Silencing air pumps

Hey guys, so I was just looking online for ways to quiet small aquarium air pumps, and it seemed like I definitely wasn't the only one in need of this, so I thought I would tell you what I have done just now to quiet mine.

I found plans online that someone described for hanging the pump on the inside of a plastic container, which seemed like the simplest way. I thought I would add a towel inside to further silence it and make sure the pump doesn't touch the sides, and voila! I now have a tolerable bed time air pump instead of a deeply annoying one. Basically all I did was cut a notch in the side of the lid (my vessel has a very soft flip-top type lid, you might have to drill the middle of a harder screw-on type) for the power cord and air line, then wrap a towel around the pump and shove it in there. The cord and airline go out through the hole and the lid closes, and now I can barely notice it!

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This helps especially at night, I was starting to get annoyed by at least one of my pumps. Funny how they all claim to be "quiet"- compared to what, my neighbor mowing his lawn right outside?

Anyway, this is my solution for now (until I can buy a pump that really is quiet), so if any of you are having this problem, try this solution. I don't think it will put too much strain on the pump due to lack of air flow to the pump, it seems to be outputting the same as before.

Anyone else have methods to make air pumps- or other equipment too- quieter?

How hot does it get inside that thing? I've wrapped mine in cloths before but they would get really hot after doing so.

My concern also. A motor generates heat, heat needs to escape, if you dont allow it to escape then you will burn up your motor or worse case catch it on fire.

Madness wrote:My concern also.  A motor generates heat, heat needs to escape, if you dont allow it to escape then you will burn up your motor or worse case catch it on fire.  

Bingo. It may generate the same amount of air for a while, but it'll definitely burn out faster.

I recently took the hard sponge that I use to clean algae off the glass and put it under a vibrating cheap air pump.. helped a lot.

I've used one of those soft knee braces under one before, worked wonderfully.

KaraWolf wrote:What if you did this without a lid? Might let the heat escape better but still muffle it. My air pump's problems so far are purely vibrational >.< they bounce around just enough to rattle and be annoying as all get out if they're sitting wrong.

Still going to get hot and overheat because it is wrapped up in a towel.

Exactly, put a hand towel under the pump or set it on a piece of neoprene or something rubbery.

I think old mouse pads work just great for this. I found some and cut them up for padding. I tried the towel wrapped approach with a small tetra pump a while ago, and it only lasted a day before the pump stopped working. Didn't catch on fire fortunately, it just failed on me. Don't think I'd risk it again considering how hot it got.

Another alternative might be to setup a heat sink in the towel, by running some long metal through the towel and out the can... but the noise of the pump rattling against the metal may offset the benefit of the towel in the first place. Let us know how the pumping experiment goes for you LA. Hopefully there is no burninating going on!

A pad underneath will resolve noise caused by an air pump vibrating on the surface it sits on, but it won't make it any quieter than it is when you pick it up off the surface. I'm still searching for a truly quiet air pump, having tried several brands in the past. I have a decent one running 4 10g tanks in my tv room, but it's still noisier than I like it to be.

Look into Linear piston pumps. They are supposed to be super quiet.

Thanks for the info.

The cheapest linear air pump I could find on ebay is $90, which isn't awfully bad. But I'm not sure the noise is $90 worth of noise right now. I have an eco plus in there now, which is better than any other brand I've tried.

aaronfeeney wrote:Look into Linear piston pumps. They are supposed to be super quiet.

Yea I dont know about this, I have 3 of these and they are the loudest pumps I have ever owned, not to mention, for the cost they dont last long enough.

I use these, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

For the price combined with the output and quietness, you cant beat them.

Cool, I may try the fusion and see how that works.

i recently had to tear apart all my sponge filters (thought the pump wasnt working correctly) found out that all the airstones and tubing had become clogged up so it was making the air pump work harder with less results. a little bit of cleaning and a cpl new stones and bam back to full force. (i even tore apart the pump itself to see if maybe it was broken but no luck)

Anthraxx wrote:i recently had to tear apart all my sponge filters (thought the pump wasnt working correctly) found out that all the airstones and tubing had become clogged up so it was making the air pump work harder with less results. a little bit of cleaning and a cpl new stones and bam back to full force. (i even tore apart the pump itself to see if maybe it was broken but no luck)

Why do you use airstones in your sponge filters?

The ATI hydrosponge filters are designed to be used with small air stones inside. Smaller bubbles mean less noise and less splashing out of the tank, which is a win for some folks (myself included).

That said, they're much higher maintenance than using a sponge filter that has smaller holes for the air to come out of - that's the approach I use now. I got tired of replacing air stones..

one of them requires it, or at least i like having it in there. the rest are all tubular and just run off airlines. i honestly prefer the amount of air produced by the stone over the other three. seems to put out more airwise. just an observation tho.

Madness, good call on the fusion! A Fusion 500 arrived today from Amazon and it's quieter than my ecoplus 2 was - seems to push about the same amount of air too.

My TV room thanks you.

pbmax wrote:Madness, good call on the fusion!  A Fusion 500 arrived today from Amazon and it's quieter than my ecoplus 2 was - seems to push about the same amount of air too.

My TV room thanks you.