DWC air pumps on a timer?

As my veg tent is in my bedroom, and my wife is a light sleeper the air pump noise keeps her awake... I would like some expertise advice on whether or not its possible to
A. shut down the air pumps to the dwc tubs for roughly 7-8 hours each night or
B. run them periodically for 10-15 minutes every couple hours

anyone have experience in this field? I shut 'em down last night for about 4-5 hours with IMHO no ill effects....
I have always just ran the pumps 24/7 and never thought about turning them off or using a timer, I don't want my girls to drown especially being 6 weeks into a 10 week veg! I also don't want the wife to drown me!

Any thoughts or opinions or advice is appreciated!

FrozenChozen said:

As my veg tent is in my bedroom, and my wife is a light sleeper the air pump noise keeps her awake... I would like some expertise advice on whether or not its possible to
A. shut down the air pumps to the dwc tubs for roughly 7-8 hours each night or
B. run them periodically for 10-15 minutes every couple hours

anyone have experience in this field? I shut 'em down last night for about 4-5 hours with IMHO no ill effects....
I have always just ran the pumps 24/7 and never thought about turning them off or using a timer, I don't want my girls to drown especially being 6 weeks into a 10 week veg! I also don't want the wife to drown me!

Any thoughts or opinions or advice is appreciated!

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Muffle that sum bitch! I know id be scared shuttin em down! but as you know im a newb w water.. lol
I would think you could put them into a small cooler or something along those lines and muffle the vibration.
You have the rubber feet on them still right? if not throw a good thick piece of rubber down. if mine walks around and touches things it shouldnt it makes a shit ton of noise but if its where its Supposed to be its pretty quiet.

AKrbb907 said:

Muffle that sum bitch! I know id be scared shuttin em down! but as you know im a newb w water.. lol
I would think you could put them into a small cooler or something along those lines and muffle the vibration.
You have the rubber feet on them still right? if not throw a good thick piece of rubber down. if mine walks around and touches things it shouldnt it makes a shit ton of noise but if its where its Supposed to be its pretty quiet.

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I tried... it just so fuckin loud... I've done damn near everything I can think of, even wrapping the air pump in a towel...That is a BAD idea....

Never turn the air pump off.
Check out dewey misters if ya like em possibly get a smaller air pump.

FrozenChozen said:

I tried... it just so fuckin loud... I've done damn near everything I can think of, even wrapping the air pump in a towel...That is a BAD idea....

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U trying to collect on renters insurance? Ya gonna burn ya house down.

tried it for 2 hours.... like I said BAD idea

This is totally random advice, and would definitely have to be tested, but you could try dosing small amounts of H2O2 throughout the night. I read a paper about dosing H2O2 at as much as 1 tbsp/gallon/day. What I don't know off the top of my head are the dynamics of how H2O2 will react over time and how that compares to the dissolved oxygen introduced by your air pump. But, if you're absolutely in a bind try throwing several squirts of H2O2 in to your mix every four hours or so, better than sitting dead-in-the-water!

Why not go buy some longer air tubes and run the pump in the closet, nearby bathroom, etc.??

NeonTetra said:

This is totally random advice, and would definitely have to be tested, but you could try dosing small amounts of H2O2 throughout the night. I read a paper about dosing H2O2 at as much as 1 tbsp/gallon/day. What I don't know off the top of my head are the dynamics of how H2O2 will react over time and how that compares to the dissolved oxygen introduced by your air pump. But, if you're absolutely in a bind try throwing several squirts of H2O2 in to your mix every four hours or so, better than sitting dead-in-the-water!

Why not go buy some longer air tubes and run the pump in the closet, nearby bathroom, etc.??

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how am I supposed to add hydrogen peroxide while I'm sleeping?!
And tell me who the hell wants four 30 feet sections of airline scattered about the house?
thanks though

FrozenChozen said:

how am I supposed to add hydrogen peroxide while I'm sleeping?!

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Hey, it's your lady's beauty sleep or your other ladies... something has to give! j/k, I guess I was imagining a simple timed titration system, probably could rig it up for less than a new air pump--electric valves, some NPT tubing, and a 12vdc programmable timer. I'm looking at all the parts right now for less than $25... If you wanna take the MacGyver route. And if periodic dosing of H2O2 will even give you sufficient oxygen.

FrozenChozen said:

And tell me who the hell wants four 30 feet sections of airline scattered about the house?
thanks though

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You've got a veg tent in the bedroom! What are a few air lines?

Try RDWC. Water pumps... No loud air pump...

Sent from Northern Colorado.

Merlin34 said:

Try RDWC. Water pumps... No loud air pump...

Sent from Northern Colorado.

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I don't have the means right now for a true RDWC but in a last dollar effort I managed to get something going. I've been Flooming with a 120gph submersible, but in order to create enough surface agitation to add D.O. it also creates noise.... not as bad as the air pumps though....

So does anyone think its a bad idea to shut air pumps off with lights off?
that's the main idea of this question

FrozenChozen said:

I don't have the means right now for a true RDWC but in a last dollar effort I managed to get something going. I've been Flooming with a 120gph submersible, but in order to create enough surface agitation to add D.O. it also creates noise.... not as bad as the air pumps though....

So does anyone think its a bad idea to shut air pumps off with lights off?
that's the main idea of this question

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I've never done or heard of anyone doing it. You said the waterpump is better so can you run that? If you can you should get lots of DO if flooming. I do not run air pumps and rely on flooming to provide all DO. Hard to understand why the air pump is more of a disturbance that the water pump though, what make and model? Could it be a faulty one. Not sure if monitoring ph would alert you to a problem if timing? Mine falls I believe when i have water issues but thats more a nute thing I believe. Sorry also a newb!

I bought a multiple outlet air pump, it kept me awake. Same kind of bedroom situation. So I went and bought a handful of individual quiet lower output pumps and then hung them from the top of the grow cab with strong to dampen the vibration. Worked just fine, after that the airstones made much more noise than the pumps.

My short answer though, grow in soil.

You need to chose a grow style that works best for you. Doesn't matter if you really really want to grow hydro, if its to loud, then you need to change. But similarly, if your lifestyle means that daily watering is a pain, then you need to change, be it autopilots, or indeed, hydro. Each grow style has advantages and disadvantages, you need to work out what your key priorities are.

The roots need oxygen and will grow better with it. I see no point on sabotaging the grow just for a better nights sleep. Get that better nights sleep some other way, not at your plants expense

FrozenChozen said:

I don't have the means right now for a true RDWC but in a last dollar effort I managed to get something going. I've been Flooming with a 120gph submersible, but in order to create enough surface agitation to add D.O. it also creates noise.... not as bad as the air pumps though....

So does anyone think its a bad idea to shut air pumps off with lights off?
that's the main idea of this question

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100% bad

Shutting the pumps off is a very bad idea. You are going to drown your plants if you keep it up.
If I had your problem, I would go get a bunch of air line, and put the pumps in a different room and just run the hoses to your water.
You can cut a dime size hole through the wall for your hoses to pass through from the other room ,if possible, and putty over the holes when you move out.

FrozenChozen said:

And tell me who the hell wants four 30 feet sections of airline scattered about the house?
thanks though

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YOU DO if you want to solve the problem. You don't have to run 4 hoses, if you are running 4 pumps, run 4 into 1 to where it is going, then back into 4 when it gets there. 1 hose.

FrozenChozen said:

As my veg tent is in my bedroom, and my wife is a light sleeper the air pump noise keeps her awake... I would like some expertise advice on whether or not its possible to
A. shut down the air pumps to the dwc tubs for roughly 7-8 hours each night or
B. run them periodically for 10-15 minutes every couple hours

anyone have experience in this field? I shut 'em down last night for about 4-5 hours with IMHO no ill effects....
I have always just ran the pumps 24/7 and never thought about turning them off or using a timer, I don't want my girls to drown especially being 6 weeks into a 10 week veg! I also don't want the wife to drown me!

Any thoughts or opinions or advice is appreciated!

Click to expand...

Well, I studied this and found another set of Ganja Myths. I stopped injecting hot air into water I want to keep cool. I went to a tiny lift pump, just 60 gpm.

It's called Surface Aeration or just Flooming.

You push water straight up from the bottom in such a way that is breaks the surface and spreads out into a raised surface. That surface takes in O2 by mass transfer across the surface area. It works better that air bubbles.

It turns out, air bubbles are only lifting the water from the bottom to the top.

The air bubbles DO NOT ADD O2. I've tested this with an O2 kit.

It is another Myth that the bubbles add O2 to the water directly. They CANNOT.

The physics of Mass Transfer, do not work in a tiny hot bubble of air.

It is super quiet to use a tiny lift pump.

I run a DIY hybrid system and I drilled a 3/16 hole on a 60 degree angle in the discharge nozzle that shoots a stream up at the surface adding DO to res. In saying that I do have an air pump (not used anymore) that is really quiet. I'll get the info and post it.

Doer said:

I stopped injecting hot air into water I want to keep cool.

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I used to have my air pump inside my active intake box so it would stay cool and suck in cool air. Anyway, you're correct, a good bubbler basically just results in flooming, which can be achieved with an aqua pump, and replacing air with aqua pump is the key to a quieter setup. I recently dismantled a sort of SWC setup, got an expensive pond air pump, did not have proper circulation/movement, you can guess the outcome...

FrozenChozen said:

I've been Flooming with a 120gph submersible, but in order to create enough surface agitation to add D.O. it also creates noise.... not as bad as the air pumps though...

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Perhaps you can insulate the aqua pump container?

it seems sort of extreme but you could smother her with a pillow








can you tell I am a bit bitter about my divorce?

Commander Strax said:

it seems sort of extreme but you could smother her with a pillow








can you tell I am a bit bitter about my divorce?

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Hahahaha best answer ever!