Aeration - silent motor exist ?

G

grayson

AC Members
Oct 5, 2004
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Hi...I am looking into getting either a bubble wand or at least one airstone in my aquarium. The only way I know how to accomplish this is to have one of those small (rather annoying) motor units that vibrate around on the floor and make a huge amount of noise. I've taped them to sponges, tried to hide them in cabinets and bought several brands all claiming to be silent. Does anyone know of something I can purchase that is trully silent ?

Thanks ! grayson
 
what is your purpose for aerating? is the filtration not agitating the surface enough, or are you just looking for aesthetics?
 
I never liked air pumps either so I havent used them in years. You can use a powerhead with the flow aimed up a bit to move the surface of the water - that will yield the same effect as an air pump, an aids in water circulation, and is a bit quieter. And if you want most powerheads have an aerating feature as well (venturi).
 
I have a Whisper 20 Air Pump and it's nearly silent. Not annoying at all. The water from the outflow is louder.
 
I hung mine freely by a wire so that theres nothing to vibrate against.
 
I got a whisper something-or-other and its sitting out in the open.
my TV, air conditioner, child, fan, etc are all louder than this pump.
 
I am running both a Whisper 20 and a Million Air MA-600. The Million Air is quieter. But as someone else said, the blub-blub-blub of the air thru my sponge filter is more annoying than the pump.

But this air-driven sponge filter has been much better than a Fluval internal filter for my shrimp tank. Even with the Fluval aimed at the water surface, I was getting surface scum and the shrimp were not reproducing. With the air pump, there's no surface scum at all, and the shrimp are doing great.

Just my $.02.
 
kkifer said:
I am running both a Whisper 20 and a Million Air MA-600. The Million Air is quieter. But as someone else said, the blub-blub-blub of the air thru my sponge filter is more annoying than the pump.

But this air-driven sponge filter has been much better than a Fluval internal filter for my shrimp tank. Even with the Fluval aimed at the water surface, I was getting surface scum and the shrimp were not reproducing. With the air pump, there's no surface scum at all, and the shrimp are doing great.

Just my $.02.
Click to expand...

Actually, the bubbles coming up are just keeping the surface scum broken up and pushed to the edges. It's still there, just not all over the surface. For surface scum, your best bet is to control the source. Usually, it's decaying plants or overfeeding.. Furthermore, the vast majority of o2 exchange caused by airstones and bubblewands doesn't come from the bubbles in the tank. Instead, it comes from the chaotic surface disturbance they cause. If you could funnel those bubbles into coming out in a tiny little space, then check your o2 saturation, you'd find it greatly reduced. As it is, the bubbles can disrupt the entire surface and break the surface tension. This encourages o2 exchange (and c02 offgassing) to occur. If you want maximum o2 exchange to happen, your best bet is a HOB filter. Adding a biowheel into that HOB will really jack up the o2 saturation. Consequently, it will also jack up the c02 offgassing. So planted tanks, beware..
 
Does anyone know if I can submerge a Maxi-Jet 400 powerhead right down to the bottom of the tank (without having it hooked up to an underground filter) and somehow attach a tubing with an air stone or bubble wand ? I believe they have an option to have some tubing hang outside the aquarium that draws air in. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer. grayson
 
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