Long before we had peristaltic pumps of every size, stripe, color and price us reefers had to be a little more creative about how we dosed and supplemented a myriad of aquarium chemicals and additives. Air pumps and pressurized containers were one way of slowly feeding chemicals, so were suspended drips which began declining in their flow rate the moment that they were started, but the Tom Vacuum Pump was one of the most direct ways to administer small volumes of fluids.
This unique diaphragm style pump was not controllable or adjustable, but it did have the super power of being able to pump air or water to the tune of three gallons per hour and as far up as 24 whole inches. The Vacuum Pump is a versatile machine that was more often paired with the U-tubes of side-mounted overflow boxes to prevent the buildup of air bubble in the gravity-fed siphon drain which helps to explain why the original air-water fluid mover eventually became very hard to find.
While siphon-fed overflow boxes are pretty much an endangered species these days, reefers have more need than ever before for flexible and durable water movers, especially the quiet type that can be used for automatic water top off. The Aqua Lifter might be discontinued under the ToM brand, or at least unavailable in most western markets, it seems that there’s been some kind of rebranding under Koller Products and with it the return of the inimitable Aqua lifter.
Premium Aquatics is the first company to have the Aqua Lifter back in stock for $49.99 which is actually a bit less than the ToM version used to sell for. The folks over at Premium have a video about the legacy version detailing the various uses of this small but mighty vacuum diaphragm pump but we’re unsure of whether the classic prefilter or hang-on bracket will also make an appearance on the retailer’s website.
