Air pump noise reduction

[f-e]

Is your pump waking the dead?
Does it drone on all night like the missis?
AK47
Failing that

Nicker elastic.

There are two things going on here. One, the suspension of the vibrating items, such that they can't transmit any vibration. Partially extended elastic. It can't be near it's elastic limit, or still in it's unstretched state. It must be able to move freely up and down. I have not only my pump on this free standing furniture, but also an extractor. You can put your ear to the wood. It's nothing.
The second, perhaps unseen method, is the bottle reducing the pneumatic pumping action. The pneumatic pump shakes the tank physically without some means or smoothing the flow. PVC pipe was once all we could get, but silicone pipe is cheap and available now, and we shouldn't be cutting costs with PVC. It's the bottle though where the real action happens. I used to just put holes in a lid that the pipes fitted in tightly. Now we can buy these fancy lids aimed at fish tank co2 generation. One pipe stops at the lid, while the other reaches to the far end of the bottle. It can take a good few seconds to pressurise the bottle, but when the air comes, it comes smoother than grease. All tank vibration is gone. We just hear bubbles breaking the surface, like a fizzy drink. You can place the air stone in the bottom, without need to suspend it away from the sides. Presuming you are actually taking that measure already. I have been doing this 30 years, but it doesn't seem common, so thought I would share.

Anyone else have methods? I have thought about balloon bladders, but nothing is as reliable as a plastic bottle. Or is it?

 

[tobedetermined]

Very cool, f-e. When I ran my udwc, I had a similar suspension method for my pump, but I didn't know about the bottle . . .

 

[brickweeder]

...The second, perhaps unseen method, is the bottle reducing the pneumatic pumping action.

just like a filter capacitor to remove ripple...

 

[Gry]

Neat as can be.

 

[goquizer]

Wow its amazing techniques, I had a similar suspension method for my pump, but I didn't know about the bottle

 

[Frosty Nuggets]

Try these pumps, no vibration and 20L per minute.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/154736418071

 

[f-e]

Interesting looking thing Frosty. It seemed loud in the video I watched though. Technically it's more of the same. I would like to see a screw compressor driven by an EC motor. Getting manufacturers to move away from the ancient designs we have is difficult. The first one that does will win the race though. There is just no need for that reciprocal pumping at mains frequency. Though the real deal would likely be 100US at first, I still keep looking for one.

In my photo, you can just see an extra I didn't speak off. Within the bottle is an airstone, slightly small for the pump. The idea (which may of been futile) is to reduce peak flow, making the silicone hose between it and the pump do some flexing. Like another vessel. It's probably over engineering, but there is it anyway. The real parts are the elastic and the bottle, with it's long dip tube. Without that dip tube, the in/out are in the same pressure area and we are trying to use the air and bottles elasticity between them. The dip tube inside is very important. This aspect makes some water hammer items look a bit unlikely, as we are trying to iron out noise ripples to nothing. Not ripples that can flex cooper pipe. I have tried 500ml bottles but you really need that Liter.

 

[brickweeder]

you can stuff the bottle with fiberglass insulation or similar to increase the diffusion layer the air must travel through before it exits, will probably help further reduce pressure ripples.

 

[f-e]

you can stuff the bottle with fiberglass insulation or similar to increase the diffusion layer the air must travel through before it exits, will probably help further reduce pressure ripples.

I have not done that for a while. Like the air-stone, I thought it makes sense, but saw no quantifiable gain. I build speakers every few years, and the hard boxes certainly benefit. Well stuffed sealed cabs act like boxes as much as 40% bigger. I didn't really stuff the bottle though. Perhaps that could be revisited, if a smaller bottle was needed. This featured setup has no air-line noise left to reduce. Next up would be an mdf box for the pump I think. It's not shaking anything, but they are still heard beside them.

 

[overbudjet]

Try waterfall instead air pump in dwc or rdwc (less noise/less heat/more O2) All of them using waterfall

 

[flylowgethigh]

Is your pump waking the dead?
Does it drone on all night like the missis?
AK47
Failing that

Nicker elastic.

There are two things going on here. One, the suspension of the vibrating items, such that they can't transmit any vibration. Partially extended elastic. It can't be near it's elastic limit, or still in it's unstretched state. It must be able to move freely up and down. I have not only my pump on this free standing furniture, but also an extractor. You can put your ear to the wood. It's nothing.
The second, perhaps unseen method, is the bottle reducing the pneumatic pumping action. The pneumatic pump shakes the tank physically without some means or smoothing the flow. PVC pipe was once all we could get, but silicone pipe is cheap and available now, and we shouldn't be cutting costs with PVC. It's the bottle though where the real action happens. I used to just put holes in a lid that the pipes fitted in tightly. Now we can buy these fancy lids aimed at fish tank co2 generation. One pipe stops at the lid, while the other reaches to the far end of the bottle. It can take a good few seconds to pressurise the bottle, but when the air comes, it comes smoother than grease. All tank vibration is gone. We just hear bubbles breaking the surface, like a fizzy drink. You can place the air stone in the bottom, without need to suspend it away from the sides. Presuming you are actually taking that measure already. I have been doing this 30 years, but it doesn't seem common, so thought I would share.

Anyone else have methods? I have thought about balloon bladders, but nothing is as reliable as a plastic bottle. Or is it?

Are you back to aerating your reservoir? I keep a bubbler running 24/7 in my water rez. I notice the pH goes up a few 10ths after the water from the tap has been bubbled a while. My goal is to get oxygen in the water, which has none from my pipes.

 

[f-e]

I stopped aerating by accident really. A quick tear down and rebuild had me install only the minimum of kit that day, and somehow it slipped my mind later. Then I got stagnation problems, as the pump is one of the driving forces behind circulation in this tank. Now it's back in, with a better circulation pump (EC motor is no mains frequency vibration) and I have tin-foiled the sides as it was a little light in there. Picked up a UV light that floats. H2O2. Totally went overboard, but it was the lack of oxygenation that set things in motion. I was using 75% of the tank and refilling. This let the stuff live on, tank after tank. I didn't see it for all the other black gunk I chuck in there. I knew it was getting blacker, and cloudy, but was a bit slow on the uptake. Now I won't put black gunk in, and it stays clear. I suspect my seaweed extract was the original source, as a new bottle I picked up smelt very different. I think net result was all the oxygen being sucked out within hours. Now I'm happy to have the air pump back in action, as oxygen is very important and difficult to keep in there without constant course correction. It does give a pH shift (aquariums use co2 bubblers for pH correction) but I know what is coming.

 

[flylowgethigh]

Back when I started last year, you told me not to put the bubblers in my rez water. Something about slimey blobs on the rocks. My rez is only water, with some cal-mag and maybe epsom salts. The rocks don't get scummy. What the air does do is raise the ph after being bubbled through for a while. Maybe from 6.2 to 6.5 after a few hours. Only at first, so something is bubbling in, or out. I think adding O2 to the water is important.

 

[f-e]

That won't of been me pal. I hear people speak of slime on them, but I'm not phased by this. It's very important to have that air. In DWC they can physically die without it. It's not just a bit of polish, it's grand design stuff. The things you see in this post were not thought up overnight. I have a long history with air pumps. That one is on it's 3rd or 4th set of innards.

As I see it, if slime comes, then the water got better. Why was there no slime before. Treat the smile. Generally it's only on the stone where it's surface is somewhat like high RH. The constant gassing keeps it from blocking up and I don't see any problems with it, but do see problems from using no air. My recent spell without it was a fuck up, not planned.

 

[JKD]

pH rise will probably be due to CO2 displacement due to your aeration.

 

[Corpselover Fat]

I suspended my pump in a plastic trash can using rope. Then I lined the trash can with acoustic foam panel and put a piece on top too. The airstones in my buckets made a lot of noise too and made the buckets vibrate. I attached bitumen sheets on the outside of the buckets and that helped with the resonance. Still too loud for me so I'm hand watering coco this time around.