Air pumps..any quiet ones out there?

[joedarat]

I bought a Tetra-Tec Air Pump #100.. and oh my, its louder than my fridge.. Does anyone have a recommendation for a real quiet one.. ?
thanks!

 

[chasgood]

Dont have one but read the Rena brand are about the most quiet made but dont put out enough air. Cost more of course.
You can try setting the pump on a sponge. To much back pressure can make them noisy.

 

[TankGirl]

A mouse pad is a great thing to put one on, as well, since it won't vibrate off.

 

[chrism]

hang it! just hang it off a shelf or something on a couple pieces of string or something similar, that should quieten it down.

 

[gamma]

I have two Rena airpumps and they are quieter than anything else I've tried. I wonder if I hung them if they'd make any more noise than the bubbles do! I seem to have enough air bubbles too.

 

[An t-iasg]

I have a Tetra-tec Deepwater 12 pump. That little thing can get quite loud! The source the buzz in mine was the airline coming from the pump, and going to the gang valve. I also have a checkvalve in that piece of tubing. If that piece of tubing, or the checkvalve, touched the counter, it would buzz very loudly. I put various things under the checkvalve to stop it from buzzing. What worked for me was to cut a plastic single-serving fruit cup bowl horizontally in half (this is what touches the counter now), and make 2 little notches in the top to allow the airline to rest. The checkvalve "hangs" in between the edges of the cup. It's pretty quiet now. I do have a pic that I could post later, if you want to see it.

 

[Toirtis]

How much output do you need? The mousepad trick works well, bt there are some more quiet pumps, but they also tend to be a bit more pricey, and are usually made for multi-tank applications.

 

[joedarat]

what are some of the more queit ones besides rena? I dont need a lot of output . The output that the tetra tec 100 has is sufficient.. I will try the sponge, mousepad, and hanging techniques in the meantime. thanks everyone for your replies

 

[WhiteCloud]

An...

Would love to see a picture of you TetraTec Deepwater Air Pump setup! I have 24 version...and would like to quiet it down some

I picked up a Rena 300 in an attempt to have a more quiet pump....but it was TWICE AS LOUD as the TetraTec...and only about 1/2 of the bubble power. Expect to see it on ebay soon!

 

[LestWeForget13]

some one said a pump may be quieter but not enough bubbles? well theres a little thing that they make that goes on the end of the hose the spread out the bubbles and possibly make a LOT of smaller one

im sure almost everyone knew this but i was just letting u know, sometimes theyre in the reptile section

 

[oscarbreeder]

I think they are ALL to loud but hey, thats just me.
I put a nice thick piece of carpet padding under mine to stop it from vibrating on the stand and that worked well.

 

[aquazen]

How about not having one?

Not sure how big your tank is, but I don't have an air pump for my 10 gallon. I just use the Aqua clear mini power filter which produces enough turbulence on the surface for O2. I've had fish in there for about 5 days now, and they don't look starved for air or anything. Acutally, most of them just hang out at the bottom.

 

[An t-iasg]

Here are pictures of my Tetratec pump, gang valve, and check valve, and how I used the fruit cup to suspend the check valve. In my case, if I keep the length of airline from the pump thru the check valve, to the gang valve, off the counter, then I have no buzz. The pictures are in my gallery.

 

[trent]

TankGirl said it all. a mouse pad is best, it will keep it in place while reducing vibration through it