Author Topic: Quiet Air Pump Recommendations (Read 29274 times) 21 replies

dbaggie · « **on:** October 13, 2014, 01:58:57 PM »

Afternoon all

I'm considering purchasing an air pump to create a bubble fountain in my tank and would be interested in any recommendations as to pumps which are both cheap and quiet!

Long story, short - I moved my internal filter to allow for a change in internal layout and although I'm much happier with where the filter is now, it also means that the flow from the outlet has changed and it's playing havoc with my floating plants. As such, I'm considering moving the filter outlet flow down so that it no longer moves the water surface but this then means I obviously need something else to oxygenate. I do have a wavemaker which can be pointed to the surface but this is pretty noisy!

Cheers

chris213 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 13, 2014, 02:50:02 PM »

i try many pumps in my search for a quiet one and found the only one that was really quiet enough for my bedroom was eheim they truely cant be beaten on sound and price is pretty good to - i went for the eheim 400 is dual air output with individual adjustment is great there about 30 pounds on ebay smaller versions are also available aswell

dbaggie · « **Reply #2 on:** October 13, 2014, 06:49:01 PM »

Thanks for the response Chris - I'll check them out

I've also been eyeing up some Tetratec air pumps, probably the 150aps or 300aps - does anyone have any experience with these?

Rich_D · « **Reply #3 on:** October 13, 2014, 08:34:44 PM »

I've had Tetratec before and they are fairly noisy! As are aqua one pumps. I have one from all pond solutions at the moment and although its quieter than all others I've had its still not that quiet however it does have a dial to control the airflow which I like.

dbaggie · « **Reply #4 on:** October 13, 2014, 08:45:43 PM »

Thanks Rich - I'll check those out as well!

ColinB · « **Reply #5 on:** October 14, 2014, 08:06:32 AM »

I've got a real cheapie.... a Trixie AP120. I tried a few others which were too noisy, and I couldn't quieten then down. The Trixie was horrible, so I opened it up and bent the little metal arm with the magnet on it about 5mm further away from the electromagnet. It's now almost silent and the bubbles make more noise than the pump.

I did, however, have to splice a UK plug onto it as it came with a Euro style plug.

Obvious disclaimer here: opening up electrical equipment leads to a slow and painful death if you don't know what you're doing. Sometimes it happens even if you do know what you're doing! Switch it off and unplug it before futzing around with it.

dbaggie · « **Reply #6 on:** October 14, 2014, 09:48:42 AM »

Quote from: ColinB on October 14, 2014, 08:06:32 AM

Obvious disclaimer here: opening up electrical equipment leads to a slow and painful death if you don't know what you're doing. Sometimes it happens even if you do know what you're doing! Switch it off and unplug it before futzing around with it.

Could it also lead to a fast and painful death??

Getting a cheapy of eBay might be worth trying as a starter for ten and then I could always upgrade to a better one later. Something else to look into!

Sue · « **Reply #7 on:** October 14, 2014, 10:15:45 AM »

I've read of various ways to make an air pump quieter but as I've never had an air pump I can't say from personal experience if they actually work or not. The theme behind all these methods is that the main noise is from the pump vibrating on a surface.
Put it on a folded towel.
Put it in a cupboard
Suspend it on a piece of string

dbaggie · « **Reply #8 on:** October 14, 2014, 11:59:13 AM »

I was planning to locate it inside a cupboard and place some sort of padding underneath, although I do like the idea of suspending it - almost like an air pump hammock!

dbaggie · « **Reply #9 on:** October 17, 2014, 07:21:58 PM »

Has anyone tried Hidom air pumps? Looks like they're a Chinese make (not usually a good sign admittedly) and I'm sure I've seen some comments about their heaters being dodgy, but with it just being an air pump it wouldn't really be a critical piece of 'life support' equipment.

chris213 · « **Reply #10 on:** October 17, 2014, 08:21:46 PM »

i had one came with my tank it was more like a jack hammer than a air pump or a least sounded like one

dbaggie · « **Reply #11 on:** October 17, 2014, 08:48:36 PM »

That doesn't sound promising! Can you remember what model it was by any chance?

chris213 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 18, 2014, 04:43:01 PM »

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hidom-Silent-Aquarium-Air-Pump-Fish-Tank-Quiet-Single-Twin-Valve-Tropical-Marine-/351064279143?var=&hash=item51bd0fc867

should be not so quiet

biffster · « **Reply #13 on:** October 31, 2014, 04:22:46 PM »

any of the tetratec air pump range very very quiet

Robert · « **Reply #14 on:** March 22, 2018, 09:32:13 AM »

Just summarising a few of the mentioned pumps here with direct links to the products.

Hidom Tetratec eheim 400

Sue · « **Reply #15 on:** March 22, 2018, 09:53:34 AM »

I know this is an old thread (3¹/₂ years) but Robert has brought it up again

I bought a JBL ProSilent air pump when I changed the filter in my betta's tank from an internal to an air powered sponge filter. It was so noisy I replaced with with an Eheim, the smallest in the range of Robert's link. The difference in noise was remarkable. I could hear the JBL pump upstairs while the fridge is noisier than the Eheim (the tank is in the kitchen and I sometimes have to look for bubbles to make sure the pump is still working).

JBL ProSilent
Eheim 100

Summary - the Eheim is a lot quieter than the JBL ProSilent

Robert · « **Reply #16 on:** March 22, 2018, 10:03:25 AM »

Quote from: Sue on March 22, 2018, 09:53:34 AM

I know this is an old thread (3¹/₂ years) but Robert has brought it up again

I bought a JBL ProSilent air pump when I changed the filter in my betta's tank from an internal to an air powered sponge filter. It was so noisy I replaced with with an Eheim, the smallest in the range of Robert's link. The difference in noise was remarkable. I could hear the JBL pump upstairs while the fridge is noisier than the Eheim (the tank is in the kitchen and I sometimes have to look for bubbles to make sure the pump is still working).

JBL ProSilent
Eheim 100

Summary - the Eheim is a lot quieter than the JBL ProSilent

Yep! Was going through logs and found a lot of people were landing on this page so thought I'd give it a bump and link to the example products directly. Thanks for the update Sue!

Hampalong · « **Reply #17 on:** March 22, 2018, 02:24:14 PM »

IME there's only one quiet airpump on the market, and it's the one that's in a different room with a hole in the wall for the airline.

Hydor (a British company) used to make a range of piston-powered airpumps that really were almost silent... just a very quiet 'whoosh' from the pistons, which needed to be oiled every few months. Sadly they're unavailable now.

But a word of advice. Any airflow that leaves floating plants alone won't provide much aeration. You get no useful aeration from a bubble-wall or bubble-curtain. They're purely 'aesthetic'. For proper aeration you'd need quite a vigorous airstone... you need that movement across the surface because you get negligible aeration from the bubbles themselves...

Sue · « **Reply #18 on:** March 22, 2018, 03:25:13 PM »

I only use an air pump to power the sponge filter in my betta's tank. He is the only fish in a 26 litre tank so it doesn't need much filtration. Air powered sponge filters are ideal for bettas kept alone in small tanks as they don't create much water flow (bettas don't appreciate strong flow) and one fish in 25 litres doesn't need much filtration especially if the tank has live plants.

Hampalong · « **Reply #19 on:** March 22, 2018, 03:49:39 PM »

I just skimmed this thread, didn't realise it was an old one.

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Quiet Air Pump Recommendations

Quiet Air Pump Recommendations

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