# Quiet air pump?



## Wisey (27 Feb 2016)

I have just rescaped today, journal to start tomorrow I hope, but I have a question on ar pumps.

With the new scape I'm using a violet outflow pipe, it gives no surface agitation, which is fine during lights on, but I have set up an air pump to give agitation during lights off. The pump was bought last year but not used before, it's a TMC H2 Air 100 dual outlet pump. I set it up on one outlet, it's really noisy. Attached tubing to the second outlet and it's a little quieter, but still way too loud even with the cabinet door shut. It's fine for a night or too, but long term I need something quiet.

Any ideas please? This says it's supposed to be quiet and unobtrusive, it's not!


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## MedicMan (28 Feb 2016)

I've used an eheim air pump in the past and they are very quiet. You might also be able to get away with a manifold to offset pressure differences that may be causing the noise.

Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk


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## parotet (28 Feb 2016)

Hi al

I also use a air pumps this way, at least when I am traveling and I cannot rise the lily pipes. I have now a Sera air pump, but I always have the lowest models available, because you really need much from it, just bubbling the surface (that's a first point to reduce noise IMO). I have also connected a simple air flow controller between the pump and the check valve. It is incredible how the noise produced can change just adjusting the air flow. The same regarding the device you put at the end of the tubing. However I am not sure if this will change your current noise level for worse or better. The third thing I did was to place the air pump on a dense sponge pad and hiding it behind the tank... In other words, you reduce vibration as much as possible (I would like to hide in my cabinet but there is no room). But again this depends on how small your pump is. Finally, I guess all the pumps are noisy, especially by night when you can hear everything. In your manual you will have some directions for reducing noise, including the change of rubber diaphragm, air entrance, etc.

Jordi


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## EnderUK (28 Feb 2016)

I stick mine on the carpet outside the cabinet. Try sticking it on some filter sponge. The Hidom I have is more quite then the bubbles it produces.


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## Nelson (28 Feb 2016)

I've always found that no matter how quiet you get the pump,on sponge etc.The noise travels in the air/bubbles and you hear it when they break the surface.


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## Swordplay (28 Feb 2016)

In my experience there is no such thing as a quiet air pump despite all the claims these manufacturers make, could you use a powerhead with a venturi attachment of some kind which you could then put in overnight then remove from the tank when you don't need it.


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## Wisey (28 Feb 2016)

Thanks for the input everyone. I bought this pump just to have a pump available when I need it, it's never been used, so I would hope the diaphragm etc is in good shape.

It's a fairly powerful pump, so I guess I'll go look for something smaller and hopefully quieter later. The noise of the bubbles was loud and I don't mind that, but the vibration noise from the pump was awful. It's on rubber feet, but the air filters are in the base, so you are not supposed to put it on anything soft that would dampen noise as it blocks the air flow.


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## Konrad Michalski (6 Mar 2016)

This won't quite answer your question but I would just go for a glass surface skimmer and your surface agitation problem will be solved. Eheim though is very quiet.


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## Parablennius (9 Mar 2016)

Hi there
Historically the quietest and most powerful pumps were Rena brand french made. I used them and they were very quiet, and very powerful, best available at the time. I still have some. Actually quieter under pressure.
The good news, they are still available, including repair kits, diaphragms etc, now made in America. the name escapes me at the mo but the last I bought came in a plain white, unbranded box. I seem to remember they were via some surgical lab. type company. HTH
Got it!! Rena 301 oblong brick shaped, you won't get better. Google Rena 301. Available in 110 or 230 Volt.

Cheers


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## zozo (9 Mar 2016)

While back a bought a used dc12 volt mini air pump from ebay..  Never had a quieter pump before and extremely powerfull for it's size.. and controlable from 5 to 12 volt.
I believe they take 'm out of coffee machines for some reason. Probably a part from a device which oftenly needs to be refurbished. Have 2 of them the first i bought already runs over a year now.. $ 2,50 can't say nothing about that.

One i run the sump moving bed filter with, runs 24/7 for 3 months now and only hear the bubbles, if i use the AC220 volt airpump the pumps noise overpowers the bubble noise.


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## Wisey (9 Mar 2016)

Just to update, I bought the Eheim 100 Air Pump. It claims silent operation and I have to agree, you can barely hear anything at all, and nothing once the cabinet door is shut. The only noise is the bubbles and I don't mind that. At the moment I am using the air stone I already had. The pump does come with a diffuser which I may test at some point, but its working fine as it is. I have it on a timer now, it comes on at 23:00 when the lights go off and runs through to 10:00.


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## Protopigeon (21 Mar 2016)

Interesting. I just installed an easy aqua outflow lily pipe on my 60L shrimp tank and as I've found the surface agitation is much less, and not really breaking surface, so I wonder if I need to get something in there to break the surface more...


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## parotet (22 Mar 2016)

Protopigeon said:


> Interesting. I just installed an easy aqua outflow lily pipe on my 60L shrimp tank and as I've found the surface agitation is much less, and not really breaking surface, so I wonder if I need to get something in there to break the surface more...


The flow rate of your filter is one of the first things to look. I could not run lily pipes with the filters I had before (which were not 10x the tank volume... Well honestly I could, but the flow distribution was very bad and the lily pipe simply did not its work. ADA is one of the few brands that recommends a certain flow for each of the lily pipes in the catalogue, good advice IMO)

Jordi


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## Protopigeon (22 Mar 2016)

parotet said:


> The flow rate of your filter is one of the first things to look.



Thanks that's very a good point - I'm running a Fluval 106 on this 60L cube. 

Fluval state it as "Flow Rate: 550 LPH", so it's almost 10x the tank volume. This is my first lily pipe setup, and although I do like the way it looks when it's set lower down (with the bend just touching the top rim), I need to set it higher up to agitate the surface at all. The duckbill style fluval outlet was agitating the surface better, but didn't look great.


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## parotet (22 Mar 2016)

As mentioned I could not make my lily pipes work as I wanted with such flow rate... but this is maybe me. I've got the best results when my canister flow rate were over 10x, I would say perfect now that I am around 15x. With this flow rate I manage to create a vortex when the pipe is down (I lose a bit of Co2 but works as a skimmer) and by raising the pipe I can create the disturbance I need (from a light rippling if the pipe is just under the water level, to few bubbles or a huge and noisy bubbling breaking the water surface). If I cannot do all this with my outflow I prefer to use other systems. And in my experience, for this you need enough flow rate.

Jordi


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## Iain Sutherland (22 Mar 2016)

generally lily pipes suck at surface movement as they are designed to get flow down to substrate level, also the reason ada advise to raise lilies at night... be careful on a shrimp tank as low oxygen, especially in summer with warmer water, can have a serious effect on shrimp mortality 

only ever used eheim when ive needed one, generally silent or near as damn it.


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## Wisey (22 Mar 2016)

I'm really pleased with the Eheim air pump. Sits in the cabinet out the way, super quiet, running on a time guard digital timer so I never have to worry about it. If you don't want the hassle of raising or lowering pipes to get surface agitation at night I really recommend it.

I want a system I can set and leave, everything is timed including fert dosing. I just have to clean it once a week.


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## parotet (23 Mar 2016)

As mentioned in post #3 I use the air pump system when traveling, as I cannot raise the lily pipes by hand... But I don't use it everyday as my tanks are quite small (maximum 60 liters) and I don't want to pack it with too much stuff. Additionally I found that lily pipe aeration works much better that the diffuser (it's maybe me) and when I am home raising the lily pipes is part of the tanks supervision tour before the end of the day. The same the following morning

Jordi


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## rondha.pratt (27 Sep 2017)

I own a Tetra Whisper Air Pump (Non-UL) and am enormously pleased with its execution. It has been in function more than a year or so with no issues confronted. It does have the capability of dealing up to 100 gallons and I found it to be an effective and stellar air pump. This air pump at present is not simply low in price, but it adds prominent functionality as well. With regards to muted operation and vibration dumping, the pump possesses attributes such as rubber feet and sound-suppressing chambers.

I'd earnestly appreciate if you could kindly please share your views.


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