Annoying Return Pump Noise

[NanoReefer2025]

Hello everyone. Today, I came across a bit of an issue with the return pump that came with my Waterbox Peninsula Mini 25. It is SUPER noisy and I can’t seem to find the source. It isn’t touching the walls of the AIO chamber that it is in or anything like that. It has happened before, but it always seems to stop after I take it out and run it in a separate container. The noise is kind of a loud vibrating-humming sort of thing. It doesn’t seem to be affecting anything else thankfully, but it is very frustrating to myself and anyone near the room that it is in.

 

[Nemfreak97]

Hello everyone. Today, I came across a bit of an issue with the return pump that came with my Waterbox Peninsula Mini 25. It is SUPER noisy and I can’t seem to find the source. It isn’t touching the walls of the AIO chamber that it is in or anything like that. It has happened before, but it always seems to stop after I take it out and run it in a separate container. The noise is kind of a loud vibrating-humming sort of thing. It doesn’t seem to be affecting anything else thankfully, but it is very frustrating to myself and anyone near the room that it is in.

I was in the same boat, what was recommended by my LFS was to replace the stock pump for a Sicce 1.0. I replaced mine and now it’s pretty silent ( after 2 week break in period)

 

[BamboozleBean]

I have the waterbox 20, and it seems the pump is naturally somewhat loud. The vibrating sound is normal but if you think there is a problem contact waterbox they have good customer support. Make sure the water is filling the whole chamber where the pump is all the way up to the end of the tube. It almost completely dampens the noise.

 

[Nemfreak97]

I have the waterbox 20, and it seems the pump is naturally somewhat loud. The vibrating sound is normal but if you think there is a problem contact waterbox they have good customer support. Make sure the water is filling the whole chamber where the pump is all the way up to the end of the tube. It almost completely dampens the noise.

Isn’t the last chamber water level supposed to be slightly below the baffle in order to create a waterfall effect?
*Edit* or is it all preference?

 

[BamboozleBean]

Isn’t the last chamber water level supposed to be slightly below the baffle in order to create a waterfall effect?

Usually yeah the far left should be the highest and it should get lower however I put my heater in the far right chamber and there’s a lot of evaporation so the extra water helps a lot and I have seen no negative impact on filtration.

 

[NanoReefer2025]

Thank you all for your quick responses. I will consider getting the Sicce if the issue persists, and in the meantime, will make sure that the water level is not too low. It seems to have quieted down a little bit on its own for now.

 

[Bars]

Placing some sort of reef safe insulation/rubber mat underneath might reduce the humming a bit. My experience though with 'cheaper' equipment that hum is simply because they're made with cheaper materials. Not saying you have a cheap/cheaply made pump, just what I have experienced with annoying humming noises.

Thank you all for your quick responses. I will consider getting the Sicce if the issue persists, and in the meantime, will make sure that the water level is not too low. It seems to have quieted down a little bit on its own for now.

If you do get a different pump, you might also want to consider a Jecod/Jebao. They might not have the best reputation, but mine is absolutely dead silent. I'm extremely sensitive to aquarium noises and I simply can't hear this thing even if I wanted to.

 

[NanoReefer2025]

Placing some sort of reef safe insulation/rubber mat underneath might reduce the humming a bit. My experience though with 'cheaper' equipment that hum is simply because they're made with cheaper materials. Not saying you have a cheap/cheaply made pump, just what I have experienced with annoying humming noises.

If you do get a different pump, you might also want to consider a Jecod/Jebao. They might not have the best reputation, but mine is absolutely dead silent. I'm extremely sensitive to aquarium noises and I simply can't hear this thing even if I wanted to.

Thanks! I’ll look into getting a Jecod. FYI, the stock pump isn’t loud ALL the time. Just on random occasions. I have yet to figure out why...

 

[NanoReefer2025]

Update: I contacted Waterbox and they sent me a new pump. It seems a lot quieter than my old one, but I still can’t help but notice that it still has an odd rattling sort of noise. I’m beginning to think it’s something that I’m doing wrong. I’ve heard that when the pump is cut of from the power, it creates a siphon that could damage the pump. I don’t know anything about this and would like to know if there is any reasonable way to break the siphon. Would any other factors cause the rattling noise, like bubbles, debris, water parameters, etc? Keep in mind that I just plugged it in today so it may just be because of how new it is.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

Placing some sort of reef safe insulation/rubber mat underneath might reduce the humming a bit. My experience though with 'cheaper' equipment that hum is simply because they're made with cheaper materials. Not saying you have a cheap/cheaply made pump, just what I have experienced with annoying humming noises.

If you do get a different pump, you might also want to consider a Jecod/Jebao. They might not have the best reputation, but mine is absolutely dead silent. I'm extremely sensitive to aquarium noises and I simply can't hear this thing even if I wanted to.

+1
@NanoReefer2025 watch this video:

 

[Harold999]

If you do get a different pump, you might also want to consider a Jecod/Jebao. They might not have the best reputation, but mine is absolutely dead silent.

The dcs1200 is a lottery. Some claim it's dead silent, mine sounded like a jet engine (high pitched whine, video in another thread if you're interested).
And it wasn't only mine, i can hear the same whine in Youtube reviews of this pump.

I'm still in the dark why some people claim to have dead silent DC pumps, and others have a whine in them.

 

[Harold999]

Update: I contacted Waterbox and they sent me a new pump. It seems a lot quieter than my old one, but I still can’t help but notice that it still has an odd rattling sort of noise. I’m beginning to think it’s something that I’m doing wrong. I’ve heard that when the pump is cut of from the power, it creates a siphon that could damage the pump. I don’t know anything about this and would like to know if there is any reasonable way to break the siphon. Would any other factors cause the rattling noise, like bubbles, debris, water parameters, etc? Keep in mind that I just plugged it in today so it may just be because of how new it is.

About the rattling, does it help if you pull the plug out and put it back in. This worked in my case. Repeat when necessary. After a while i had a rattle free pump.

 

[NanoReefer2025]

About the rattling, does it help if you pull the plug out and put it back in. This worked in my case. Repeat when necessary. After a while i had a rattle free pump.

Yeah, I did this with my old pump and it did work, but after a while, the noise became so stubborn that it didn’t work. I don’t have super high hopes for the new pump, but hopefully things will be a little quieter from now on.

 

[Harold999]

Yeah, I did this with my old pump and it did work, but after a while, the noise became so stubborn that it didn’t work. I don’t have super high hopes for the new pump, but hopefully things will be a little quieter from now on.

Give it a couple of weeks and keep pulling the plug now and then. I'm pretty happy with my standard WB pump now, can only hear a hum with my ear very close to the tank. The fan of my led light is louder.

 

[reefsaver]

Hello everyone. Today, I came across a bit of an issue with the return pump that came with my Waterbox Peninsula Mini 25. It is SUPER noisy and I can’t seem to find the source. It isn’t touching the walls of the AIO chamber that it is in or anything like that. It has happened before, but it always seems to stop after I take it out and run it in a separate container. The noise is kind of a loud vibrating-humming sort of thing. It doesn’t seem to be affecting anything else thankfully, but it is very frustrating to myself and anyone near the room that it is in.

The Return pump that came with my Waterbox Peninsula Mini 25 is super noisy too!!, If I turn my heater on or aircon , the return pump vibrates and rattles horribly. It sounds to me like these Return pumps that come with the Peninsula are absolute crap.