Whisper Air Pump Flow Rates

[fishheart]

I Had always been a little suspect of Whisper air pumps and their flow rates so I dug out some of my medical equipment flow meters and did a little test. I have all of the Whisper line and they're fairly new.
 
10-30  1.2 LPM
 
40        2.0 LPM
 
60       3.2 on one side and 1.8 on the other for a total of 5.0 LPM
 
100      3.1 on one side and2.8 on the other for a total of 5.9 LPM
 
One would think the 100 would be almost twice as powerful as the 60 but is it's only .9 also the bigger they are the louder they get. The 10-30 is very quiet and the 40 isn't too bad, the 60 is loud and the 100...sounds like a small compressor! My tanks are in my bed room and the noise was getting unbearable so I hooked the pumps up in the bathroom and ran a line to keep my sanity. I wish manufacturers would list these by flow rate instead of tank size...I think some of the expensive ones do.
 
If I had known the flow rates and how loud the 100 was I would have gotten two 60's instead of the 100  for sure.

 

[techen]

I think the problem is, you are running a air pump . There not useful and more for show. It does make surface movement but so does the filter. So if it bugs you that much just run the filter xD

 

[bodge99]

Hello,
 
Sorry, I don't agree... Perhaps for **some** people they are of little or no use. I've personally witnessed fish death (not in my tanks) in a heavily planted tank due to oxygen depletion at night.. The pump had failed and the resulting low O2 levels killed the fish. This tank had good surface water movement, excellent water stats and top notch filtration.
 
I've also seen fish loss in a sudden outbreak of something nasty...
A massive overnight bacterial bloom in a well maintained six year old tank. As before, low O2 levels killed all of the fish. I would describe the tank setup and maintainance as very good. Unknown source which disappeared with short term use of UV.
 
In both cases, the low O2 levels were shown by the use of a (borrowed) pro oxygen meter.
 
I personally use air pumps on all of my tanks, including my snail tanks.
 
I've got a few "no name" pumps that require a yearly stripdown and cleaning of the valve diaphragms in order to keep top performance. I've found that these particular pumps are otherwise very reliable and actually out perform most of the branded stuff I've got.
 
As usual, YMMV.
 
Bodge99.

 

[cornclose]

I don't use an air pump full time, but I do have one in my tank which switches on automatically once a set lower pH/upper CO2 limit is reached, which will only usually happen overnight. It rarely switches on, but it does from time to time.

 

[fishheart]

I've always had the understanding that oxygenating water is absolutely essential for healthy fish, I can't even imagine having a tank without an air pump. I have lots of air going in my outdoor pond as well, if my gold fish could talk they would tell you they love it. I've never had a problem with fish dying off, I use lots of air in all of my tanks. I thrashed on Whisper a little bit (they're not bad pumps) they're just a little miss leading.