How Noisy Is Your Tank

[charlie h]

Just wanting to know how noisy all of your tanks are......
On a rating of 1 - 10 i would say mine is a 9 with the noise from the weir (gurgaling), The water splashing into the sump, and the two pumps with in the sump vibrating (ocean runner 6500 - return) (2500 aquamedic p/h for skimmer).

Would like to hear the tricks you use to cut the noise down as well.

CHARLIE

[adambaron]

I'd say mine is a 6 but I still don't have durso drainpipes. I think that would bring it down pretty well.

[jcpatella]

Mine's about a 4, but I only have a 55 gallon with about 300 gph going through my sump.

I'm finding that my quiet one pump is becoming less and less quiet as time goes on...

[Craig Lambert]

Mine's about a 3. Like jcpatella My return pump puts about 300gph into the 75G display. I have an external return pump (Iwaki MD series), and am plumbed with hard pvc pipe. My tank was drilled for a 1.5" drain, so I have a Stockman standpipe that is 1.5" in diameter. Water falls about 1" into the reef ready overflow, and drains to the sump through the standpipe and 1.5" pipe with a 90 degree elbow about an inch off the bottom of the sump. I use a large filter sock arond the drain pipe. I also use a second filter sock on the skimmer outlet. I also use tunze nano streams for ph's. I like it quiet......

[Craig Lambert]

Forgot to mention...if you have a submersable return pump, or skimmer pump in your sump that is vibrating, take a plastic sandwich bag, fill it with sand, and set the pump on top of it. Problem solved.

[usmc121581]

Mine is a 1-2 only thing you here is the water fall from the PVC to the water in the sump. Im leaning towards 1 though.

[AquaReeferMan]

Yeah mine is rather quiet as well. Id say around a 3.

[corals b 4 bills]

iId say mine also is a 3 considering I have14 pumps, 10,000 gph of circ, an external overflow, a sump and fuge not too bad, the only thingf you here are my two cheapo radio shack computor fans (next to be replaced).

[charlie h]

keep the ideas coming and i'll soon have a tank around 1 or 2. Dose any one have there drain pipe bent round back into the water to stop the gurgaling down the pipe.

[Pmolan]

I hear my cooling fans more than the tank. My tank is a 2. My sump in the basement, down there its a 10!!!

[pdfb55]

does it have a siphon break? That should stop the gurgaling

[hobbzz]

5-6 for me. Pretty annoying considering it's 2 feet from my bed. Every time I hear a wierd gurgle or splash I get up to make sure there isn't a flood. ! And my clowns like to splash around at the top of the water when the lights go out.

[AZDesertRat]

Mine is probably a 2 or 3. I use an OR 3500 as a return pump but have a short piece of flexible tubing off the pump so sound and vibration are not a problem since it does not travel through tubing like it does rigid PVC. I als make sure the pumps do not touch anything solid like sump walls or other pieces of equipment. Use fresh suction cups to support them. I have a total of 10 pumps in the system between the return, closed loop(also OR 3500), skimmer (OR 2700 and MJ900), calcium reactor(QO 1200 and MJ400), two reactors for phosban and carbon(2x MJ400) and 2 Koralia #4s and all are quiet. Probably the loudest thing in the entire system is the chiller when it kicks on twice a day in the middle of summer. I also have 2 Vantec Stealth fans that are dead silent in the canopy and a clip on back up fan over the sump that never runs.
I also have my overflow silenced with a modified Stockman standpipe and I run the overflow line below the waters surface in a long sweeping 90 degree bend so no splashing.

[ttomkat1]

I'd say my tank is around a 4-5. It was really loud when I first got it running. I drilled small holes in my drain pipes to help with gurgling, added glass tops. Used filter socks and filter floss to help w/sump noise. Installed sound isolation foam around pipes and insides of stand to help w/sump noise.

---ttomkat1

[LobsterOfJustice]

When the tank is at 80 degrees, I would say 2. Once the tank hits 81 and the fans go on, its probably about 5. When the fans arent on, the only thing you can hear is a quiet swooshing/sucking of the beckett skimmer, and a little water trickle from the overflow. I have a OR 6500 return using vinyl tubing as my return, it is very quiet.

[Justin James]

WHAT??? I couldn't hear you over the noise of my tank!

Just Kidding... My tank is about a 2-3

[mr pink floyd]

mine is a 1, or less!

all i hear is the humming of some koralia pumps at night. my big fuge is silent, as it only has 100gp running through it, and it drains into the tank, instead of the tank draining into it(stands behind the tank)

i messed with it for so long to get it perfectly quiet in my room

[01saleen]

my tank is plummed through the wall into the garage, i would say about a 3.

But the big Hamilton fans on my fixture sometimes drive me crazy, right around the time they are about to shut off it sometimes really bothers me.

[lakwriter]

if 1 is nearly silent, I'd say mine is a 2, but I don't have a sump. The only sounds are the quiet humming of the Tunze skimmer and nanostream.

[coral rules]

Mine is about a 2, the only real noise is the sound of the protein skimmer humming away.

[temec_luver]

2... i have 1200 gph running through my sump on an 80 gallon... no microbubbles

[MN. Reef crzy]

mines loud, probably a 7

[elvn]

Like some computers, my tank setup doesn't seem that loud. I could guess a number but thats just a relative opinion, and people get used to low level noise. To get a better idea of out how loud your tank (or computer) really is turn everything off and you can tell the difference clearly. I have sensitive hearing though too.

I'm in the middle of some DIY projects where eventually my sumproom will be walled off. That should make a big difference in the 'white'/low noise, especially the low-level hum of the SEQ4600 return pump, and the noise my dual 250w hqi ballast makes. If I have to take it further with some noise dampening material on the sumproom walls I will do that too. The quieter the better. I'm looking forward to it.

[onano]

I have 2 tanks in my family room. Combined I'm calling it 6. If the fans on my nano were not so loud I'd call it 4.

[dendro982]

Define limits of the scale: what will counts for 1 and what - for 10.

If 1 - can sleep within 2m from the tank without problems, and 10 - can't stand that noise for a time, enough to enjoy the tank, and the neighbors on the other side of the wall able ho hear it well, then:

2:
Nano-tank up to 20g with 4 Mini-Jets pumps, U-tube connection to the side sump, Tunze Nano DOC slimmer is off for the night. Nothing else works.

7:
(no place for such thing in the living room, unless in the spare one. Remove silencer - an neigbors start to complain).
90g tank, undrilled, QuietFlo overflow box (it's quieter without silencing sponge), micron sock, ASM G-3 skimmer with silencer from Maxi-Jets, Ocean Runner PH 2500 (was Eheim 2050), spray bar at the bottom from return pump, 2 Seio 620 powerheads. Sump is on the rubber pad over the styrofoam, otherwise vibration transfers to the walls.