How to reduce the noise of the compressor in the aquarium

Quiet compressor for the aquarium

Keep sprayer clean Install compressor above water surface Place air pump on a hard, level surface Place a vibration-absorbent foam or foam rubber under compressor

Keep sprayers clean

First, make sure that the sprayer does not need to be replaced. To do this, lift the stone to the surface and disconnect the air supply tube, then blow into the hole. If blowing is very difficult, the air seems to come back to your mouth, then the atomizer is clogged and needs to be replaced.

As a rule, the life of the atomizer is a little less than one year, because it is naturally clogged with algae, fish waste, dirt and bacteria. Remember, if your aquarium is overpopulated with fish, quickly becomes turbid, and is not equipped with a filter, the air stone will have to be replaced even more often.

Dirty sprayer creates additional resistance to the compressor, directing the flow of air back, so the mechanism is harder to work, and it makes it even noisier.

What you use it for

Oxygen, even dissolved in water, is vital to the life of any hydrobionts. That is why it is necessary to use special devices that forcibly aerate the water, ensuring its saturation with oxygen molecules. This process prevents the death of fish, molluscs and shrimps, and ensures optimal living conditions for them.

Modern compressors are economical in operation. It is completely silent and easy to use device that have the ability to adjust the power, allowing them to saturate the oxygen as a small container, and aquariums of 300-500 liters.

How the device works

The aquarium compressor works in an extremely simple way. Immersed in the water are tubes and special atomizers, which can be made of porous stone, various types of wood and other similar materials. Under pressure, an air compressor for the aquarium supplies oxygen to the tubes, after which the atomizers release tiny bubbles that dissolve in the water and create a surface layer movement.

Used aquarium compressors can vary significantly in capacity and output, which is expressed in liters per hour. It is necessary to properly select the power of such air pumps, which will not only properly aerate the water, but also to prevent the effect of the washing machine, when, because of the large capacity of the pump water in the aquarium is constantly in motion, creating not too comfortable conditions for living hydrobionts.

The use of such devices can not only oxygenate, but also mix the water, preventing deterioration and blooms. Today the design of aquarium compressors simplified to the limit, which ensures their durability, reliability and ease of use. By correctly positioning the transparent tubes and sprayer in the aquarium, it will be possible to create a lot of air bubbles, which further adds to the ornamentation of the underwater garden.

In the recent past it was thought that the inclusion of a compressor for the supply of air in the aquarium all the time. However, with the advent of special devices for measuring the concentration of oxygen in the water, most experienced aquarists recommend turning on the compressors to supply oxygen only at night when the plants are actively consuming oxygen from the water, which can lead to fish freeze.

Increase the intensity of oxygen supply during the hot season, when animal activity increases, respectively it needs more oxygen. But in the winter, especially in aquariums that are well lit and have a lot of live plants, the intensity of aeration is better to reduce.

An aquarium compressor is noisy?

Any aquarist knows that the aquarium compressor. an artificial lung aquarium, for without aeration, the water in the aquarium quickly turns into a swamp.

But there is an aquarium compressor has a nasty feature: it strongly hums during operation. And if you turn it on at night, you are guaranteed a sleepless night!

But is it possible to make an aquarium compressor silent? Can. What exactly? That’s what you find out by reading the article to the end. So!

To start we need a suitable size box. The box should only be made of wood! Such a box can either make or buy in a store, in the souvenir department. The main requirement for the box is the following: the internal space should be large enough to accommodate not only the body itself, but also to make soundproofing in this box.

To avoid getting into trouble in this matter, do the following: measure the length, width and thickness of the compressor with a tape measure. Write down the measurements on a piece of paper. And now to each result add two centimeters.

Use these results to select the box. And if you do not find one, try and make it yourself. (It is very easy to make a box. Make four walls from wood and then nail the plywood bottom and the lid on top. Here you have a ready box).

Suppose you already have the box you are looking for. Great, now there are a few additions to make inside the box.

Put the compressor case in the box and determine in what direction the wires go. When you decide, then take a jigsaw and make a neat cut in one of the walls of the box (there you will pass wires from the body).

Remove the compressor from the wooden box and set aside. Now take felt and wrap it around the wooden box from the inside: felt is an excellent sound insulator.

Now put the compressor housing in the box, pull the wires through the kerf and close the box. Turn on. That’s it, the noise is gone! Do not worry, the compressor body is not heated when working inside the box.

By the way, thanks to the felt significantly reduces the vibration of the aquarium compressor, and this significantly increases the life and quality of its work.

If you haven’t guessed something, read the article 20 times in a row and use your imagination. then everything will work out. I personally made here is a “vibration isolator” for 30 minutes (admittedly, I had all the necessary “gimmicks”).

In any case, friends, go ahead and you will succeed.

That’s all about reducing the noise of the aquarium compressor.

Build your own compressor for the aquarium yourself

Home / Fish / and care / Build your own compressor for the aquarium yourself

Modern aquarium enthusiasts in recent years have discovered hundreds and hundreds of new exotic fish species on the market. And unlike the usual goldfish or telescopes, which can live in a pot, some exotic species require special conditions.

In many cases, the prerequisite is dissolved oxygen in the water. Devices providing the aquarium proper amount of oxygen presented very much in stores and difficulties in finding a compressor does not appear.

But in response to store devices, you can build a compressor for the aquarium with their own hands. And to the question whether there is the feasibility of it, and if so, how to do it, we will try to answer in our article.

Who, why?

An aquarium is a companion of people in the workplace, office or shopping mall, as well as at home in the kitchen or in the bedroom. The presence of an aquarium almost always indicates the presence of people who will admire it. To understand why a homemade device is better than a store one, let’s weigh both sides.

Store devices can be both well-known companies and cheap Chinese counterparts. If a well-known company guarantees the quality and durability, along with silence and efficiency of the device, the similar cheap analogues can not boast. For the first device not everyone wants to lay out a number of conditional units, to please one or two fish in 30 liters of water.

Cheap analogues can “please” you with all sorts of mishaps, such as pouring out of the aquarium due to power outages or just on a whim. And no one can guarantee you that over the same year you will not have to change a couple or three of these devices.

If, for example, an aquarium with a compressor will stand in the bedroom, you do not know whether you can fall asleep in their company. Some compressors make quite an impressive sound.

Vary the volume of the device can range from a whisper, akin to a laptop cooler, to the sound of a child’s car with a motor. And store compressors, which guarantee almost one hundred percent silence, have a price tag on them at all of the exorbitant worlds. Therefore, to make a mini compressor for the aquarium with their own hands, is not such a bad idea.

And the hands can

Coming to the question of a compressor with their own hands, the undoubted advantages include:

  • the financial component. To assemble these devices at home we will almost out of improvised materials. Consequently, it is quite cheap;
  • repair and replacement of components. Just as we have assembled the device, we will be able to repair it. Accordingly, the need to purchase a new device will not be necessary;
  • noise level. With the shock-absorbing materials and fasteners we will reduce the vibration in the device to the maximum;
  • power. For different volumes of water we can build a compressor with individual, suitable capacity.

The advantages of making a compressor are quite numerous and they are quite weighty.

Let’s begin assembling

In order to assemble the first compressor, we need to prepare some materials.

Instructions from the magazine for making a compressor.

To make our construction we will need:

  • The lid from a plastic bottle.
  • A piece of rubber.
  • A wooden board for the base.
  • Plastic tube.
  • Small motor.
  • Power supply.
  • Old plastic card.
  • An air balloon.

To assemble and glue it all together we will also need hot glue.

First we take the plastic lid, from which we take out the seal on the inside.

  • Mark two holes with a marker or marker pen and use scissors or a drill to make holes in the planned locations. The diameter of the hole should be big enough to fit a plastic tube;
  • Take the rubber and cut out a piece that resembles a horseshoe. Using glue, glue it inside the lid so that one of the holes is completely covered by the rubber band, and the other is open. Only the “legs of the horseshoe” should be glued. The hole covered by the rubber band will serve for air intake into the drum, and it should be freely ajar;
  • Next, we need to make this drum, or air diffuser. It is necessary to put a rubber ball on the outside of the cover and cut it so that the edges do not overlap the edge of the cover. Having cut it off, trim the edges and fix it with scotch tape along the circumference;
  • Cut out a round piece from a plastic card, the diameter of which is slightly less than the inner diameter of the lid. On one side of the plastic “coin” glued directly to the center of the end of a plastic stick from a “lollipop. Glue the other side of the “coin” to the rubber part of our drum;
  • next, we need to make an imitation of a rocker mechanism. To do this, we cut a small thickness piece of gun glue. Glue in the section is round and we get a thick “pill”. In this “pill” we make 2 holes: in the center and closer to the edge. The hole in the center is for putting it on the rotor shaft of our motor, so try it on at once and don’t make it too big. Our part on the shaft should sit very tight. In the second hole we put a piece of metal wire;
  • We attach the engine to our wooden base and try on the future location of the drum, so that the wire, sticking out of the “pill” on the motor shaft, crossed with a plastic tubing from a “lollipop” on the drum. They must intersect at right angles (90 degrees);
  • Drill a hole where the wire and the lollipop tube intersect and put the wire inside. We cut off an extra piece of tube and fix the drum on a wooden base.
  • We take a 12 volt power supply for the motor. We connect the wires from the power supply and the motor to each other.

Attach a tube to the hole in the drum and your first compressor in the aquarium is ready.

Collar

In all tests, the aPUMP compressor from Collar is the leader.

If you read the aquarium related forums you will become convinced. professionals claim that it is barely audible at all. The manufacturer says that the noise level is 35dB, but in fact the result is much better, only 7 decibels. (Recall that the allowed noise level according to the norms in an insulated recording room is 2 dB).

The Collar aPUMP is effective in aquariums smaller than two hundred liters; at the moment it is the most compact and silent aerator in the world. Also works in tall aquariums up to 80 centimeters deep due to the powerful air flow. At a water height of 50 cm produces a noise of no more than 10 decibels.

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Place the compressor on a hard, level surface

If the device is in the plastic cover of the aquarium, which often resonates with the pump, the operation of the compressor will become louder. If you install the device on the cover glass of the aquarium, the effect will be the same: the annoying noise will not give you any pleasure. It is best to place the pump on a solid, dense object that will absorb noise and make pump operation almost silent. This can be a furniture wooden shelf next to the aquarium or install the compressor remotely inside a closet, making sure that there are no piles of objects or clothes near the device, and nothing prevents the air flow. Do not place the compressor on the edge of a shelf or on a ledge where vibrations can cause it to fall.

Put a vibration-noise absorber under the compressor

It is desirable to put the compressor on vibration-absorbing material such as polyethylene foam or foam rubber which can be freely purchased at car acoustics store.

If this is not possible, an old rubber mouse pad or even a dry dishwashing sponge will do for now. These few steps will significantly reduce not only the sound of your air pump, but also prevent its rapid breakdown. And don’t forget to check all your aquarium equipment from time to time to prevent breakdowns or burnouts. You will love your aquarium even more!

The only exceptions are expensive professional Angel Aqua type sprayers with self-regeneration. We use check valves. Which it is better to replace with new ones every year.

Place the compressor on a hard, level surface

If the device is in the plastic cover of the aquarium, which often resonates with the pump, the operation of the compressor will become louder. If you place the unit on the aquarium cover glass, the effect will be the same: The annoying noise will not give you any pleasure. It is best to place the pump on a solid, dense object that will absorb noise and make the pump almost silent. This can be a furniture wooden shelf next to the aquarium or install the compressor remotely inside a cabinet, making sure that there are no objects or clothes piled near the device and nothing prevents the air flow. Do not place the compressor on the edge of a shelf or ledge where vibration can cause it to fall.

Quiet aPUMP aquarium compressors have recently appeared on the markets. In addition, you can oxygenate the water with regular aquarium pumps or airlift filters.

With all the variety of models of devices, their main disadvantage is the noise they produce. If the aquarium is in the bedroom, quiet operation of the device is one of its most important qualities. Unfortunately, a completely silent compressor for the aquarium does not exist, because the principle of any kind of apparatus is based on vibration.

Position the compressor above the water’s surface

By removing the check valve, install the air pump above the water level, this will also reduce the pressure on the device itself and the noise of operation. In addition, by raising the device above the water level you ensure safety in case of an unexpected power outage or failure of the device t.к. water often flows by gravity inside the diaphragm. Your compressor can “burn out” and if there is a constant supply of water, it can even flood the room. If there is no possibility of installing a compressor above the water level, be sure to use a check valve trusted manufacturer. In this case, buy a compressor a little more powerful t.к. The valve creates an additional load on the air pump.

It’s pretty easy to make. First you need to choose the location. It can be placed inside the tank, above the surface, or outside. Hoses with a sprayer are placed on the bottom. It is not necessary to provide a fixing, you can press the hose with a heavy stone or a seashell.

For the tube, it is better to choose silicone or any other elastic rubber. It needs to be easy to bear deformation and not to crack. The life of the device depends on this element.

The tube must be inert and not emit any harmful substances under the influence of water. If you do not have silicone hose, you better buy it separately in a pet store. You can also use a hose from a drip tray.

We suggest you read: How to teach the cat to pee in the wrong place: folk methods, professional tools and veterinary advice

Aquarium pump

To saturate the water with oxygen is often used aquarium pump. This small device has 2 functions. oxygenating the water and purifying it. The pump is purchased for large aquariums. This device does not make much noise because it is submerged in water. The only thing. a slight specific whistle produces a tube for air suction from the surface. But this problem can be solved. The tubes are fitted with a stopper in modern pump models. If you change its position, the obtrusive noise can be significantly reduced or even eliminated.

How to use

In the operation of aerators, disputes often start. Some do not turn off the compressor, others only turn it on after the feeding process. But more comfortable for the fish will be an alternating mode on and off at equal intervals: 2/2 hours of operation (ie, 2 hours of air flow and 2 hours of the device is off) or 3/3 hours. But do not take too long breaks, because the oxygen in the water decreases. Turn on the aerator after feeding. for digestion of food fish need a lot of oxygen.

Put a vibration damper under the compressor

It is desirable to put the compressor on vibro-noise absorbing material. polyethylene foam or foam rubber, which can be freely purchased at car acoustics store.

If this is not possible, then for the first time will work old rubber mouse pad or even dry sponge for washing dishes. These few steps will greatly reduce not only the sound of your air pump, but also prevent it from breaking quickly. And do not forget to check all aquarium equipment from time to time to prevent breakdowns or burnouts. You will love your aquarium even more!

The exceptions are expensive professional Angel Aqua type sprayers with self-regeneration. We use check valves. which are better replaced with new ones every year.

Text: Anastasia Novakovich, specially for nemo.by 0

Selection considerations

Manufacturers of aquarium equipment produce a large variety of aerators with low noise level.

The first thing to note the products of the German company Schego, which produces compressors for home aquariums and columns of almost any capacity.

So, for a small 70-liter aquarium suits small-sized aerator Schego Prima with a capacity of 100 liters per hour and a capacity of 3 watts.

But for a decorative water column with a large capacity, you can buy a silent compressor Schego W53M capacity of 350 liters per hour, 5 watts. It provides an air supply to a depth of up to 5 meters.

One of the most common models of silent microcompressors. It has two channels of aeration at a capacity of 2.9 W, which ensures reliable circulation of air and water in an aquarium with a capacity of up to 170 liters.

Very convenient small-sized silent aerators are produced by Ukrainian company Collar. The aPUMP compressor of this manufacturer is considered one of the quietest in the world. With a capacity of only 1.5 watts it provides reliable aeration of the aquatic environment in a 100-liter aquarium at a depth of 80 centimeters.

Exeim compressors

A German company that only makes aquarium equipment. Among aquarists are known for their quietness and quality. Silent models include the EXEIM 100, 200 and 400.

Aquael Compressors

The famous Polish manufacturer of aquarium equipment has not ignored and aerators. They have an unusual appearance, good noise suppression. The most popular models of the line Oxyboost APR plus, and are positioned as absolutely silent.

Tetra aerators

What just does not produce this German company. This list can start with different feeds and end with entire aquariums. Do not avoid Tetra and compressors. Like Aquael, Tetra has developed an interesting design for its devices, making them not only ergonomic, but also beautiful.

These examples show that when choosing a silent compressor, one has to proceed from

Many experienced aquarists when choosing a compressor proceeds from the following calculation: aerator capacity should be approximately 0.5 liters of air per hour per liter of aquarium water.

There are many different models of compressors on the market and it is easy to get lost in the variety. There are several points that are fundamental. These are the points you should pay attention to in the first place.