Dead silent skimmer

[OceanL0ver]

I currently have a reef octopus skimmer in my sump which sits underneath my tank. It is by far the noisiest piece of equipment. I’m looking for a replacement skimmer that will be virtually silent. Does anybody have any recommendations or experience with extremely quiet protein skimmers. Thanks in advance

 

[WesleyC]

I think most of the DC pump skimmer are super quite. I recently got a Reef Octopus ELITE 200INT Protein Skimmer with VarioS DC Pump and it's completely silence. There were quite a few YouTube reviews about these DC pump skimmers. you can check them all out.

 

[Epicreefster]

The DC pump driven skimmers are much quieter than the AC pump models. Especially if you oversize the skimmer and run the DC pump at around 70%. I use deltec mostly but there are other good DC brands, look for those that have rubber feet on the skimmer or skimmer pump as well.

 

[kinetic]

It's not true ALL DC pumps are quieter. Don't be fooled. I measured some decibels in my tank at about 46 ambient decibels. I turned everything off except for the things being measured:

Skimz QuietPro 4.0 62 decibels
Skimz QuietPro 2.0 60 decibels
Simplicity 120 65 decibels
NYOS Quantum 120 59 decibels (AC Pump)
Reef Octopus VarioS-4 47 decibels
Reef Octopus VarioS-2 46 decibels

That's all I had to test. All controllables were maxed out for the test. The VarioS pumps were insanely quiet, not even adding anything to the ambient cabinet sound really. I swapped out my Skimz pumps for VarioS. I'm considering swapping out my Simplicity 120 DC as well. Even the NYOS' AC pump is quieter. I'm waiting on a new impeller from Simplicity to see if that's the cause of the noise, but it's said that Simplicity uses a rebranded Skimz pump, which is possibly a rebranded jebao. So there's a good chance it's just loud.

I wish Reef Octopus made a smaller skimmer with a VarioS-1 or VarioS-2. The RO Elite 150-SSS is still too oversized for my tank (45 gallon system). I know for a fact the VarioS-2 is literally dead silent. They need an Elite 130-SSS!

 

[OceanL0ver]

It's not true ALL DC pumps are quieter. Don't be fooled. I measured some decibels in my tank at about 46 ambient decibels. I turned everything off except for the things being measured:

Skimz QuietPro 4.0 62 decibels
Skimz QuietPro 2.0 60 decibels
Simplicity 120 65 decibels
NYOS Quantum 120 59 decibels (AC Pump)
Reef Octopus VarioS-4 47 decibels
Reef Octopus VarioS-2 46 decibels

That's all I had to test. All controllables were maxed out for the test. The VarioS pumps were insanely quiet, not even adding anything to the ambient cabinet sound really. I swapped out my Skimz pumps for VarioS. I'm considering swapping out my Simplicity 120 DC as well. Even the NYOS' AC pump is quieter. I'm waiting on a new impeller from Simplicity to see if that's the cause of the noise, but it's said that Simplicity uses a rebranded Skimz pump, which is possibly a rebranded jebao. So there's a good chance it's just loud.

I wish Reef Octopus made a smaller skimmer with a VarioS-1 or VarioS-2. The RO Elite 150-SSS is still too oversized for my tank (45 gallon system). I know for a fact the VarioS-2 is literally dead silent. They need an Elite 130-SSS!

Very helpful information thank you. Are Nyos skimmers reliable and have decent customer service?

 

[RyanCSGO]

Nyos customer service is excellent.
I have the nyos 160, I always look to make sure it’s actually on because it’s that quiet. Absolutely love the skimmer.

 

[RyanCSGO]

Should also note, they are a bit more expensive. But the build quality is very high end. I doubt I will ever swap to a different brand tbh.

 

[kinetic]

Just got my new Simplicity impeller to replace the old one to see if that was the sound problem. It wasn't. The pump is still loud. In fact it might be louder now. I think the next step is to try to replace the pump. At least these guys are really nice about it all.

Most likely going to pickup a NYOS Quantum if the Simplicity pump doesn't work out.

 

[Sppf121]

Thank you for the post. Right now my ambient noise with everything running is 39

I am running COR 20
2 mp 10qds
Mj1200 (feeding a refugium. Like the seperate pump because apex will shut it off if water lever trips float switch)
With all this running I am measuring 3 ‘ away with cabinet doors closed using iPhone 6s with decibel x dB app.

Running the reef octopus 150sss Brings dbs up to 49

Not sure if I am going to be able to get better than that running a skimmer? That being said because I have Found the COR 20 to be dead silent I am thinking of looking into a DC option like a Varios but i am wondering if it would really be that much quieter because I am mainly hearing bubbles.

Also wondering if adding reef safe silicone padding might help??

Either way great discussion.