New Air Pump

[homerhotspur]

I have finally installed an Air pump today. I had to get a valve for regulating the air being pumped out. It is now ok. I had a lot of difficulty stopping the air stone from simply floating around, but I have now weighed it down with a heavy stone from the garden.

The pump itself is situated on the floor/carpet and is not in contact with the aquarium stand. It has 2 outlets, but only one is used. It was very noisy as the unused outlet had nothing connected. So, I attached a piece of tube and put a cap on the end of it which has stopped the noise. Is this ok to do?

Soon after the aip pump was switched on , my Danios seemed to go a bit crazy, zipping aroung the bottom of the tank in rather a frenzy. The Cardinal Neons were not bothered at all. Is there any way that the pump could be making some noise /vibration disturbance? I have turned the pump off pending, hopefully, some responses. I should emphasise that the bubbles now being produced in the tank are at a very slow , gentle level.

 

[Nick16]

the pump could cause some vibs but should not be serious. put some material underneath to stop the vibes and everything should be ok. i use an old tee shirt folded up!. not sure about the other Q regarding the cap on the airline. hope it helps. fish should settle down.

 

[tetratank]

they might be excited you know. My fish loved it when I had one in the tank but I found it annoying as it popped up everytime I cleaned the gravel. Sounds like you have that sussed though. I don't think putting a cap on the end is a problem.

 

[Tolak]

Capping the unused outlet will create a lot of back pressure, shortening diaphragm life. If you put a long piece of air line on the unused outlet with a piece of sponge on the end it will be nearly silent. The same goes for the extra air on the outlet you are using, bleed it off rather than choking it off. Most of my tanks are sponge & box filtration, powered by one large pump. A few feet of pvc beyond the bleed valve lowers the hissing quite a bit.

The bubbles created by the air should not disturb the fish at all.