Clamping air stone hose to quiten it?

[Nash]

Is it safe to clamp it a little to reduce the noise it makes? It’s a new air pump, not blocked, above the tank, but it’s still so noisy. I clamped it a little with a pair of plyers and it’s sooo much quieter. Do you think it’s safe? Will it make my pump overheat?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

Do you mean you clamped the air hose? I would say it would be safe, it might deprive the pump of air, but it shouldn’t be that much. I think you are good to go!!

(Please consider entering the August TOTM contest, by clicking the banner at the top of your screen, Thanks!)

 

[Fishmanic]

The best way to lower the air flow into the tank is to get a gang valve with one more outlet than the number of your air hoses. Then you could adjust the unused valve to bleed off some air without potentially damaging the pump's diaphragm.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I didn’t think of that, you could run it to more than 1 tank, to lessen the air flow.

 

[Fishmanic]

I use two airlines in all my tanks....one for a sponge filter and one for an airstone.

 

[Colin_T]

If you kink or clamp the airline, you put back pressure on the diaphragm inside the pump and it will pop sooner. Then you will have to replace the diaphragms.

There are two ways to reduce the amount of air from an air pump.
1) There is a small screw in the side of the pump that holds the air chamber to the pump case. If you loosen that screw a small amount, the pump will produce less air.

2) Get a T-piece and tap, and a 12 inch length of airline. Put the T-piece in the airline a couple of inches from the pump outlet. Attach the current airline with airstone to one end of the T-piece, and attach the 12 inch length of airline to the 3rd point on the T-piece. Put the tap on the end of the short 12 inch length of tubing and use the tap to control the amount of air coming out of the airstone.

 

[Back in the fold]

There was a time before power filters when everyone knew all these things about air pumps. Colin summed it all up very well.