George Pontis
October 18th 04, 10:34 PM
In article >, says...
> I'm setting up a 10 gallon tank. I'm planning on using a corner filter,
> probably a Clearfree II, and running a 12" or 10" long airstone/bubble
> wall.
>
> Since this setup will be in the living room, I'd like to find the
> quietest air pump I can that has sufficient capacity.
>
> Has anyone done a comparison? Or even just have one that's essentially
> silent? I'd appreciate any info you can share. Thanks.
I would second the recommendation to use a powerhead if that is an option. Maxijet
is a good unit. You can get aeration by causing the outflow from the PH to disturb
the water surface, or actually introduce bubbles by using the venturi on the PH.
In the latter case you need to put an airstone in the venturi inlet to muffle the
sucking noise.
If you prefer or need an airpump, you will have to work to get it quiet. I have
tried four modern pumps, an Apollo, two from Tetra and a Rena 50, their smallest.
None were acceptable to me for use in the living space.
The pumps that people bought from Walmart are from Apollo, now available from the
manufacturer ( http://www.apollopumps.com/ ). The one that I have is the AM-5
which has considerable capacity. I found that it works well at much reduced
voltage, runs cool, and becomes a lot quieter. For example, I can run it at about
28 volts using a transformer and still have more enough air for a couple of
airstones. And that with one tank 22" deep. This trick does NOT work with all
pumps. The Rena starts rattling below about 90V.
You also need to silence the output of the pump. It is easily done by running the
output through a long length of tubing, at some loss, or by making a storage
reservoir. The latter can be a section of 1 inch PVC, 6-8 inches long. To minimize
nasty vapors from PVC solvent glue, you can assemble it dry and seal with a small
bead of aquarium silicone at the external junctions of pipe and cap. The very
flexible silicone tubing is superior to the clear vinyl stuff in terms of not
transmitting vibrations from the pump to anything else.
> I'm setting up a 10 gallon tank. I'm planning on using a corner filter,
> probably a Clearfree II, and running a 12" or 10" long airstone/bubble
> wall.
>
> Since this setup will be in the living room, I'd like to find the
> quietest air pump I can that has sufficient capacity.
>
> Has anyone done a comparison? Or even just have one that's essentially
> silent? I'd appreciate any info you can share. Thanks.
I would second the recommendation to use a powerhead if that is an option. Maxijet
is a good unit. You can get aeration by causing the outflow from the PH to disturb
the water surface, or actually introduce bubbles by using the venturi on the PH.
In the latter case you need to put an airstone in the venturi inlet to muffle the
sucking noise.
If you prefer or need an airpump, you will have to work to get it quiet. I have
tried four modern pumps, an Apollo, two from Tetra and a Rena 50, their smallest.
None were acceptable to me for use in the living space.
The pumps that people bought from Walmart are from Apollo, now available from the
manufacturer ( http://www.apollopumps.com/ ). The one that I have is the AM-5
which has considerable capacity. I found that it works well at much reduced
voltage, runs cool, and becomes a lot quieter. For example, I can run it at about
28 volts using a transformer and still have more enough air for a couple of
airstones. And that with one tank 22" deep. This trick does NOT work with all
pumps. The Rena starts rattling below about 90V.
You also need to silence the output of the pump. It is easily done by running the
output through a long length of tubing, at some loss, or by making a storage
reservoir. The latter can be a section of 1 inch PVC, 6-8 inches long. To minimize
nasty vapors from PVC solvent glue, you can assemble it dry and seal with a small
bead of aquarium silicone at the external junctions of pipe and cap. The very
flexible silicone tubing is superior to the clear vinyl stuff in terms of not
transmitting vibrations from the pump to anything else.