Hydor Ario 2 and 4 aquarium aerators

[Cgy_Betta_Guy]

I figured I would do a quick product review of the Hydor Ario 2 and Ario 4 aquarium aerators after mentioning them in my journals in case anyone was curious about them.

Here is a link to the product home page

http://www.hydor.com/prodotti/show/famprod/2/list/1#tabelle

Whats in the package:

Ario pump unit with impeller and cover, mounting bracket with 4 suction cups for mounting to the bottom of tank, filter sponge disc that is placed inside the ario pump between the LED lights and pump, length of air tubing, small adjustable air intake knob with sponge filter for the air end of tubing, suction cups with slots to hold air tubing and electrical cord.

Quick product description:

This product really caught my eye when I first saw it because it had a couple elements to it that I was looking for. The first was that it was an aeration system that was internal to the aquarium and second it had color LED lights which would provide simple "moonlighting" to part of my tank. After researching a bit before buying my first tank I had decided to get my self a pump and airstone system like the majority of people do for their tanks. Not having any experience with newer pumps I wasnt sure if I really wanted to get an external pump that would require me to do some vibration proofing to keep it from making a racket. I am sure new pumps are much better in this regard but my memories are of the buzzing air pump my brother used many years ago.

I had looked around a bit and found this product. It is essentially a small motorized pump that is meant to be internal and mounted to the glass bottom of your tank. It uses an impeller to draw air from the air line run into the back of the tank where the impeller proceeds to 'chop' the air into small bubbles. It does its job well in this respect. The additional aesthetics of the unit is that it has 4 LED lights offered in Red Green or Blue that shine upwards into the column of bubbles it produces thus illuminating the bubbles to quite nice affect.

Installation:

Since my tank was a new tank it was easy for me to place this unit when there was no substrate.

1) place the mounting bracket with suction cups in position at the bottom of the tank

2) slide the pump onto the bracket

3) attach air hose to pump and run up the back of your tank with the electrical cord and fasten to tank back with provided suction cups

4) cut the air hose so that there is about 3 inches of slack sticking out the back and attach the small plastic knob to end of air hose and put the provided sponge inside it. Adjust desired air flow by turning the upper portion which is just closing a small hole cut into the base of this knob.

5) proceed to cover the ario mounting stand with substrate being sure not to exceed the height of where the air exits the unit.

6) fill tank with water, plug in aerator and watch the bubbles

here is a pic of the unit just after installation.

and after putting gravel around it

Performance:

The unit itself does the job of bubbling quite well. However one needs to make sure that the end of the air hose doesnt dip below the water line which is why cutting the air line is suggested (I hadnt done it). I found that after filling my tank a bit higher than usual that the pump decides to push water out of the tank instead of pumping in air. I had used mine on a timer and luckily I happened to be there the day it decided to do this so it was only about 30 seconds worth of water pumped out. This unit does produce some level of noise but I find it to be a low humming similar to but a bit louder than that a canister filter makes and vibrations are dampened by it being underwater and buried in your substrate. The chopping of the bubbles and subsequent popping of them at the surface also produces part of this noise which is to be expected. Still much better than my memories of having an external pump.

I believe the small sponge disc that is placed inside the pump underneath the lighting and over the impellor is there to keep debris from the tank from jamming and dirtying the impellor. It is also someplace that can possibly house some beneficial bacteria if it is in your tank long enough. The downside of the sponge is that you need to clean it once in a while and I often overlooked it since its hidden behind all my driftwood and plants. As it gets dirty the quantity of the bubbles out put by the unit declines a bit.

The lighting worked well for me on my Ario 2 in my 31 Gallon and looked pretty nice. The LEDs however stopped working after about 8 months use. The pump itself still works but I only use it infrequently to get the water moving such as following a water change. I stopped using it on a regular basis because I started using compressed CO2 in my planted tank.

In my 58 gallon tank, I had used a sand substrate which I would NOT recommend if you plan on using either of these aerator products. The Ario 4 I had placed into the tank ended up getting jammed by sand and I believe burned out the motor in it so its lifespan was also a matter of months. Learn from my mistake!

Also a note. I have Malaysian trumpet snails in my tank and the smaller ones are able to crawl inside of these units but dont think there is much jamming risk as they are small and light enough to get blown out with the air. I have no known issues with this.

Final thoughts:

The product does its job of aerating the water exactly as intended but suffers a bit for durability. The LEDs are in a sealed unit and because they are LEDs I would have expected quite a longer life span than 8 months of daily use in the Ario 2. I found that the Hydor Aquacolor spot light I had placed into my 31G (pictured above)also suffered from this flaw as it died in less than 4 months of daily use and actually failed before the lights on the Ario 2 did. The fact the Ario 4 died on me was probably my fault for using it with sand substrate.

For the price you could probably get a cheaper pump with air line and an air stone but you would not have the neat looking illuminated bubbles. Overall I think if I was starting up another gravel substrate tank I might consider buying another of these if I needed the water aeration simply because its not another external peice of hardware taking up room in my stand. However I wouldnt count on having the lighting on it last long.

[Morphine]

Props... Very nice.. Thanks for the info I believe I read your post on Monster Fish Keepers about your planted and stuff.

[Cgy_Betta_Guy]

You might be thinking of someone else. I dont think I have ever written anything on MFK.