Air Pump Help

[mandiemoo]

Ok, so I just bought an airpump. The pump it self isn't noisy but when you put the airstone on and put it in the water it makes a hell of a noise, I'm only wanting it to add a little more surface agitation, so should I be ok to use this without an air stone?

My filter isn't one that is submerged so it only trickles in, hence the wanting more surface agitation.

 

[Maxta]

My dads does that too. His pump is silent, but when the tubes hooked upto the airstone and in the tank, damn it makes an annoying sound.

I have a small pump which is relatively quiet, but again, the airstone is what makes the most noise, thankfully nowhere near as bad as my dads. And iv tried with different sized airstones wich are compatible before anyone says anything. So i guess its hard to avoid...

 

[piratedninja]

to lower the noise level i went out and bought the smallest and cheapest air pump (about $7 and its made for a 5 gallon tank)
and for the stone i use those white plastic ones that are made to produce very fine bubbles

another thing to do is get a pack of those regulators that go inline with the hose and try to reduce to amount of bubbles to about 50% this way you still get surface agitation and a nice display of bubbles


you can barely hear my pump

also try putting the pump on the floor (if you have carpet) this will muffle the sound and lower the noise level to

 

[Maxta]

I use a gang valve in my tubing, because without it i think the airstone creates too many bubbles and therefore too much surface agitation. I have it turned down 50% and it is just right, and alot quieter.

 

[mandiemoo]

piratedninja - That's what I bought today, the smallest and cheapest (and apparently quiet) airpump for up to 10g. I wouldn't care I was looking at the regulators, but I had m niece with me and didn't really have my mind tuned in, and only looking for the things I really needed. I have the pump itself on a thick cloth, but it hasn't done much for the humming you get from the unit, but that I would be able to get use to in time, it's the loud bubbling that would drive me mad!

Maxta - Going to pick one of the up, hopefully that will do the trick, as the tank is in my room, I've got use to one filter running that is closer to me than the newer tank, but boy does the air pump make a noise when it's in the tank.

Thanks for your help!

 

[piratedninja]

for a temporary regulator put a small binder clip on the hose to reduce the amount of bubbles
that will surely bring the noise down a lot

try folding the hose a once and then put the binder clip on it if you cant reduce the bubbles with just the binder clip and no folds

 

[Tolak]

It's better for the pump to bleed off some air. Get a gang valve, attach one outlet to the airstone opened up all the way. Open another outlet to bleed off enough air to turn it down to where you want.

 

[Maxta]

It's better for the pump to bleed off some air. Get a gang valve, attach one outlet to the airstone opened up all the way. Open another outlet to bleed off enough air to turn it down to where you want.

I must say that doesnt work for me. I tried that when i first got it, no matter how open the spare outlet is, it stops the air going to my airstone. Dont know why. So i have to keep that closed shut permanently, and to keep surface aggitation down i close the outline going to airstone about half and that works fine.

I tried using a clamp that is designed for air pump tubing, and it kind of was useless. Had to practically close it down all the way to reduce the amount of air, and it would work, but since its on a timer with my light, when they go off and come back on in the morning, the air stops going to my airstone for some reason. So i binned that and got a gang valve that someone recommended me to.