Would an aquarium air pump be sufficient to circulate water in a temp controlled bath

J Rollinger · Aug 28, 2010

I want to make my own temperature controlled bath to develop C41 film. I had a print processor in the classifieds but there was no takers so i want to remove the therm units from it and make a temperature controlled bath with them but my concern is how to circulate the water so the temp is even. Can i use a small aquarium air pump for this or would that just give me a lot of bubbles?

Thanks
Jim

juan · Aug 28, 2010

An air pump would give bubbles. You might consider a submersible aquarium pump - I used one for several years to circulate my wash water in a large tub.
juan

Jan Pietrzak · Aug 28, 2010

Jim,

My only thought is the temperature of the water bath. The brain is a bit fogged but C41 100f +- yes no?????

Jan Pietrzak

Ricus.stormfire · Aug 28, 2010

I second Juan's idea with the submersible pump - air pumps only make bubbles, giving your darkroom/lab a bubbling (along with the hum of the pump itself) sound - I've tried this once but promtly removed it.

good luck

J Rollinger · Aug 28, 2010

Jan Pietrzak said:
Jim,

My only thought is the temperature of the water bath. The brain is a bit fogged but C41 100f +- yes no?????

Jan Pietrzak

Yes it is. The therms from the processor go over 130F i believe.

J Rollinger · Aug 28, 2010

juan said:
An air pump would give bubbles. You might consider a submersible aquarium pump - I used one for several years to circulate my wash water in a large tub.
juan

Juan... Thanks for the advice. I have a ceramic tile cutter with a pump in the pan that shoots water over the blade, maybe i wi;; use that until i buy one. I checked the web and they seem very cheap.

Kvistgaard · Aug 28, 2010

J Rollinger said:
Juan... Thanks for the advice. I have a ceramic tile cutter with a pump in the pan that shoots water over the blade, maybe i wi;; use that until i buy one. I checked the web and they seem very cheap.

Jim - I've bought a couple of inexpensive submersible aquarium pumps from a local petshop, to circulate water in my negative and my print washer. Apart from the humming sounds, they do the job perfectly. And, they are easy to fit with tubing / hoses etc.

steven_e007 · Aug 28, 2010

OK, don't laugh, but I used a kids toy submarine for a while. A plastic battery case with a small electric motor and a little propeller. It even had a rubber suction cup to stick it to the base of the bath. It worked perfectly ;-)

J Rollinger · Aug 28, 2010

LMAO!

J Rollinger · Aug 28, 2010

Here is what i have to work with, I removed the lid and the roller unit. I wonder what circulated the water in the processor... the rollers? I would be happy if i can use it for one roll at a time since i rarely shoot color.

mgb74 · Aug 28, 2010

An aquarium pump does help circulate water. There is a flow of water rising up along with the bubbles. But I'm not sure how effective this would be in a shallow tray.

verney · Aug 29, 2010

I use a small and cheap (around 5$) aquarium water pump to circulate water in my CPE2. Works nicely, got it from eBay.

Neil Poulsen · Oct 17, 2010

A submersible fountain pump works well for this purpose. You can get them in all different sizes.

Chris Douglas · Oct 18, 2010

Cooler Pump

I use an evaporative cooler "swamp cooler" circulation pump which costs less than $20 in any hardware store in southern arizona. Works great.

J Rollinger · Oct 18, 2010

I have been using my pump from a wet saw and it works great. Now i just have to remember to put it back when i have a tile job to do!

JBrunner · Oct 18, 2010

I circulate the water in my 8ft darkroom sink with two medium size aquarium "power heads". Temp is maintained by a 200w unbreakable aquarium heater. Works fine in the 60-65ish all the time basement.

Jose LS Gil · Oct 22, 2010

I just ran across this thread. You can use an aquarium pump or even a pond pump. The larger ones are rated in GPH (gallons per hour). When I had my 100 gallon aquarium setup, I ran one 300 GPH Flugal external pump in a sealed canister with one inlet and one outlet 1/2inch hose circulating the water. I also used two temp adjusting heaters to keep the water at a constant 88 degrees F.

Pond pumps can even be purchased at Home Depot or Lowe's stateside. Little Giant is one of the better brands. Also, check auction sites for cheap used equipment as people are always upgrading equipment or taking down their tanks or ponds.

clayne · Oct 22, 2010

I use hot tap water that I measure around 100f and leave the chems and tanks in a slow flowing bath.

Renato Tonelli · Oct 22, 2010

That's from the Durst Printo: the circulation is provided by the large roller.

Would an aquarium air pump be sufficient to circulate water in a temp controlled bath

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