Air Pump Has Gotten Loud

[Fishies' Mom]

We have a Fusion 700 pump running a UGF and four air stones, all being fed through a 5-valve air valve. In the last week or so, the pump has gotten noticeably lounder. It's not very old - up and running since the middle of January, so I can't imagine that it needs a new diaphragm yet.

Any ideas as to what would make it so much louder all of a sudden?

Thanks,
Fishies' Mom

[escamosa]

I would pull the bottom off the pump, and check the diaphragm. More times than not it's a split diaphragm or it may of shifted a little so that it's not working properly. Sometimes they can last for a long time, other times you might only get a month out of them. Only other thing that I can think of is maybe the UGF has a bit of a blockage in it, making your pump work extra hard.

[bignellm]

Could also be rattling off something, or itself. My Fusion 500 tends to get louder too, when the feet come into contact sideways with objects. I'm also with the escamosa on the UGF blockage.

[Lady Hobbs]

My pump roars when it gets up against the side of the tank or the wall. It has to be on a soft surface (carpet) or rattlles like crazy when it's against a hard surface. I used to have it wall mounted and gave up on that deal.

[bignellm]

My pump roars when it gets up against the side of the tank or the wall. It has to be on a soft surface (carpet) or rattlles like crazy when it's against a hard surface. I used to have it wall mounted and gave up on that deal.

Hmmm... now that gives me some ideas.
Some Plumbers tape, some screws and a board screwed into a stud. Might just lock one of these down fer good.

Oh, or maybe some wire, a plant hanger, and some eye screws. Could then suspend it from everything at once. Nothing for it to rattle on. My minds all a twitter over doing another DIY

[Fishies' Mom]

Thanks for all the replies .

I wanted to reply once I had exhausted all possibilities as to what might be wrong.

First, the air pump was not resting against anything - that was the first thing I had checked on my own.

There's no UGF blockage; the only thing an air pump does with a UGF is pump air down the vertical filter tubes, displacing water in the tubes, which comes from under the filter plate if the area under the plate is clear. If there were a blockage under the plate, it would not put any additional pressure on the pump; the air stone would just act like any other ornament in the tank and simply bubble inside the tube, but not displacing water. I did change the air stones (I use sandstone air stones, not those long plastic-like air thingies that come with the UGF) and while I had the tubes out I ran a small siphon under the plate and all is clear - nice clean water came out .

I checked the diaphragm (this model has two, one for each air outlet) - they seemed okay. Ordered replacements anyway. One thing that I did notice was that one side was not putting out as much air as the other. So what I did was split the more powerful side between the filter towers and ran just one bubble stone besides the filter stones.

I did change both the diaphragms out on the 700 (which looked perfect, btw) - it is a bit quieter, but one side is only putting out 25% or less air than the other side, so there's something wrong with the pump. I'll be contacting jw Fusion this week to find out what to do.

I also ordered a fusion 600 which I received last week - it's a bit quieter pump overall and I was hoping I could run everything off of it. No dice - just not enough water turnover for the filter while running a bubble curtain and three other stones. So for now I am running just the UGF on the 600 and the rest of the air stones on the 700, which I've turned down to half power which keeps the roar down .

Not sure how I'll end up doing this - maybe I'll stay with powering the filter with the 600 and get a smaller model for the rest of the air stones.

So that's that for now!

Thanks again for the input,
Fishies' Mom

[bignellm]

25% air output on the one side? Maybe there's a partial blockage in the out put tubes of the pump itself? Or maybe the mini air filter pad is clogged up a bit? Not really sure, just tossing out ideas.

[Fishies' Mom]

Unable to find a phone contact for JW pet, manufacturer of Fusion air pumps, I called an internet supplier who gave me their number. I called and explained the issues with the pump; they said to send it back and they would replace it =o). I asked if we could do that in reverse, since the pump was still powering my bubble stones; they said no problem.

I have the new Fusion700 and it's chugging along nice and quiet-like =o).

I'm going to do a water change later today to see what my tank turn-over rate is with the 700 running everything vs. using two pumps, one to run the filter and another one to run the other bubble stones. If I find that the 700 is best left to the UGF alone, then I'll probably buy a smaller pump to power the additional bubble stones (the 600 is way too strong - I'm running it at 1/3 power) and keep the 600 as a filter back-up if I ever need one.

I'll be sending the old pump back today or tomorrow.

Mostly I wanted to give JW pet and their Fusion airpump a big thumbs-up for their great customer service .

[Lady Hobbs]

I had a two-way pump and one side put out far more pressure than the other. I just scaled down on the pressure on the one side to increase that on the other. Could be one of your air stones is getting plugged, as well.

[AzCichlids]

I just went through repairing a poorly performing pump. I had to take it completely apart and clean the parts. Mine actually had back-siphon occurring cause of the pump's placement (under the tank). Anyways, there was a small bit of water and rust inside. Once I cleaned everything out and flexed the diaphragms a few times and put it together it works like a champ.