# Quietest attachment for air pump?



## Dogtanian (Jan 27, 2011)

Hi All,

Just invested in air pump today for 64G tank. The pump runs nice n quiet, but the noise the air stone makes is unbelievable; I had to turn the pump off for now.

So what is the quietest attachment to have on the end of you air hose? I have read that the smaller the air stone, the less resistance, hence the quieter? Also have read that bubble curtain attachments are also very quiet.

Any advice much appreciated, as I would love a bubble feature, but don't want it drowning out conversation in the sitting room!

Thanks,

Ian.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Some will depend on what purpose you are running the air. If you are wanting to move the water around, that can sometimes be done quietly will a powerhead instead of air. The airstone is not truly needed if you have water movement and it is possible your quietest move would be not using the airstone. If you do need the air, I would suggest two things that might help. One is reducing the amount of noise by adding a small valve and letting some air just bleed off into the air rather than through the line into the tank and making bubbles (noise). To me more airstones lined up to make more smaller bubbles is quieter. Some things to play around with until you find what suits your situation.


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## M&amp;S (Feb 16, 2011)

I agree with the above, a valve would be useful. I fiund teh Eheim airstones really noisy 

Air curtains are quiet (again if regulated with a valve), or just tuck the air line under some stones and have bubbles come out from those :thumb:


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## dmpjr (Jan 15, 2011)

Ime the bigger ones are quiter.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Maybe a note on why I use more airstones added in series rather than a single larger stone. I have very hard water here and airstones stop up quickly. Several small stones are cheaper and do the same as large airstones. I can take a few out and soak them to clear them of the calcium while still having others in use. Just a way to adapt to different situations.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

And of course the closer they are to the glass, the louder they will be outside the tank. At least that's been my experience.


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## Dogtanian (Jan 27, 2011)

Added a flow control valve today and the noise has cut down massively.

It seems the higher the output (valve fully open) the noisier the air pump? I find this a bit confusing as I thought the pump worked at a constant rate, so I would have thought it would be quietest with minimum back pressure?

Thanks for all your advice


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Humm! I did not read the first post as the pump noise being the problem. I was talking about the noise made by the bubbles. For pump noise there may be ways to cut that down as well. Is it the vibration of the pump? That can be helped by putting it on something soft like a spnoge or cloth. Covering the pump so that the sound is muffled may help. Don't cover it so well that it can't draw air, though.


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## Dogtanian (Jan 27, 2011)

Sorry, my reply was completely confusing.

What I meant to say, was adding the flow control valve has very much reduced the noise from the air stone. But I noticed that when the flow was restricted the actual noise/vibration from the pump reduced as well?

I think I will try a larger air stone or bubble curtain as well.

Thanks for all your advice,

Ian.


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