# question about the Tetra Whisper 3i filter



## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

.____. is it supposed to make bubbleing noises? >.>; i decided to see how Caroline would react to it, since i've not used it since getting the tank. first thing i noticed was it's bubbling. ._____. making "pop pop pop" noises with the bubbles. xD that, and the fact that i had to duct tape the pump to the wall cause it says the pump has to be higher than the filter itself, kinda... ruins it. ._. i want my peaceful waterfall, not the wall buzzing and the bubbles popping. xD also, the darn thing SOMEHOW up rooted one of my plastic plants i had around the intake(so Caroline won't get stuck). .____. gonna hafta go in there and fish it out. xD


for now, Caro's in a temporary 1 gallon tank(one of those... aquascape 1 gallons). 

i'm kinda scared to leave it on. .____. what if my ghetto duct tape job comes undone and the pump falls? i want Caro to have a filter, but there's so many things i don't know about the smaller ones. ;A; helps?


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## CrowntailxKing (Mar 18, 2011)

Luimeril said:


> .____. is it supposed to make bubbleing noises? >.>; i decided to see how Caroline would react to it, since i've not used it since getting the tank. first thing i noticed was it's bubbling. ._____. making "pop pop pop" noises with the bubbles. xD that, and the fact that i had to duct tape the pump to the wall cause it says the pump has to be higher than the filter itself, kinda... ruins it. ._. i want my peaceful waterfall, not the wall buzzing and the bubbles popping. xD also, the darn thing SOMEHOW up rooted one of my plastic plants i had around the intake(so Caroline won't get stuck). .____. gonna hafta go in there and fish it out. xD
> 
> 
> for now, Caro's in a temporary 1 gallon tank(one of those... aquascape 1 gallons).
> ...


For one, make sure that there is some space between the filter and decorations/plants. Also, you can buy a valve, cut the tube wherever you want to plug both sides into the valve (that way you can adjust how powerful the wafter outflow is). There are little shelves I have seen for sale before (for about $6-7 or so) that hang on the edge of the tank (away from, and not over, the water of course) to put your pump. I, myself, got some Tupperware containers and stacked them to make a shelf, covered them with a wash cloth so some of the vibrations would be absorbed that way it wont rumble off and makes a little less noise. It went from a loud ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ to a light droning sound. Hope this helps!!


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## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

i'll have to check at walmart whenever i go next(hopefully, tomorrow). that valve-thing'll help alot. x-X for now, i'll have to steal some containers from the kitchen to set the pump on, cause i'm scared of my duct tape job. xD


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## CrowntailxKing (Mar 18, 2011)

Yeah, I would be scared too! You can use your ductape to tape the containers together. I chose not to and nothing has happened yet. :/


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## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

i'll give that a shot. x-X


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## Thunderloon (Feb 6, 2011)

one-way "check valve" is like $2.88 at walmart
if you can get to petco or a local other store they have little packs of valves and t-pipes that let you set up a T in the line that you can vent some pressure through.

It will make bubble noises.
Don't put the air pump above the tank, if the air pump likes to wander around you can rubber band it/tape it onto a school ruler and hang the ruler on the wall.

I advise all to put intake pre-filter sponges on the 3i filters, they're $3.00 Fluval brand, anyplace that sells the Fluval Edge sells em. Or you can cut a square of foam and run an apple corer part way through it and stick that on!


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## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

it says in the instructions to put the pump higher than the filter, though. that's how i did it, and even made a little tower to set it on(made out of a small KK, a fish bowl, and a betta cup. xD duct taped together, with the pump on top. haven't had issues yet, except it's still causing some of the plants to come up out of the rocks. x-X i'm waiting for the 24 hours to be up, so i can put Caroline back in her tank. she misses it. ;A;


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## CrowntailxKing (Mar 18, 2011)

Yeah, it's supposed to be higher than the water-level because they don't want water accidentally siphoning back through where the air is supposed to go and cause an electric shock or something of the sort. Just a safety measure, so it doesn't hurt. Glad it's working out for ya! Did you put a wash cloth under it to muffle the noise a bit?


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## misamiania (Feb 11, 2011)

I have those kind. Two actually. If you get a check valve it goes super quiet.


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## misamiania (Feb 11, 2011)

or you could cheat how I did before I bought the valve. I put a bunch of knots in the tubing.


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## iheartmybettas (Jan 31, 2011)

CrowntailxKing said:


> Yeah, it's supposed to be higher than the water-level because they don't want water accidentally siphoning back through where the air is supposed to go and cause an electric shock or something of the sort. Just a safety measure, so it doesn't hurt. Glad it's working out for ya! Did you put a wash cloth under it to muffle the noise a bit?


The check valve keeps this from happening. I am bad and don't keep mine high above the filter. I should probably get a check valve too.

Mine does do the bubble thing for some reason. I don't know why. I also recommend the fluval intake foam cover Thunderloon mentioned I have them on all tanks I own. You can get a really cheap 3 pack on Amazon. I think it is like $5 for 3 which is way cheaper than in the stores.


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