air pump episode

I have never really cared to review products on here but I've been so frustrated with the air pump lately it's worth telling why. I run air pumps on all my tanks to power small sponge filters- in the five-gallon container that serves as a quarantine/hospital tank and Oliver's ten-gallon aquarium they are the sole filter. In my forty there's a small sponge filter in the opposite corner from the main HOB to provide extra current (avoiding a dead corner) and supply more space to host the good bacteria.

I've had this Tetra Whisper pump on Oliver's tank for just under a year (eleven months). Lately I noticed it wasn't sounding right- the water wasn't making the same nice burble. It didn't seem to have as much flow. I replaced the airline tubing which had a crack, there was only slight improvement. I shortened the airline tubing. I made sure the sponge was rinsed out. I ordered replacement parts, put a new air filter in the pump, opened it up and replaced the diaphragm (even though the parts did not look broken or worn out). No improvement with any of these measures. In fact it got worse and the air flow would stop every now and then, I couldn't figure out why.

Finally I took the Hagen Elite pump off the forty and moved it to Oliver's tank, to see if it really was the pump malfunctioning (I should have done this earlier). Yep. The sponge filter ran great on the Elite pump. Put the Tetra one back on there, no flow. It still vibrated plenty and if I removed the airline I could feel air coming out, but it just wasn't enough to make current flow through the filter for some reason. Fed up with it all, annoyed that I purchased replacement parts that did no good (which you can't find in the store so have to order online and with shipping the replacement bits cost more than the pump itself!)

I went and bought a Top Fin pump rated for a ten-gallon tank. Put it on but still the flow was really weak. I was puzzled at this, since the Elite I momentarily put on there is rated for a five-gallon tank but had stronger flow than this new one rated for a ten. I took the Top Fin back to the store and tried another brand- Great Choice. I never used any of their products before, but this one was a winner. The Great Choice pump is rated for use in a tank up to 20 gal (there wasn't a smaller one available) and now I have good flow again. Best of all, it's very quiet. The quietest pump I've ever had. It has four little rubber feet and the noise is hardly noticeable. Unlike the Hagen Elite which has just a flat base and is noisy, I have to cushion it on a folded cloth and still it buzzes. (So its on the downstairs tank and not in the bedroom)

So Tetra and Top Fin have failed me. I guess it's reasonable that after a year something might wear out, but the replacement parts cost too much and I don't understand why both of these just failed to power the air strongly enough. Hagen Elite and Great Choice work much better. As long as this one holds up, if I have to buy another pump my first pick will be the Great Choice. And it cost less!

Through it all Oliver looks unfazed. I probably knocked out part of his bacteria colony by rinsing too much when I thought the sponge was clogged, but the water tests fine and even though there's still an algae problem (more on that later) the fish himself looks healthy, eats eagerly, his eyes are all cleared up too.