make sure they're closed when you plug the pump in and you can adjust the flow of air.


When I get back to Vermont I'll post a better picture of the set-up from the pump and tubing set up for you.

[ifish]

Here are some on ebay with free shipping.5X Aquarium Air Line Tubing Volume Flow Control Valves | eBay

[BuckeyeKdog]

Here are some on ebay with free shipping.5X Aquarium Air Line Tubing Volume Flow Control Valves | eBay

I bought a bunch (25) of those a while back, work perfectly. I have used the gang fittings from some aquarium shops as well but I like having the fitting on the side of my fluid bed. I can run 5 cups at a time so made several 5x fluid beds

[ifish]

This may be a better deal because you need some T connectors for multiple cups. Set Air Valve Air Line Connector Aquarium 01 Free SHIP | eBay
Aquarium Pump Air Line Control Kit Fittings Valves Tee's T Splitter Lee'S | eBay

[Fatman]

Ok now that I'm home I can post up the pics -

Dual air nozzle pump - one hose each nozzle, those two lines to a Y joint with a hose out to a regulator


Put a hose from the other nipple from the regulator to the three way regulator and hose from one to a fluid bed - if you're running 3 beds you'd have one hose from each of the nozzles on the three way. With this Tetra Whisper 60 I run the three beds fine with plenty of extra if I wanted to run more.


All the extra nozzles - The black pieces came with the pump - all the clear and white ones I got at PetSmart

[Gill Fisher]

Thanks, Fatman. My Petsmart didn't have the white, clear or black pieces. Next time you're close to Petsmart, would you be willing to pick up some of the clear and white pieces for me and I will pay you for the parts and for the shipping.

GF

[DrNip]

Here is what I have. Mine was bought like this but I am sure a quick trip to the hardware store can have it like this.

[Fatman]

If I get that way - my store is 45 mins away. Might be quicker to order them.