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has anyone used the Nitto Kohki Medo LA80B blower it’s the only linnear piston model I’ve been able to in Australia I believe I’ll need to add a bleeder valve and gauge to reduce strain on motor. They’re $450-$550 here which is fine (more than expected but fine…)
Hello Duzzy, I had a look at those a few years ago but opted for diaphragm style air pumps instead. I have tried turbine blowers too. So not able to directly answer your query but happy to provide my observations.
What air volume (how many tanks) and what water depth (pressure) do you require? And how critical is it to always have air flow available?
I settled on resun LP-60 pumps predominantly but I have used Air Lab, Pond One, Sonic, The Pump, Hailea and several non branded diaphram air pumps. I currently run 8 of the resun LP-60s.
I've got quite a few tanks (3 fish rooms) and needed my air to reach 2m depth with constant air availability being essential.
The Medo 80 (15kPa) is half the pressure of Resun LP-60 (37kPa) which allows the Resun to reach 3.5m depth (apparently).
* The Resun is louder.
* The Resun is available from multiple reseller outlets with spare parts readily available and has been this way for several decades now.
The resun has an aluminium body and runs reliably in my experience. The noise isn't "loud" but can be made completely silent if you place the airpump elsewhere and run a longer supply line back - the friction loss on air pipe is quite small especially if oversized.
To ensure a continuous air supply, I put two air pumps on the same air supply line and keep a third pump spare and a set of replacement parts. I keep the same sized model throughout so hot swapping is easy. I have electricity back up (for power outages) and keep my air pumps on two dedicated separate electricity circuits for air pumps only.
I decided against the Medo because I needed to reach 2m water depth, keep at least 3 pumps and wasn't sure if the sole importer would continue or keep spare parts. And I'm able to self service any issues. There are various methods to optimise the life of diaphram. Some of my pumps have been continuously running at least 8 years without diaphram or flapper valve replacement.
For the price of a resun 60, you might as well get one as a spare back up for the Medo. This sounds like an advert for resun but for my particular situation the resun fits best. I'm sure the durability of the Medo is better.
Actually I did use a Medo when living in Japan when I was younger but was only running 25 small tanks.
