rickliving

I have just added a small bubble filter to my tank. It vibrates to generate enough force to push the air through the tube into the tank as most small motors do. I can feel the vibration when I place my fingers on the outside glass of the tank. I isolated the motor on a piece of 4 inch foam and that reduced the vibration a bit but it did not disappear. I suspect that the vibrations are traveling the length of the tube into the water. Will this new vibration harm the fish? Is there a way around this?

Thank you

chickadee

i don't think it will hurt anything, but if you have any nervous fish watch them and you may have to get another type or move the fish or filter to another tank. What is the exact name and type of filter and size tank and filter?

Welcome to Fishlore.com as I don't think you and I have spoken before. I hope you have as pleasant experience here as I have had. I have met many people here who have become my closest friends. This has certainly been one of the nicest surprises I have had on the internet. I do love this site and the people on it.

Rose

rickliving

It is a 10 gallon tank with a stock "recycle through carbon" filter. The bubble filter is a cheap one made by Elite with small bubble rock on the end. Model 799. The plastic tubing is, of course, flexible but obviously stiff enough to transmit vibrations.

rickliving

yes, chickadee, we haven't spoken. I am brand new to the site. I do like what I've seen so far though.

chickadee

If I understand which type you are talking about they have a separate air pump. The air pump is what is vibrating. To cut down on the vibration get something for it to sit on. even a newspaper may help. If it is sitting on a hard surface the vibrations can be fierce. The only other solution is to get a cheap replacement air pump like at Walmart or through petsmart or petco. the ones that come with the units are very noisy and shaky. usually even the cheapest ones at these stores are quieter than the one you have. Here are some examples

Aqua Culture Pumps at Walmart (very quiet and a good small one is about $7.00) I have it running airstones on both of my tanks with a splitter and it handles it with no problem. (5 gallon and 3 gallon tank)

http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products.../Itemdy00.aspx

or if you really want to take care of the problem completely without the need of any pumps or outside equipment I would recommend:
http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products.../Itemdy00.aspx

You can pick the size appropriate for your tank. They come in 3 sizes and will filter with chemical, biological, and mechanical filtration. Until I went to the Eclipse tanks that included bio-wheel filters I used the mini filter above as the only filter I had in my 3 gallon vase and it did an EXCELLENT job.

Hope this helps

Rose