Hydroponic Air Tubing
When it comes to hydroponics air tubing is something you are going to want to have a lot of and some extra kicking around. It is cheap and comes in 25 foot lengths which makes it easy to work with. Just like anything there are pros and cons for each type of air hose tubing and I hope to clear some of those up for you in my review!
Penn Plax Air Tubing
When I first got into hydroponics I ordered the cheapest stuff I could find on amazon and while it did work, I soon found myself replacing the hose at the end of the first year of growing.
This is the clear air tubing that I started out with, after a few months of use I noticed that I hated working with this type of air tubing it was very tight and hard to connect and remove from my air stones. The last straw was when I ripped one of my air stone connectors out of the stone while trying to remove the air tubing! That’s when I decided to order and test some new air tubing.
Elite Silicone Airline Tubing
This blue air tubing is what I decided to order from amazon and test next and it seems to work much better. It has a much more rubber feel to it and connects and disconnects from the air stones without causing any damage to the stone or tubing.
Lee’s Sleek Airline Tubing
This black airline tubing is what I would like to use in my future grows. It will stop any algae from forming inside the air tubing, which is something that has happened to me while using the clear air tubing. This can be caused from water getting into the air hose or moisture.
Using the Correct Air Stone With Your Airline Tubing
After looking at a few of the different brands and suppliers of air tubing you may have noticed that they also come in different sizes and this is based on the diameter of the air tube. Larger air stones will require a larger air hose connection. Keep in mind that most hydroponic air pumps will allow you to use 2 different sizes of air hose! This is great news for us growers.