Muffling a pump further?

[Tired]

I'm trying to make my aquarium pump as quiet as possible. I'm very aware of sounds some days, which isn't great when my aquarium is next to my bed, and I worry about the fish getting stressed by the vibrations in such a small space. 

 

Would it be a good idea to wrap the pump in some sort of padding, like maybe a silicone mat? I can't see the pump overheating, since it has water constantly cycling through it, but maybe someone will think of something I haven't. Obviously I would leave the intake uncovered. 

[paulsz]

You already tried putting a piece of foam under it? That should help with vibration noise on the bottom glass.

 

But for the "internal" vibration  of the  pump itself, I'm not sure what could help. 

[Tired]

It has four suction cups under it, which seems to stop it vibrating against the glass. Might try another layer of something anyway, at some point. 

[jservedio]

This is something I've spent a ton of time working on - starting with a quiet pump is key, but damping vibration and isolating the pump are the most important things you can do. Pop open the pump and look at any areas that can vibrate against each other - the plastic cover protecting the impeller, any flow adjusters, how how the pump itself closes. All of those things can vibrate and cause a lot of noise - a drop or two of silicone or hot glue to stop the vibration, a rubber gasket, etc. can all stop that. Isolation is the other biggie. The best solution is to simply suspend the pump in the water column using a silicone hose. if you can't suspend, use long legged suction cups and make sure the outflow of the pump is going into something silicone to isolate it from the return plumbing and make sure it isn't touching any baffles or glass.

[Tired]

I can suspend it a bit, and definitely will if that's a good idea. I may have to fiddle with it and listen to what positioning makes it quietest. 

 

I'll take a look inside. This pump has covers you can open to check on things, which is great- no more unscrewing. 

 

What I'd really like to do is have the pump in a tiny sump, so it's as separate from the tank as possible, but I don't really have any way to rig that up and I don't want to try to learn how to do plumbing. 

[jservedio]

35 minutes ago, Tired said:

I may have to fiddle with it and listen to what positioning makes it quietest. 

 

I'll take a look inside. This pump has covers you can open to check on things, which is great- no more unscrewing. 

Those covers that open or snap off are generally one of those things that rattle. The position of the pump shouldn't matter so long as it's not touching anything and not sucking in air. If the pump is touching glass or a baffle or literally anything else, it's going to cause that to vibrate and make noise. Just replacing your return hose from the pump with soft silicone works wonders.

[Tired]

I'll have a look at the covers. Would rubber-banding them potentially help the vibration? I don't think I want to apply any substances in there, I worry I'd glue something together. And I'll definitely replace the return hose, thanks. 

 

This is the Newa Mini pump, and it's actually really quiet already. I just want to see if I can make it even quieter, since I don't know if the vibrations could be stressful for the things in the tank. Obviously the average pump isn't loud enough to stress them into sickness, but I want to make it as quiet as possible, since they don't have the option to move away. 

[mcarroll]

On 12/10/2020 at 5:30 PM, Tired said:

I'm trying to make my aquarium pump as quiet as possible.

On 12/11/2020 at 6:23 PM, Tired said:

This is the Newa Mini pump

Trying to get a better sense of the magnitude of what you're experiencing/trying to accomplish.

 

Is the pump audible over the other tank/room noises such as HVAC or a protein skimmer running?  If it's that loud, then either the pump or the installation (or both) have a problem.  You can try isolating the pump better, or try replacing the pump itself.  A pump this small should be almost dead-silent without you having to pull any major tricks.

 

How close do the tank do you have to be to hear the pump running under normal conditions?

 

If you have to get REALLY close to hear it running (you say "really quiet"), then there might be little or nothing you can do about it. 

[Tired]

I have to basically put my head next to the tank to hear the pump at all. It's not having a problem, I just want to see how quiet it can possibly be made to get. 

[mcarroll]

5 hours ago, Tired said:

I have to basically put my head next to the tank to hear the pump at all. It's not having a problem, I just want to see how quiet it can possibly be made to get. 

That's good.  👍  

 

 

On 12/10/2020 at 5:30 PM, Tired said:

Would it be a good idea to wrap the pump in some sort of padding, like maybe a silicone mat?

Like this, but for a pump?

Hm.   If you have an idea how to pull that off without undue effort, then go for it and let us know how it turns out.  But I can't think of a good way offhand.

 

If you post a pic that shows where this pump is in your system, we might have some specific ideas....but it could be there's not much to be done since it's already so quiet.  

 

Most of the suggestions on the thread so far are for calming down a pump that's (e.g.) vibrating against the glass bottom of a sump or the hard PVC plumbing that connects it to the system...not really what you're up against, from the description so far.

[Tired]

Yeah, pretty much that. I may see if any local craft stores have anything suitable to mess with... once I can go to a store in person again. It's not an urgent thing, after all. 

 

Thanks for the tips, all. I'm probably going to leave it alone for now, bit busy with other things at the moment. Will update if I try something out. 

 

If someone is specifically looking for a pump that's already very quiet, the Newa Mini seems to fit the bill. My one gripe with it is that it's a bit difficult to change the pump intensity, the little sliding switch dealie is hard to move. It works, but it's fiddly.