Lava Lamp Grande Aquarium Pump Issue / Noise

So, turn up your speakers / volume and have a listen. This is why I can't run the lamp for more than 15 or 20 minutes at a time, this pump issue gets maddening.

So, two options:

#1 Call lava lamp and see if they have a replacement pump which we know they won't

#2 Get a normal fish tank air pump, and extend the air tube through a nicely drilled hole in the back bottom of the base to the external fish tank air pump and enjoy.

By the way, I had to remove the round felt pad, which is easily replaced with some clear rubber bump on feet.

The rest is easy the lamp can be serviced from the bottom. At least the pump and LED circuit board.

If anyone wants more detailed photos of the innards let me know and I will post them.

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Comment by kero48 on January 13, 2018 at 11:21pm: It could also be the one way valve that sits dead center in a hole in the circuit board hitting the circuit board causing the rattling as i have the lamp running with no air hose, no water but fully assembled and so far, no rattling. So tomorrow I will also get some new air hose and cut a piece 1/4" longer so that the valve can sit under the board and not dead center to it. See photo below for the piece that COULD be causing the rattling eventhough the video shows the pump doing it as well. I don't understand why the one way valve to prevent water from going back down the tube has to be so high up near the globe as long as it's there it doesn't matter where it goes as we are only talking about 12" total hose.

Comment by Mr MaGoo on January 14, 2018 at 6:20am: Depending on how the unit is set up you could use and external aquarium pump that is much quieter further away from the lamp/ aquarium. Noise dampening could be done at the remote location to make it virtually noise free area. Would just require longer tubing to globe. Easy enough. Love the lamp/aquarium set up, would definitely snag one if I could get my hands on one. Good luck getting it sorted out!

Comment by kero48 on January 14, 2018 at 4:08pm: More info about the repair is here

http://oozinggoo.ning.com/video/lava-lamp-grande-aquarium?xg_source...

Comment by Claude J on January 14, 2018 at 7:05pm: Let me know when you get tired of it.

Comment by kero48 on January 14, 2018 at 8:31pm: Did you see the repair photos/information?

I was surprised how easy it is to work on these. I think lava lamp put some great thought behind these but in other aspects they made some really poor design decisions with regards to electrical components like the pump and adapter connector being way at the bottom. There is so much room in there to put things in a position where if a leak occurred there would be little risk of danger if left plugged in.

I really could have bought a very small aquarium pump and put the entire pump inside but I feel having the pump exterior to the lamp allows for more customizing if one wishes to.

With regards to getting tired of it, only time will tell.....

Comment by Claude J on January 14, 2018 at 8:50pm: Yeah I saw the repair string

There seems to be adequate real estate inside to mount a small air pump inside the housing on rubber mounts or something similar to abate any noise. Maybe use the rubber mounts used for computer fans?

Use the new airline hole for panel mounted air control valve?

Also, you seem to have enough room to install a color change LED

Either a round ring style or E27 used for fiber optic conversions.

Either would work, Many possibilities

Looking at this, I might just drill a hole in one of my grande bottom globe with a diamond bit and make my own new improved version (As if I have the time...LOL)

I have a LED air bubbler for a pond/hot tub lying around somewhere here .

Comment by kero48 on January 14, 2018 at 9:07pm: If you can drill a hole dead center in the bottom of any grande bottle and not have it crack or break. You can easily make one of these and make it better as you will have a full metal base, not plastic.

The only question is, which I can try for you day, will a small 10 gallon aquarium pump be sufficient enough to drive the stone with enough bubbles to get the critters to move? This size pump can easily fit in the base. They are all very small for this size aquarium.

If you make your own, you can also improve the bubble provider be either a bigger stone, a small wand, a bendable wand to make a circle bubbler etc etc. The options are all there.

You know what would have been cool, if lava lamp had some HUMAN DIVER critters as well.

Comment by Claude J on January 14, 2018 at 10:44pm: with the size of opening on a grande, and a long forceps, you could layout a whole aquarium scene LOL

Yes a circular airstone would be best

Comment by Claude J on January 14, 2018 at 10:46pm: use one of these

https://www.ebay.com/itm/WS2812B-5050-RGB-Ring-12-16-24-32-40-48-60...

Comment by kero48 on January 15, 2018 at 6:19pm: Those are cool and for sure would work well.

Oh BTW I bought a 5-15 gallon pump today from walmart to test the air flow with existing stone. It worked but not enough to get all critters swimming. Only the slightly lighter fish moved around. So I will stick with the 10-30 tetra pump that is in the photos in the other thread

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