Tetra Whisper Air Pumps (Non-UL)

Tetra Whisper Air Pump 40 Gal Tank

For the money this is a good little air pump. Although I do have to say that after around the 4 month mark like everyone else giving a review here it got very noisy.

Don't worry there is a fix! Unscrew the 4 Philips head screws under the unit and separate the bottom and the top. You will find a stack of "L" shaped magnets. Move the stack a bit to the right and tighten the nut that holds the "L" shaped magnets in place. Put it back together and ta-da no more noise! The Problem is that the little arm that holds the square shaped magnet is hitting the "L" shaped magnets with every pump. All you have to do is give it some space so it doesn't hit the other stack of magnets. The nut might not have be tight enough when they built it or it rattled loose during normal use allowing the stack of magnets to slip a bit.

All in all this is a pretty good pump. Just wish Tetra would pay closer attention to the little things.

The last thing you want when sitting back and relaxing in front of your peaceful aquarium is the buzz or hummm of an air filter. We had and old (4 years) AQT 1000 which we had to unplug at night because of its peculiar humming.

So I asked the guy at the fish store which of the many air pumps is the quietest. "The Tetra Whisper Air Pump" he picked one up off the shelf and casually tossed it over my way.

Wow not much of and introduction. So I bought a different unit, well because I know better don't I? Sure. Two days later I retuned that one because it was competing with the refrigerator in the hum contest. And it was winning.

Sure enough this 'Whisper" is a very quiet unit. Peaceful and unobtrusive.

We have a 35 gal / 24" deep tank and the #10 gal Air Pump provides great bubble power.

I would recommend trying the lower powered ones for your tank and if need be working up to a higher stength if necessary. My friend has a #10 in his 50 gal tank and it pushes plenty of air for bubbles.

Tetra recommends an optional check valve to prevent water from siphoning back in case there is a power outtage. We just put a loose loop in the air hose behind the tank. But you may be safer with the check valve.

Quiet + powerful + reliable (We have had it for 9 months now) = Silencioso!

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...if you only use one of the two outputs(like I do), put a piece of hose onto the unused outlet it will muffle the noise it makes[I don't know why they don't tell you this in the pump instructions!]. If both outlets have hoses on them, whether they are in the water or not, this will be a quiet air pump. Having two outputs is great, you could easily feed two 30 gal tanks with this, and it seems like this could handle a 100 gal tank.

Also!: Make sure to position your bubbles emitting from your stone/bubblewall NOT near(under) your filter intake. The intake will take in the air bubbles and cause significant noise as it spits them out up near the filter[gheez, why don't they tell you this in the pump instructions!]. With a quiet pump and keeping your air bubbles away from the filter intake, you should have a system quiet enough to sleep next to. Therefore I don't recommend using a full length back bubble wall with a top filter, as the filter will take in the bubbles and cause noise.

Whatever you do, don't buy Top Fin pumps,...they're cheap and cheaply made too noisy. Both Tetra Whisper and Rena brands have superior quiet engineering.

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Let's get something clear first, no air pump runs 100% quiet, no matter what the manufacturer says. Now the review :

After all the numerous mixed reviews, I decided to take a chance and get this air pump anyway, and I'm glad I did.

This pump, as the title says, is surprisingly quiet, the sound of the bubbles and the waves in my tank are actually louder than this pump, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that. I have an old, square shape, Aquaculture pump that was bugging me it was so loud. The Tetra Whisper pump emits a very, almost unnoticed hum. The pump has 2 outakes and comes included with the following:

The pump of course, instructions , 1T-adapter; 2 knobs/valves that help regulate the amount of bubbles you feed into the aquarium by increasing/decreasing air flow. This is actually perfect for those like me with a smaller tank, even though I have a 50 GAL, I don't have to have bubbles at full blast.

I had a problem with my wave maker stirring bubbles all over the place, but now with this new pump, I can have less bubbles in the area near the powerheads hooked to my wave maker. I'm currently using this pump with these: Elite 1-Inch Cylinder Air Stone, 4-Pack and so far, so good. Let the stones soak in your tank for at least 10 minutes before using them.

Some people recomend keeping the pump above water level, but in my 12 years of keeping aquariums I've never done that; just make sure you create a "drip loop" for the power cord with a screw or a push pin, so if water for some reason finds its way down, it will hang and drip at the loop and not reach the AC plug. You may also want to get these: 2 PCS Non-return Check Valves for Aquarium Air Pump to keep water from going into the pump during water changes or power outages.

If you ask me if I have any complaints about this pump, I'd say its size, but that's a minor issue for me, the dome shape of the pump was intentionally designed to reduce the amount of noise it makes, and it works.

The pump measurements are as follow:

7.5 inches long, 4.5 inches wide and 3 inches high.

Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase, the pump is well built, high quality and made to last. The best feature of course, its almost silent operation, I don't have to crank the volume up on my TV anymore.

One last tip, if you want this pump, or any other pump to make less noise, place it on top of a thick sock or an old fashioned mouse pad. That should absorb some of the vibrations.

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This pump works quite well! I have a beta fish and my previous pump wasn't working so my "Shark" :) wasn't as playful as he usually was in my 5 gallon tank. As soon as I hooked this pump up though, he became himself again. My old pump was no where nearly as powerful and there are dozens more bubbles than that old heap could have ever produced. It DOESN'T come with the tubbing, however. So you have to purchase that seperately. It is a very quiet pump and I'm glad I purchased it!

PS. no one ever comments on Amazon Prime, but this is my favorite online purchasing site because whenever I order something I get it at the latest two days later. GREAT work Amazon!!! You have a customer for life as my thousands of dollars already spent with you show :)!!!