Flexible air stone hose?

Anybody use flexible air stone hoses?

if it works, it works, as long as its not clear. you should be fine

i thought al air stone hose was flexible..and why cant you use clear hose? not like water is going through it and will get algea. Maybe im misunderstanding what your talking about.

I think he means something like this...



Essentially it's a black tube with holes poked into it that you attach to your air pump via regular airline tubing. And to answer your question, yes, they work just fine. But because the holes in the flexible hose are a little larger, I'd watch it to make sure it doesn't get clogged up.

I tried them once when I first started growing DWC and they sucked! They were incredibly restrictive and made less than half the air bubbles that a typical cheap 6" blue air stone makes. Do not waste you money, stick to regular air stones.

Not a fan.

Not a fan either

Thanks fellow heads!!!!!!!! your right Meta, I didn't realize it was confusing at first. Looks like a good idea, but the consensus is negitory so far.

Clear is prone to bacteria.. Alegea, which is why people prefer the colored one. Just use any tube the fits the pump.

oceangreen said:

Clear is prone to bacteria.. Alegea, which is why people prefer the colored one. Just use any tube the fits the pump.

Click to expand...

So is the blue vinyl tubing. Try to use black vinyl where water, nutrients, and light will be a combination. The only thing I use clear vinyl tubing for is air hose. Anything water related in black.

use a good aluminum silicate stone

again, i don't think he's talking about tubing. he's talking about the flexible air "stones" that are perforated. feels like there's actually copper inside to keep it rigid.

i have two 4' sections linked together. mine came with male fittings on both ends, so i run 2 of the 6 outlets from my air pump into either end of it. that keeps pressure consistent throughout the entire 8ft. you have to turn down the valves for the other outlets running off your pump since it requires more pressure than a normal airstone.

i'm thinking of adding 6 more (4 per 2x4' tray), but i'm going to need more air pressure. planning to upgrade the air pump.

i have a lot of organic debris in my system, so i usually have to "blow it out" once a day. to blow it out, you need to turn off all of the other valves and run full pressure through these perforated air hoses for a minute or so. that'll knock loose any debris that is clogging to orifices.

it's not my primary source of aeration, but it does keep things agitated and aerated in my flood trays, which run 24/7. i wouldn't rely on these air hoses as the only source of aeration. you need to be able to visually inspect them, so sticking them into a deep, dark res with poor access might not be the best idea either. and finally, they require more pressure than a standard airstone.

why have something like that, that needs maintenance every day? K.I.S.S.

oceangreen said:

Clear is prone to bacteria.. Alegea, which is why people prefer the colored one. Just use any tube the fits the pump.

Click to expand...

I don't think you read the whole post by any means. He is not referring to air line!

To OP: I will join the consensus of the majority by saying they work great at the start but fade fast. Not worth the hassles they require to keep them working somewhat decent even. A big NO from my experiences.

2 things...

First, flexible lines can get gunked up, and are harder to clean. They do tend to require more air to push through the collapsed holes.

Second, they can produce LARGE bubbles. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but the smaller the bubble the better the oxygenating of the water.

I prefer air stones as they break up the larger bubbles.