Chrisv.
2500 Club Member
Recently I picked up the Cadillac of ATOs, the Tunze 3155 Osmolator. The ATO was to be used for a tank that's on my nightstand. When I fired it up, I was a little bit disappointed by the noise of the pump. For those who don't have one, it isn't HORRIBLE, but it's certainly audible and certainly loud enough to be annoying if it were to switch on while we were sleeping. It's by far the loudest component of my otherwise silent system.
With the goal of continued spousal support for my hobby in mind, I started looking for a solution to silence the ATO.
The Tunze switched outlet was one option-- but it is cumbersome and expensive.
Instead I opted to use a small variable voltage dc pump I had on hand-- ironically from another ato-- but these are available on their own on Amazon.
Here is the pump I used:
First I clipped the stock power connector off of the pump. Next I stripped the wire leads and tinned them using solder to make a better and more stable connection. This was nessecary because the wires on my dc pump were mostly insulation material.
Next, I assembled the ato as usual. I found that the pump requires the flow selector on the ato to be set to medium flow or higher to have enough head pressure to work.
I'm not sure how long the dc pump will last. I'm sure that Tunze has a reason for using the pump that they use. It probably works better for frequent on/off cycles. For now, the pump is relatively quiet. Works.
With the goal of continued spousal support for my hobby in mind, I started looking for a solution to silence the ATO.
The Tunze switched outlet was one option-- but it is cumbersome and expensive.
Instead I opted to use a small variable voltage dc pump I had on hand-- ironically from another ato-- but these are available on their own on Amazon.
Here is the pump I used:
First I clipped the stock power connector off of the pump. Next I stripped the wire leads and tinned them using solder to make a better and more stable connection. This was nessecary because the wires on my dc pump were mostly insulation material.
Next, I assembled the ato as usual. I found that the pump requires the flow selector on the ato to be set to medium flow or higher to have enough head pressure to work.
I'm not sure how long the dc pump will last. I'm sure that Tunze has a reason for using the pump that they use. It probably works better for frequent on/off cycles. For now, the pump is relatively quiet. Works.
