How do I silence my tank?

[Casket_Case]

I got a 20 gallon peninsula AIO by Innovative Marine and I LOVE it. The only thing is it’s loud... it sounds like dadgum Niagara Falls. I thought the problem was a caddy being close to the baffle so it made water choppy which made noise and after a quick adjustment it seemed to be the fix... but after a few minutes it started again. I tried adding water too, but no matter what I do it’s still loud. And thee amount of water in the return chamber never rises it’s always the same. If I could raise the waterline in there it’d go quiet.
Any tips on silencing these things?

 

[Dcal]

is the noise from water falling into a chamber?

 

[Casket_Case]

is the noise from water falling into a chamber?

Yeah, everything else is silent

 

[Dcal]

Id buy some filter floss and put it on top of where the water is spilling into

 

[Casket_Case]

Id buy some filter floss and put it on top of where the water is spilling into

I’ve got some on hand, I’ll try it. Thanks

 

[Dcal]

Lmk how it goes!

 

[PicassoClown04]

+1 I have this tank less than 6 feet from my bed and regularly walk into it because I can’t hear it. I use filter floss with bioballs underneath as filter

 

[Casket_Case]

Lmk how it goes!

I will!

 

[Casket_Case]

+1 I have this tank less than 6 feet from my bed and regularly walk into it because I can’t hear it. I use filter floss with bioballs underneath as filter

Mines in my bedroom too but unfortunately it’s been loud hahaha
Hmm, I haven’t tried that. I’m using a filter sock and have chaeto as well as carbon in the little caddy thing and then an algae covered rock leaning against it to hold it in place. That’s basically my refugium. What compartment did you put the bioballs and filter floss in?

 

[Dcal]

i dont have that tank but i would just put it wherever there is water splashing to soften the noise

 

[Casket_Case]

i dont have that tank but i would just put it wherever there is water splashing to soften the noise

The thing is it’s splashing into the chamber housing the return pump which I wouldn’t like to fill with anything. I’m gonna try draping filter floss over it but I don’t wanna fill it up with anything

 

[Dcal]

ah i see. you could put it at the top of the chamber the water is spilling out of. other than that i defer to @footgal for a better suggestion

 

[Daddy-o]

Get a smaller pump

 

[Casket_Case]

ah i see. you could put it at the top of the chamber the water is spilling out of. other than that i defer to @footgal for a better suggestion

I’ll try it, maybe adding those obstacles will slow down the water. I think part of the reason it’s making noise is because it’s flowing fast and shooting over the edge of the baffle.

 

[Casket_Case]

Get a smaller pump

It’s a really nice pump so I don’t want to waste it, I’m gonna see if I can’t try and fix the problem without getting rid of the pump.

 

[Tcook]

What do you mean the water level in the return chamber never changes? That is where it will change and is where you put your ATO sensor/float. Just raise the level and you'll get rid of the waterfall noise.

 

[PicassoClown04]

I use the sicce micra Venturi pump with it, no issues

 

[kartrsu]

Why does adding more water not solve the issue? Doesn’t it raise the level of water in the back? That’s how my nuvo 20 lagoon works.

 

[PicassoClown04]

Why does adding more water not solve the issue? Doesn’t it raise the level of water in the back? That’s how my nuvo 20 lagoon works.

As soon as this thing gets even a little low on water it starts sucking air. Assuming the water level is at least to about halfway up on the intake grate then it should be fine. I think there’s something in there that’s not blocking water flow to one of the chambers which is causing water to get to the return faster than its draining out. Causing the DT level to be higher than the AIO chamber level which creates a small waterfall through the intake that causes “Niagara falls”.

I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff crammed in mine, a skimmer, ATO, filter floss, bioballs, heater, return pump, and two AI Prime HD mounts. So I usually end up with the opposite problem which is water flowing too slowly through the AIO which causes microbubbles to form as the return pump sucks just a little bit of air. So even though the tank is full, it acts like it’s low on water which is terrible because it triggers my ATO that overfills the tank.

 

[KWT]

I have the same tank, I changed return pump to a lower GPH and that help everything