Silicone Tubing on Return Pump Works

Hermie · Jul 12, 2019

Hi all, for many months I planned to add some silicone hosing to my return pump plumbing in order to silence any hum and today I finally added the tubing.

I have about 6" of silicone tubing/hose (3/4" ID 1" OD) going from my return pump to some PVC and then up at the return outlet, I have another 6 inch piece of the tubing (barb to "eheim adapter") and Boy Oh Boy. I have to say that it's PERFECT for quieting the hum. I now have basically no hum coming from the return pump. The only drawback is that silicone tubing is less "pliant" than "plastic" tubing so where it's attached to barbs I had to double check that it won't slip off with the zip ties I have. Plastic tubing is better where you can heat it up and when it cools it will form to the barb/connector, but silicone doesn't act the same way. So that's a drawback, but overall I am very glad I finally swapped out the plastic for silicone.

eheim compact+ 2000 and OCSParts tubing (3/4" ID 1" OD x 3 Feet)
Cost for the tubing was about 15 bucks

Eagle_Steve · Jul 12, 2019

NotASpammerDude said:
Hi all, for many months I planned to add some silicone hosing to my return pump plumbing in order to silence any hum and today I finally added the tubing.

I have about 6" of silicone tubing/hose (3/4" ID 1" OD) going from my return pump to some PVC and then up at the return outlet, I have another 6 inch piece of the tubing (barb to "eheim adapter") and Boy Oh Boy. I have to say that it's PERFECT for quieting the hum. I now have basically no hum coming from the return pump. The only drawback is that silicone tubing is less "pliant" than "plastic" tubing so where it's attached to barbs I had to double check that it won't slip off with the zip ties I have. Plastic tubing is better where you can heat it up and when it cools it will form to the barb/connector, but silicone doesn't act the same way. So that's a drawback, but overall I am very glad I finally swapped out the plastic for silicone.

eheim compact+ 2000 and OCSParts tubing (3/4" ID 1" OD x 3 Feet)
Cost for the tubing was about 15 bucks

I have silicone tubing as well in a short section on the tank in our bedroom. The best thing I have found so far, to hold the tube to the barb, is plastic hose clamp/clips normally used for fuel and emissions lines on cars. They have a finer level of “clipage” and are a ton stronger than the clips normally used for the aquatic hobbies. Almost all auto parts stores have them in the “help” aisle.

The reason I mention this, as over time the tubing would slip down. I would slide it back up and replace the zip tie, same thing 3 months later. The clips have been installed almost a year, and no slippage.

Mastiffsrule · Jul 12, 2019

Eagle_Steve said:
I have silicone tubing as well in a short section on the tank in our bedroom. The best thing I have found so far, to hold the tube to the barb, is plastic hose clamp/clips normally used for fuel and emissions lines on cars. They have a finer level of “clipage” and are a ton stronger than the clips normally used for the aquatic hobbies. Almost all auto parts stores have them in the “help” aisle.

The reason I mention this, as over time the tubing would slip down. I would slide it back up and replace the zip tie, same thing 3 months later. The clips have been installed almost a year, and no slippage.

Marine dpot sell them.

Eagle_Steve · Jul 12, 2019

Mastiffsrule said:
Marine dpot sell them.

Yup, and I always seem to break those lol. Where they wrap around the tubing is thinner than the ones from the parts store. If you didn’t jack with things as much as I do, they would probably be fine lol.

Jinko · Jul 13, 2019

You can heat up the silicone tubing in the same way, I always make sure I use slightly undersized tubing to get a better grip on the barb.

jd371 · Jul 13, 2019

I switched to silicone because the nylon tubing I used before was too rigid and caused the pump to not sit flush. Also the silicone tubing doesn't kink as much as the nylon. I'm using the same clamps shown above bought from amazon and they are super snug without any slippage.

W1ngz · Jul 13, 2019

Nylon tubing is the DEVIL. Best decision I made when upgrading my system a couple of months ago was bite it and order 10' of silicone hose just so I could cut off an 8" length for the pump.