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 :)!!!

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AquaTop Nano Aquarium Digital Heater with LED D1HT 50W

I got this heater because I bought one at petsmart and it was HORRIBLE! This was the cheapest one online and I am actually surprised by how well it works. My turtle seems much happier now. The only thing that I think is wrong with it are the instructions. They come printed on the box and are not very specific so I had a hard time figuring out how to operate it. Overall, it's an awesome product!

An excellent looking and performing heater. Good features and is doing a really good job controlling the temperature. Worth the money, assuming it lasts. It's been performing admirably for a month already.

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I bought this heater to replace a Fluval E series that was no longer holding a stable temperature. The temperature is much easier to set than the Fluval with only one button to press. The adjustment lever on the Fluval would stick making it hard to set. This is by far easier to adjust than any heater I've owned. The current temperature display is also easy to read from across the room. You can place the heater in any position because of the external sensor. The temperature fluctuates only within one degree F of the setting and I verified the current temperature display is accurate with a separate thermometer.

The heater arrived with one of the suction cups slightly deformed so that it wouldn't stick to the glass. I contacted the manufacturer and they responded within a day. I received a set of replacement suction cups about a week later free of charge. I highly recommend this product based on the quality of the product and customer service. I've been keeping aquariums for years and I know through experience that a quality heater is important, a malfunction can easily crash your tank.

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We got this heater for our 10 gallon tank. We live in a warm climate where we don't always need to turn the heat on at night for ourselves, but do need to make sure that the fish tanks are still kept at the right temp. As I said this is being used in our 10 gallon tank. It's just short enough not to hit the bottom and I really like how the heater tells you the temp of the water. It's also really easy to operate and adjust the temp. if needed. It seems much better than our old heater. It was wicked easy to set up and has been in the tank for about a month now.

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I got this heater for 5 gallon aquarium for my betta fish... My fishie was frustrated, started flaring (by its nature its a fighting fish and has territory issues lol) by the red light of the heater. I found a way to overcome this.. I had to arrange the heater so that the reflection of the red light doesnt fall on the glass of aquarium. Now my fishie really loves this one! It keeps circling happily around the heater when I turn it on. The glass material of heater was easy to clean however the plastic part gets slimy and needed more cleaning... I wouldnt mind that as my fishie really loves it!

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Como 5pcs Plastic Non-return Aquarium Air Pump Check Valves

These worked as desired in my 1/4-in air tubing; however, I had to take a razor and trim plastic tags that were left over from manufacturing. Not that big of deal, there it is.

I'm using these for a hydroponics application, and most of them work. I've had a couple that wouldn't let air through altogether, and it took me a second to realize the failing connection was one of these check valves.

That's just bad QC. Most of the valves I received weren't defective.

Of the working valves I received, I connected one to a deep water culture (for air bubbles) and the weight of the nutrient solution went right through the valve and backed up the airline (heading towards the air pump). Needless to say the air flow stopped. People use check valves so these kinds of things don't happen.

Also, the fittings on each side must be larger than 1/4", because these valves stretch out my 1/4" airline. After I was done with the valve, I had to cut off the small bit of connected airline because it was too stretched out to use (like throwing a hot dog down a hallway).

I didn't really know much about check valves when I ordered these, but it's been some time and I've tried different brands. These are my least favorite and I wouldn't order them again.

Como Fish Tank Clear Plastic Air Pump Outlet Check Valves 5 Pcs

Those look similar to the ones I like but a different brand and color.

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For the price, these are great. They work well. The only negative would be the extra plastic from the molds they came out of. However, I easily trimmed them with a razor blade so it wasn't an issue.

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I ordered a bunch of these to keep on hand. Well, it appears that I only got 2 useful valves out of the entire bunch. When connected to the air pump, these valves whistle, loudly. Too bad as they are perfectly sized as opposed to some of the other check valves that are available.

I'm not sure if was just bad luck but I will not chance reordering these.

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The old saying, an ounce of prevention, is worth a pound of cure, is really true. This product gives you that ounce of prevention for nickles, nuff said....

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U.P. Aqua Mini Thermometer (F)

As the product title states, it's a mini thermometer. The only temps listed are in increments of 10 deg with a 5 deg mark in-between. You won't be able to read a precise temp from it, but it's decent for a rough guess if that's all you need. As far as accuracy, it's hard to tell because reading it's always a "best guess." I used a digital thermometer to try to measure this products accuracy and from what I could tell, the digital thermometer always read about 3-4 degrees higher. I decided this wasn't worth the effort of guessing and stopped using it.

Would not recommend unless your not interested in a true reading and only need a 5 degree range.

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Encore Hand Painted TV Themed 6 Gallon Sunny Fish Network Aquarium

What can I say, I am slightly disappointed in the fish tank. It would be cute for a little girls room. The tank is really short, you have to bend or sit down to look at the fish. Mold also forms under the lid which I have to occasionally clean in order to prevent any build up.

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Aquatop PF40-UV Hang-On Filter with UV Sterilization

I was originally going to purchase a uv sterilizer only unit. That is, until I saw the AquaTop hob/uv sterilizer. At present AquaTop is the only company in the world that manufactures a line of hob/uv sterilizers.

I purchased a PF25UV for one of my aquariums and it did such an excellent job, that I have since purchased a PF40UV and a PF15UV for two other planted aquariums.

These filters work quite well at keeping the water crystal clear. However, if you want biological filtration, you should keep an additional filter on your aquarium such as a canister.

Like some of the other people who commented here, my PF40UV came with the carbon bag open and carbon pieces scattered all over the box.

The chassis also had a scratch at the back of it, however, not deep enough to penetrate through the filter chassis.

These filters are not inexpensive for an hob. However, when one considers the price of a stand alone uv sterilizer of moderate quality, which also requires a power head, these filters are a bargain especially since the uv sterilizer feature isn't hype it really does work.

And the hob/uv sterilizer offers portability as well, so that you can move it from one of your aquariums to another.

Highly recommended.

Bought this Aquatop filter through Amazon. Product description indicates that the UV bulb comes with the filter (as does the packaging). The product I received did not have a UV bulb. Grrrr. Yes, Carbon pellets are strewn everywhere in box due to the shipping process. Had to spend another $12 bucks to purchase another UV bulb. I will update this review once the bulb arrives and I begin to use the filter.

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I received this unit with a broken light bulb, broken filter(pieces were all over the place) and the housing had a large crack. This is definitely a low quality filter. I would not recommend this product. I'm going to cut my losses by returning it and purchasing from a better brand.

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THIS PRODUCT IS 100% RECOMENDED , AFTER ONE YEAR WORKING , CRYSTAL CLEAR WATER , AND HEALTY FISH , UV BULB PERFECT USING 24/7 . BUY IT !!!!

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Does a nice job as a regular filter, but the uv part is awesome cleared the algae in my tank in a day great buy needs to be set on the right angle or some of the water just pours out the intake portion hence 4 stars

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Coralife 54069 Straight Pin Compact Fluorescent Lamp, 18-Watt, 10K

The Coralife works just great as it says no complaints here it was a easy install.just snap and turn on

This is exactly what I needed. I was having a hard time finding it at a pet shop. It was a great price and makes my aquarium look great.

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Lee's Pet Products ALE12517 2-Pack Discard a Stone Disposable Air Diffuser for Aquarium Pump, Fine

I needed an airstone with smaller bubbles than the standard airstones since I put in two lines. These airstones work great at dispersing tiny, fine bubbles. I would definately get this brand again.

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