Dead Silent Skimmer - Does it exist?

[mpatient]

Will be soon setting up a 145G lagoon tank in my home office. The goal is to make the system as quiet as possible. I currently have a Reef Octopus Classic on my 90. It has worked great, but I can hear through the stand. (Not noisy, but not close to silent). I would love to hear your recommendations.

 

[Hydrored]

I run Royal Exclusiv skimmer double cone and I can’t hear it run at all along with their return pumps. The filter socks make more noise

 

[Waters]

The NYOS skimmers are also very quiet. I don't hear mine at all.

 

[Arego]

The vertex omega 200i that we use is unbelievably quiet. I don't think they are made any longer, should you find one though definitely consider it if noise is an issue.

Noise is relative but surrounding the pump it's superb with operation noise the only thing you'll hear depending on the volute setting is the copious amounts of air going in. Easily remedied with cheesecloth.

 

[Montiman]

I think the key thing is getting a DC pump skimmer. All of the DC models are pretty quite while some AC models are louder.

That said most agree that AC pumps are simpler and less likely to fail.

 

[iLMaRiO]

Noise is relative but surrounding the pump it's superb with operation noise the only thing you'll hear depending on the volute setting is the copious amounts of air going in. Easily remedied with cheesecloth.

what do you mean? how would you use the cheesecloth?

 

[HB AL]

My Vertex 180 is quiet, definitely can't here it running. Mines in my bedroom so the less noise the better.

 

[Arego]

what do you mean? how would you use the cheesecloth?

I would stuff it into the air intake to tone down the air rushing in. Intakes can sound like when you blow through a straw really hard, a little cheesecloth or even tissue stuffed in the end will dampen that sound of the skimmer.

Another even better option is just put a simple regular prescription pill bottle over it. It acts like a muffler. On my vertex 200i I have the volute turned almost 3/4 and without a pill bottle you can hear the air sucking in pretty badly. Keep in mind the more muffled the less air the skimmer is using in the reaction chamber which creates drier skimmate.

 

[X-37B]

I run a Tunze 9430 dc in an open stand.
You can not hear it running.
Very underrated brand of skimmers.
The only thing I do is clean/empty the cup and you dont need to turn it off either.
No adjustment needed.
Has anti overflow too.

 

[iLMaRiO]

I would stuff it into the air intake to tone down the air rushing in. Intakes can sound like when you blow through a straw really hard, a little cheesecloth or even tissue stuffed in the end will dampen that sound of the skimmer.

Another even better option is just put a simple regular prescription pill bottle over it. It acts like a muffler. On my vertex 200i I have the volute turned almost 3/4 and without a pill bottle you can hear the air sucking in pretty badly. Keep in mind the more muffled the less air the skimmer is using in the reaction chamber which creates drier skimmate.

can you post a photo?

 

[GHOSTLY]

I made a diy one eith pvc and 8ts quite good

 

[Arego]

Just a average pill bottle on top of the air intake. You can lift or lower it flat, whichever works best for your noise tolerance as well as skimming needs.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

DC is where it's at for this one. I ran a tunze 9004 DC on my waterbox 30gal aio and my 50 gallon cube. A beyond quiet skimmer unless the salt creep gets into the intake. I should of bought DC on the 120gal I have now, the hum from the Sicce pump is annoying.

 

[Arego]

My vertex 200i runs on a Askoll motor, not DC but if it's the only thing on it is near silent, only because of the amount of air it can draw if you turn the volute all the way open on the venturi does it become noticable.

I normally don't even have that bottle on it since the sound doesn't even bother us, the fans in the lights are louder.

 

[iLMaRiO]

I have a redsea rsk600 and honestly, it's pretty noisy, I can ear the bubbles inside the cone.

 

[Bpb]

I run a Tunze 9430 dc in an open stand.
You can not hear it running.
Very underrated brand of skimmers.
The only thing I do is clean/empty the cup and you dont need to turn it off either.
No adjustment needed.
Has anti overflow too.

I’ve been strongly looking at this skimmer. Do you think it would be adequate for a heavily (over) stocked 150 gallon? I’m removing my turf scrubber and my current skimmer will be woefully overwhelmed when I do that. Kind of torn between the tunze or spending a little more for a bubble king double cone 200

 

[X-37B]

I’ve been strongly looking at this skimmer. Do you think it would be adequate for a heavily (over) stocked 150 gallon? I’m removing my turf scrubber and my current skimmer will be woefully overwhelmed when I do that. Kind of torn between the tunze or spending a little more for a bubble king double cone 200

Big fan of Tunze skimmers.
I ran a 9410dc on my 120 and replaced it when no3 was around 20. It currently stayed <3 when I installed the 9430dc.
The beauty of Tunze dc skimmers is no adjusting. Turn it on and empty the cup, easieat cup to clean also.
The 9430dc is rated to 900g's.
Tunze says 270g fully stocked sps so yea it will work on your system.

I recently took down the 120 and the 9430dc is running on the 30g fuge with 40b sump.
I was pulling 300ml of dark skim a day at peak. Best water level is 4.75" as you can turn up the pump.
Max water level 6".
It is stil skims and will be used on same system when the 80g is ready.

I run a 9410dc on my 45 frag system. All I ever do is clean the cup once a week. No adjustment needed.

I have an open stand and you cant hear it run.

My 120 was packed with sps before I took it down.

 

[Muffin87]

Ultra Reefs, can't hear it from 1 foot away.
They're expensive, but they use a different method from most skimmers in terms of noise insulation.
Look them up.

 

[Bpb]

Ultra Reefs, can't hear it from 1 foot away.
They're expensive, but they use a different method from most skimmers in terms of noise insulation.
Look them up.

Those are definitely the rolls Royce of skimmers, but unfortunately to get an appropriately sized one wouldn’t fit in my sump. My stand is short, leaving me about 22” max height for the skimmer. And I’ve got about 12” of usable front to back space. The tunze seems to be the most compact in the size range I’m wanting due to the short fat nature. Going to try out a skimz Kone SK251 a local is going to loan me. It’ll be super snug. I realize those have abysmal pump life reliability and skimz has basically zero customer service support, so I’m kind of in the market for a permanent solution. Sorry to hijack/necro an old thread

 

[Bpb]

Big fan of Tunze skimmers.
I ran a 9410dc on my 120 and replaced it when no3 was around 20. It currently stayed <3 when I installed the 9430dc.
The beauty of Tunze dc skimmers is no adjusting. Turn it on and empty the cup, easieat cup to clean also.
The 9430dc is rated to 900g's.
Tunze says 270g fully stocked sps so yea it will work on your system.

I recently took down the 120 and the 9430dc is running on the 30g fuge with 40b sump.
I was pulling 300ml of dark skim a day at peak. Best water level is 4.75" as you can turn up the pump.
Max water level 6".
It is stil skims and will be used on same system when the 80g is ready.

I run a 9410dc on my 45 frag system. All I ever do is clean the cup once a week. No adjustment needed.

I have an open stand and you cant hear it run.

My 120 was packed with sps before I took it down.

The eagle landed today! Pulled my algae turf scrubber and the simplicity 240dc skimmer and in went the Tunze 9430. This thing is huge. Never had a skimmer even remotely this large. The neck is nearly as wide as the base of my last skimmer. Not a product review because I’ve only had it for a couple hours. But it’s running. There may not be science to it, but I just have a feeling the turf scrubber was causing problems. but to remove it I really needed to upsize the skimmer