Can I have over 40 feet of airline tubing between air pump and air stones?

HI all, I have a Tetra Whisper 40-gallon air pump that's a bit too noisy for my liking. It is currently in my living room next to my tank, but I'm thinking of moving it to the kitchen, some 40 feet away (if the airline tubing is run along the wall, that is). My fridge is pretty loud once the compressor kicks in, I won't mind the air pump next to it. Are there any limitations to how far away the pump can be from the tank? I just researched and bought a water pump and had to think about max head, etc., are there comparable issues with air pumps?

I am thinking perhaps I need to get better airline tubing that's a little stiffer (i.e., not the cheapo stuff) so I don't lose too much air pressure from airline tubing expanding over 40+ feet of airline tubing? (I'm thinking about how bicycle tubes expand as air pressure is increased).

Any thoughts? Have others done this? Thanks in advance!

 

The real issue is "friction loss" in the tubing. Over short runs, the thin tubing doesn't present much resistance to the flow of the air. But as you increase the length of the run, the friction loss increases directly in proportion to the length.

One way to get around this is to use a larger diameter tube for the long part of the run, and then narrow back down to your desired air line tubing for the sections near the tank and the air pump.

The flexibility of the tubing won't matter as long as the tubing is air-tight.

One type of tubing that's pretty cheap is the standard polyethylene type. I'd try some 3/8" or 1/2" for your long run, and then use adapters to get back to the standard air line tubing at the ends.

Of course, the larger tubing will be harder to conceal, and stiffer to work with. But it will present a lot less resistance to the flow of air.

But, now your fish will smell it whenever you're cooking, and they'll become excited and want to be fed!

 

It may be cheaper to buy a quieter air pump. I have a Marina 50 - I bought 3 and kept the quietest one.

 

It may be cheaper to buy a quieter air pump. I have a Marina 50 - I bought 3 and kept the quietest one.

The Marina 50 is rated upto 15 gallons... My Tetra Whisper 40 is upto 40 gallons... I have three airstones going.. how does the "math" work in this case... how many airstones do you have on your Marina 50? I'm wondering if there's some rule of thumb for number of airstones/sponge filters to rated capacity of the air filter. Would I be better off getting a smaller pump even though I have 3 airstones going (one for sponge, one additional airstone, and one airstone in a second 10 gallon tank I was going to set up as a QT tank soon.

 

The tetra whisper is usually pretty quiet. Did it get loud after some time? This is actually common. Take the back off and screw in that screw and it should alleviate the noise for yah.

Anyway, doesn't seem like bubbles is worth tubing going through my pad. I'd rather use a circulation pump for oxygenating the water. But I guess those pirate treasure chest air toys can be cool.

 

I only have one stone on and I don't have it fully opened. I have the HOB filter at the other end which has two "waterfalls" so the surface of the tank is completely in motion. That's all I want - agitation of the surface to allow for oxygen exchange.

The larger capacity air pump is probably always going to be louder as it has to force more air.

 

Anyway, doesn't seem like bubbles is worth tubing going through my pad

LOL, that's true.

The pump has been "loud" since I bought it; but I may be unreasonable in my expectations. It's definitely annoying at night, or even watching TV (we watch TV at low volumes, don't blast the volume like some people do). I will try adjusting it as you explained, was just afraid of opening it up and possibly breaking something; maybe it's easier than I think.

 

LOL, that's true.

The pump has been "loud" since I bought it; but I may be unreasonable in my expectations. It's definitely annoying at night, or even watching TV (we watch TV at low volumes, don't blast the volume like some people do). I will try adjusting it as you explained, was just afraid of opening it up and possibly breaking something; maybe it's easier than I think.

The larger tetra pumps, over 40 are loud, I've tried everything to quiet the down, the only thing that helped was returning them to the store . I use Fluval Q series pumps. Best of luck.

 

One thing to be aware of with any of these flexible diaphragm pumps is to avoid putting excessive back pressure on them.

If you want to throttle back an airstone, use a bypass valve instead of a series-connected valve so the pump can breathe easy. They often get a lot noisier when you restrict their flow any more than you need to, and the diaphragms fail sooner.

Noisy aquarium air pumps have always been a problem.