High Tide Aquatics

Airpump (and heater) recommendations - strong and silent (and reliable)

Alexander1312

Alexander1312

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Does anyone have any recommendations for a strong but silent airpump? Or potentially one for sale?

My initial research and other discussions found the following:
  • Schego seems to produce the best airpumps but I believe they are not/no longer available for sale in the US. Correction: They can be ordered via their German website through the contact option, requesting US voltage and a US plug.
  • EHEIM used to have great airpumps but the newer models appear to be too loud.
  • Hygger appears to be best choice at this point, silent and strong, but the air outlets cannot be controlled individually and I only need one outlet (which requires me to go down some rabbit hole with how to combine two outlets into one).
I need to airpump to push air through an air dryer into an ozone generator connect by a 7 foot hose which leads into the skimmer. The current flow as measured by a flow meter is far too weak.
 
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Depends on the size of the air line, but maybe you could pair the Hygger with a mini gate valve like this to control the air flow:

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Push Connect Precision Valve

Puregen ACUC Precision Valves are perfect for many different applications. Everything from calcium reactors, RODI systems or any other place where precision fluid control is necessary and standard push connect tubing is used. The highly durable and fatigue resistant valve and body are designed...
www.bulkreefsupply.com www.bulkreefsupply.com

1722018534710.png
 
dangalang said:
Depends on the size of the air line, but maybe you could pair the Hygger with a mini gate valve like this to control the air flow:

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Push Connect Precision Valve

Puregen ACUC Precision Valves are perfect for many different applications. Everything from calcium reactors, RODI systems or any other place where precision fluid control is necessary and standard push connect tubing is used. The highly durable and fatigue resistant valve and body are designed...
www.bulkreefsupply.com www.bulkreefsupply.com

View attachment 58999
Click to expand...

I would bleed off what isn't needed, rather then putting more pressure on the diaphragm.
 
I have tried now both of these air pumps

1. hygger Quietest Aquarium Air Pump, Adjustable Oxygen Pump 2 Air Outlets Ultra Silent Powerful Aerator Pump Up to 600Gallon Fish Tank 255GPH 10W https://a.co/d/gOS9i64

2. Eheim Air Pump 400 https://a.co/d/4Kwy5ut

The Hygger is significantly (!) quieter with the same power (measured by a manual airflow meter) than the EHEIM. The EHEIM is unbearably loud on all settings (not a user error). EHEIM used to be a quiet air pump, but apparently, the new models are no longer silent enough.

The issue with Hygger is that it has two outputs, but you can only control both—not individually—which the EHEIM can. If you put the air pump at max settings and only run one airline, it is too loud. If you run it at half strength, it is very silent but also not very strong.

Therefore, I have ordered the following directly from Germany (no price yet). These are considered the quietest pumps available, even for people with very sensitive hearing. Will see if this is true. They change the plug and voltage to US requirements. Fun fact, they seem to be company which is producing the titanium heaters for both BRS and Innovative Marine, and I have also ordered two heaters from them (directly).


IMG_1873.jpeg
 
Alexander1312 said:
I have tried now both of these air pumps

1. hygger Quietest Aquarium Air Pump, Adjustable Oxygen Pump 2 Air Outlets Ultra Silent Powerful Aerator Pump Up to 600Gallon Fish Tank 255GPH 10W https://a.co/d/gOS9i64

2. Eheim Air Pump 400 https://a.co/d/4Kwy5ut

The Hygger is significantly (!) quieter with the same power (measured by a manual airflow meter) than the EHEIM. The EHEIM is unbearably loud on all settings (not a user error). EHEIM used to be a quiet air pump, but apparently, the new models are no longer silent enough.

The issue with Hygger is that it has two outputs, but you can only control both—not individually—which the EHEIM can. If you put the air pump at max settings and only run one airline, it is too loud. If you run it at half strength, it is very silent but also not very strong.

Therefore, I have ordered the following directly from Germany (no price yet). These are considered the quietest pumps available, even for people with very sensitive hearing. Will see if this is true. They change the plug and voltage to US requirements. Fun fact, they seem to be company which is producing the titanium heaters for both BRS and Innovative Marine, and I have also ordered two heaters from them (directly).


View attachment 59135
Click to expand...
is the heater cheaper than brs?
 
psidriven said:
is the heater cheaper than brs?
Click to expand...

No price yet. The US orders are done individually by email through one of the owners family member. However, I more concerned about shipping vs the price of the items though.

Edit: They referred me now to BRS for their titanium heaters :), so no direkt purchase possible since they have their US distribution through them.
 
The BRS heaters made by Schego are absolute garbage. I had two and both failed well under the 1 year mark. And when I say failed I mean they corroded, shorted out the tank, and tripped my electrical breakers. PSA, do not buy.
 
derek_SR said:
The BRS heaters made by Schego are absolute garbage. I had two and both failed well under the 1 year mark. And when I say failed I mean they corroded, shorted out the tank, and tripped my electrical breakers. PSA, do not buy.
Click to expand...
Agreed they fail often. I’ve had so many stop working on me within a year. They have a 3YR warranty tho so file a claim to get a replacement.
 
derek_SR said:
The BRS heaters made by Schego are absolute garbage. I had two and both failed well under the 1 year mark. And when I say failed I mean they corroded, shorted out the tank, and tripped my electrical breakers. PSA, do not buy.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had three of those heaters running once, two of them zapped me when I stuck my hand in the water. Chucked them all.
 
If you want to have just silence, there's some USB dc ones on amazon for a few bucks. Terrible quality, reviews say breaks after 6 months of use, but they're $8 and they're utterly silent. Only sound is the air exiting the airstone and popping on the surface.

Not saying they're good by any means, I bought them to use as a backup airstone, but turns out they're exceedingly quiet and I use them instead of the regular air pumps to power sponge filter on my fw tank, just plugged into a wall -> USB brick.
 
Alexander1312 said:
I have tried now both of these air pumps

1. hygger Quietest Aquarium Air Pump, Adjustable Oxygen Pump 2 Air Outlets Ultra Silent Powerful Aerator Pump Up to 600Gallon Fish Tank 255GPH 10W https://a.co/d/gOS9i64

2. Eheim Air Pump 400 https://a.co/d/4Kwy5ut

The Hygger is significantly (!) quieter with the same power (measured by a manual airflow meter) than the EHEIM. The EHEIM is unbearably loud on all settings (not a user error). EHEIM used to be a quiet air pump, but apparently, the new models are no longer silent enough.

The issue with Hygger is that it has two outputs, but you can only control both—not individually—which the EHEIM can. If you put the air pump at max settings and only run one airline, it is too loud. If you run it at half strength, it is very silent but also not very strong.

Therefore, I have ordered the following directly from Germany (no price yet). These are considered the quietest pumps available, even for people with very sensitive hearing. Will see if this is true. They change the plug and voltage to US requirements. Fun fact, they seem to be company which is producing the titanium heaters for both BRS and Innovative Marine, and I have also ordered two heaters from them (directly).


View attachment 59135
Click to expand...

Eheim IME has never been a go to for air pumps, just water pumps, I don't think I sold more then a few dozen in my years. Tetra's Luft pump was always the go to for quiet and reliable and I sold cases of those! They changed to the new blue funky looking ones unfortunately, not the same deal :(
 
Regarding your concern for combining 2 outlets to 1, the key is that you want to have those ubiquitous inexpensive 1-way air valves on each of the 2 outputs before combining them with a Y connector. Idea being you don’t want the pressure of 1 affecting the other. Most of those 2 output air pumps have a mechanism that goes back and forth between them so they are actually alternating really fast as opposed to continuous air pressure. For a cleaner install they make a simple piece that combines these functions that I use (and the pump in the pic is silent, good output)-

1722565918218.jpeg


 
JVU said:
Regarding your concern for combining 2 outlets to 1, the key is that you want to have those ubiquitous inexpensive 1-way air valves on each of the 2 outputs before combining them with a Y connector. Idea being you don’t want the pressure of 1 affecting the other. Most of those 2 output air pumps have a mechanism that goes back and forth between them so they are actually alternating really fast as opposed to continuous air pressure. For a cleaner install they make a simple piece that combines these functions that I use (and the pump in the pic is silent, good output)-

View attachment 59152

Click to expand...

That’s what I had been looking for, thank you. Unfortunately, I already returned the Hygger but will try this brand. I saw there is a K3 model, will try this too. Thanks John!
 
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derek_SR said:
The BRS heaters made by Schego are absolute garbage. I had two and both failed well under the 1 year mark. And when I say failed I mean they corroded, shorted out the tank, and tripped my electrical breakers. PSA, do not buy.
Click to expand...
SupraSaltyReefer said:
Agreed they fail often. I’ve had so many stop working on me within a year. They have a 3YR warranty tho so file a claim to get a replacement.
Click to expand...
RandyC said:
Yeah, I had three of those heaters running once; two of them zapped me when I stuck my hand in the water. Chucked them all.
Click to expand...

This was not the main intend of this post but heaters are an important topic, so curious what you guys have been using instead. I saw folks had issues with these, specifically their stronger heaters (600 watts). Was there not a rumor that BRS asked them to produce as many as they could in a short period of time since they were selling well, and then they slipped in the quality and caused all of these issues? I have had a 100 watts for two years without any issues, and I have been using the 600 watts as the main heating element—knowing about the issues—with an Aqualogic controller and backup heaters on the main display tank.

Which ones do you all use instead of them? I have not seen any other brand to produce titanium heaters.
 
Alexander1312 said:
This was not the main intend of this post but heaters are an important topic, so curious what you guys have been using instead. I saw folks had issues with these, specifically their stronger heaters (600 watts). Was there not a rumor that BRS asked them to produce as many as they could in a short period of time since they were selling well, and then they slipped in the quality and caused all of these issues? I have had a 100 watts for two years without any issues, and I have been using the 600 watts as the main heating element—knowing about the issues—with an Aqualogic controller and backup heaters on the main display tank.

Which ones do you all use instead of them? I have not seen any other brand to produce titanium heaters.
Click to expand...

I am using a finnex titanium heater in my tank and my SW mixing station both. They’ve been good so far, both 500w.
 
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