Aquarium equipment noise level

[Rick Krejci]

I'm glad I made this post, I thought that the low noise was normal with the Varios. I am definitely going to open her up and check the impeller and exchange the pump it if required. I got it from Amazon, and the original box came in destroyed. Makes me wonder if it was a replacement from somebody already... Hope CoralVue will take care of me after running it for some months.

Now it made me wonder if my Nyos Skimmer pump is bad too. It vibrates way too much. Initially I thought it was the lid making noise, but I got that taken care of and still sounds like a microwave.

Part of my issue is that coming from different pumps and skimmers I tested these are the quiestet by far. So it made me think that it can't get any quieter without spending 600+ dollars on a pump (which would probably be grounds for divorce at this point). Maybe it can get quieter and I just got bad products... I hope I didn't fill my heart with hopes again for nothing

Yea, I have the Varios 6 return and a Varios 4 on the RO regal 150sss skimmer. The only time I can hear either pump is if a piece of Chaeto or something gets caught in the impeller or needle wheel throwing off the balance.

 

[m3rcfh]

When I had larger tanks with sumps and larger equipment, I had some audible noise although it did not seem to bother me. I moved and switched to AIO tanks and now have complete silence. The nano skimmer makes no audible noise, the lights have no fans, the MP10's/gyres are ran on very low settings so they have no whirring sound, ect. While I wasn't overly bothered with the noise before, I do enjoy the silence more-so.

I guess if a person had a tank in the bedroom and needed silence, a small AIO would be a solution to that, you don't even need skimmers, ect if you don't want since water changes are effective. My tanks are around 10-25 gallons. Of course it limits you on fish stock but if a person likes SPS, it has been shown by many beautiful nano's that more difficult corals can be kept.

I was decided to go with the Nuvo SR-80 AIO until my wife fell in love with a baby yellow Tang. For that reason we decided to go with a bigger tank so the Tang would have more room. I actually regret that a bit now as even with our 90 gallon the Tang is growing quite fast and it just looks like it will outgrow the tank quicker than we thought.

So my question here is has the equipment on the AIOs evolved enough to be silent and efficient, to the point it can maintain a stable system? I feel like the gallons you lose on the back are not really doing anything for the system other than filtering

 

[KMench]

I have a vertex skimmer. Noisiest piece of equipment in my tank. I despise noise also. My tank is pretty darn quiet otherwise. I have the skimmer set only to run late at night because it’s so annoying with the noise. Tank is in the living room and I can hear the skimmer upstairs in the bedroom at night. Worst piece of equipment I invested in noise wise. I contacted vertex and they said it’s “normal”.... :mad:

 

[squampton]

If the skimmer is off, the tank is nearly silent. It's the skimmer (Somatic by Vertex) that creates the most noise, but I have more or less gotten used to it, I can sleep on the couch 2 feet from the tank skimmer running and not bothered by it.

 

[Flexin]

Great thread. AOI can be silent if you keep equipment simple and dc. Once I went to a larger tank I was on a mission to make it quiet. I shortened the intake tube and this decreased a tremendous amount of noise. Next is the overflow system, I have a marine land corner flow and that is noisy, unfortunately the only way to decrease noise there is to turn down the flow. Then there is a stream on the return line in the tank, I put a zip tie about a half inch away to break up the stream and reduce noise. I then replaced the return pump and skimmer with dc pumps. After all this I got the noise level down that was below my AOI. Then I got a UV sterilizer, the dang pump is ac, smh!!!

It seems silence is relative

 

[Jakepen]

Skimz sm251 is almost silent, 2x gyre xf280 is much louder, my 2 mp40qds are pretty silent, vectra L1 very quiet. Water trickling into the overflow, that is loud to me, and drives me a bit crazy (if I let it). Also the water flowing down my secondary drain is loud, thinking about wrapping that with something to dampen the sound (suggestions?). Also can noise dampening pads be put inside the stand?

 

[HolisticBear]

Now it made me wonder if my Nyos Skimmer pump is bad too. It vibrates way too much. Initially I thought it was the lid making noise, but I got that taken care of and still sounds like a microwave.

My NYOS 120 is far louder than my Varios 4. I was reading this thread looking for a quieter skimmer and thinking I may just shut it off during night. The lid can make some noise, some additional weight + food grade silicon can help, but it still makes significantly more noise than the return

 

[Sarah24!]

I have an eshopps s300 and you can barley even hear that standing next to it. I then have twin current eflux 3500 gph dc return pumps and I haven’t heard them as of yet. Only way I know they work is by watching the water move, and the lights flash. I have four dc current 2100 gph wave makers and they are really quiet most of the time you can only hear them if you put your ear right next to them.

I had an old eihiem return pump, and reef dynamics protein skimmer. Needless to say great equipment, but I felt as if I lived across the street from Kennedy space center. So glad I went to dc.

 

[srad750c]

Hi everyone
Been wondering if any of you ever had second thoughts about the trade off of having a beautiful piece of the ocean in your house versus the operational noise from the life supporting equipment.

I did my research for several months, upgraded equipment, took every step of containing and isolating the noise including using some Auralex foam on the wall, adding silicone tubbing and padding, but I'm still haunted by the low whirring of my Vários 4 pump at night and the Tunze Nanostream + Nyos Skimmer during the day. Don't get me wrong, these products are the quietest ones I have ever dealt with, it's just that every moving or fast spinning part has to cause some sort of noise and I get that. I'm too part of the problem as I am very sensitive to noises, and any won't let me sleep.

Curisouly my first tank I ever had had a Fluval cannister filter which produced absolutely no noise. You could not hear anything even standing right in front of the tank. I guess that would be impossible with a pump that is at least 4 times more powerful sitting on an open sump. So it leaves me wondering if upgrading to a bigger tank with sump was the right choice.

I wonder too if anybody had any non-conventional solutions to encapsule the noise in the stand without creating a mini sauna... other than moving the tank to the basement!
It also occurred to me to undersize the return pump to the very minimum as I run my Vários on the lowest power level. Smaller pump = quieter maybe?

Are there people out there that share the same experience and would like to pitch in? Or am I alone on this?

My ears are also very sensitive at night, I swear I could hear an spider sliding down his silk at night. My tank used to keep me awake at night for a very long time, overflow sounds, different pumps hummed at different frequencies and vibrations used to drive me nuts. My tank is a decent distance from my bedroom. The worse item was my MP40 in night mode. Now it runs full blast 24/7. Over time I just got used to it but that took approx. 10 years. A shot of tequila works too But I will never give up my tanks until I can no longer service them.

 

[nicknec]

I'm not exaggerating when I say that the red dragon pumps are PERFECTLY silent. You can not hear them when they are running. The sound of water in your overflow will be WAY louder than the sound of the pump if you can hear it at all. They are expensive, but well worth it for people trying to reduce noise and they last longer than pretty much any other pump you can find. IMO, you owe it to yourself to upgrade you return and skimmer. You'll be pleased

This topic really resonated with me. When I set up my custom 330 three years ago my main concern was equipment noise. The company that did my install used a Sicce return pump and Reef Octopus skimmer. My tank is an in wall unit in the basement. The noise from the skimmer and return pumps would resonate in the walls and I could hear it on the second floor. I am admittedly over noise sensitive and I was regretting getting into this hobby. I then had a friend suggest a Red Dragon return pump after he got one and told me his made no noise.. I decided to get a Bubble King skimmer and Red Dragon return. They are indeed dead silent. They are both very expensive, but for me it was money very well spent. Now I just enjoy the silence.

 

[Ecvernon]

I run a varios 6 at 80 percent with a herbie overflow, Bubbleking DC180, 2 Mp40s on my 150 gallon reef. At night time my refrigerator is louder than my reef.
If I hear anything that means it's time for maintenance.
If my skimmer venture port needs cleaning I can hear hissing. I also hear running water noise if my overflow teeth needs to be cleaned.

 

[m3rcfh]

The one good thing on my setup is the Synergy Reef overflow, which is silent. Granted I had to play with the outer box plumbing height, but it got silent. I hear water trickling down the filter socks when they just got cleaned, but they get silent too with an hour or two when some slime has built up.

My tank is definitely quieter than my fridge at night, when only the return pump is on. But the noise adds up and the pump hissing echoes more than the fridge noise.

I deal with subjective noise at work all the time, the worst part of it is that what is a noise to some, is nothing to others and vice versa. Some people are more sensitive... so there's no way to draw a line.
I would say that for a lot of people the Varios is quiet, even though it has an operational noise level (very low). People that came from AC pump definitely see an improvement, and depending on tank location it can be totally quiet. But it is certainly not silent. Maybe the red dragon is silent?

Now silent Tunze topic is something not worth mentioning. Those wavemaker are going right back.

For the reefers with Varios: have you noticed any hissing on the pump exit? Reef octopus sent a long barbed fitting that works for 2 hose diameters. I am wondering if that is provoking some noise when the water leaves the impeller with high speed.

 

[gcrawford]

Again, my Varios 6 is silent with no hissing. But the exit is under water, so there wouldn't be. I've also got a backup Varios 6 and I just trade them out and clean the one that was in use every few months which works pretty well.......

 

[gcrawford]

 

[gcrawford]

 

[srad750c]

Which equipment is making the noise? I use a BubbleKing skimmer and a Red Dragon return pump and I can't even tell they are on they are so silent. The only noise I have is the slight sound of trickling water.
I'm also very sensitive to noise and have learned to use ear plugs and white noise at night to help me sleep. I live in the city so I have to do this to drown out the sound of traffic.

What size Red Dragon pump and Bubble King skimmer and how large is your tank?

 

[Clownfishy]

Noise is something that drives me insane. I have a Tunze 9012 skimmer and when that is off, with just my Tunze dreams running my tank is almost silent. If only they could make silent skimmers!

 

[hatfielj]

What size Red Dragon pump and Bubble King skimmer and how large is your tank?

I have a BK Supermarin 250 Skimmer and a Red Dragon 150 watt return pump.
My display is 60 x 30 x 24, but total system volume is around 250 gallons. FWIW, the skimmer is probably over sized. I'm having trouble keeping my nutrients up. I have to dose Nitrates and Phosphates

 

[srad750c]

I have a BK Supermarin 250 Skimmer and a Red Dragon 150 watt return pump.
My display is 60 x 30 x 24, but total system volume is around 250 gallons. FWIW, the skimmer is probably over sized. I'm having trouble keeping my nutrients up. I have to dose Nitrates and Phosphates

Ok, nice tank, I guess I need a smaller version, for now I have a 90, looking at around a 150 in the future. Thanks for the info. I gave up trying to keep my nutrients up. I just dose aminos for my corals. I want to add more fish but it’s been so long since I added a fish. Don’t want to take the chance. I been lucky with adding corals. Only 3 left on my wish list. I just got comfortable with SPS. May set up QT and hold there for 3 months before I put in DT.

 

[SFKINNC]

I set all my pumps and skimmer on these things. Helps to dampen the noise/vibration:
https://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Ank...=1522088692&sr=8-4&keywords=silicone+pot+pads

1) I have similarly used synthetic sponges (the inexpensive ones that stay soft when dry) and even remnants of old towels folded underneath noisy equipment (such as air pumps — I HATE buzzing air pumps) to help reduce the sound. It does help. 2) I have always found submersible pumps to be much quieter than external pumps.

My current reef-in-progress is housed in a BioCube 32 and I only have two complaints about it: 1) There is no room for a skimmer. 2) It is very noisy. The cooling fans make a noticeable racket. I am told that some people have replaced the fans with fans that are designed for computer chassis and that those are much quieter, but I have no idea how to do that or what I’d need to purchase. So I’m stuck with the noise.