Mag 5 is LOUD!!

[CKI]

This is my second Mag 5 in a month. One minute it is quiet, next minute it sounds like its churning rocks. Ive taken this thing a part several times to see if anything is stuck in there and nothing. Place it back in the tank and its quiet for a few minutes then back to churning rocks. Same thing as my first pump did. All other pumps in the tank are dead silent. Any one else have issues with these?

 

[FLAdaboy]

Get a DC pump

 

[mcarroll]

Sounds like it's sucking in sandy/silty debris from the sump-area where it's running.

Can you tell for sure if the sound if coming from inside the pump?

It may be less likely, but it's possible that how you have it installed is causing this too.

Can you post a pic of the pump as it is installed? It'd be cool if you could also capture the sound it makes in a movie, but just a pic is fine if it's not being noisy at the time you're there.

 

[mcarroll]

With two in a row doing this, you can't really blame the pump BTW.

You've effectively ruled the pump out unless you believe you have gotten two defects in a row. Possible....like hitting the lottery...so forget about blaming the pump.

 

[CKI]

With two in a row doing this, you can't really blame the pump BTW.

You've effectively ruled the pump out unless you believe you have gotten two defects in a row. Possible....like hitting the lottery...so forget about blaming the pump.

My buddy brought over a lifeguard 2200.... dead silent. So yeah I'm going with the pump on this one. I just cleaned it out again making sure nothing was broken and its still god awful.

 

[CKI]

Only thing I can think of is the bottom part that slips on might be vibrating. Right now its quitted down a bit. If it happens again ill remove it and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Joey waid]

I have two and the both sound like there chattering or cavitating. I have learned that if there is a valve near by it's worse. I also ended up putting a bio sponge under it and made sure all my pipes were not touching anything. It's still noisy off and on, but my belief it's air causing it to cavitat, because it's so random.

 

[CKI]

I have two and the both sound like there chattering or cavitating. I have learned that if there is a valve near by it's worse. I also ended up putting a bio sponge under it and made sure all my pipes were not touching anything. It's still noisy off and on, but my belief it's air causing it to cavitat, because it's so random.

But if it was air, wouldn't it get spurts of micro bubbles in the tank?

 

[slipknotgrrl83]

I have a mag 7, it's pretty much silent unless my ears right up to the sump. I have it on silicone pads from brs which help cut down on the vibration. Maybe a defect or maybe it's vibrating off something?

 

[CKI]

I have a mag 7, it's pretty much silent unless my ears right up to the sump. I have it on silicone pads from brs which help cut down on the vibration. Maybe a defect or maybe it's vibrating off something?

Would be nice if it came with a rubber bottom or some sort of suction cups to keep it from moving around

 

[Joey waid]

I guess it depends if its air bound? It's only speculation, like I said I have two and I traded the first one out because of the noise. So far all three sounded the same. Is so random I can't put a finger on it.

 

[slipknotgrrl83]

Would be nice if it came with a rubber bottom or some sort of suction cups to keep it from moving around

I agree... although they aren't too expensive, would still be nice if they came with one

 

[CKI]

I guess it depends if its air bound? It's only speculation, like I said I have two and I traded the first one out because of the noise. So far all three sounded the same. Is so random I can't put a finger on it.

One minute its dead silent, next its noisy.... So I have no idea. Might look into another pump. Will mess with this a bit and see if I can get it figured out

 

[Jerel]

Fairly common for those mag-drive pumps to cause a lot of noise by vibrating against the bottom/sides of your sump. You'll reposition the pump to quiet it down, not too long before it's back to making noise. Try to source a dampening mat to put under the foot of the pump...

These pumps were made for ponds and for aquariums where noise isn't an issue..

 

[CKI]

Fairly common for those mag-drive pumps to cause a lot of noise by vibrating against the bottom/sides of your sump. You'll reposition the pump to quiet it down, not too long before it's back to making noise. Try to source a dampening mat to put under the foot of the pump...

These pumps were made for ponds and for aquariums where noise isn't an issue..

Yeah I think more on the lines if it was hard plumbed to stay in place wouldn't be bad. But I have a redsea reefer 170, small sump and not hard plumbed. So it does move around. Might need to look into something with some feet on it to keep it in place

 

[Jerel]

Yeah I think more on the lines if it was hard plumbed to stay in place wouldn't be bad. But I have a redsea reefer 170, small sump and not hard plumbed. So it does move around. Might need to look into something with some feet on it to keep it in place

Six(6) years ago i had a mag-drive 5 on one of my quarantine tank systems(In my basement), which was hard(PVC) plumbed. The pump would still shift position slightly.

 

[Joey waid]

It

Yeah I think more on the lines if it was hard plumbed to stay in place wouldn't be bad. But I have a redsea reefer 170, small sump and not hard plumbed. So it does move around. Might need to look into something with some feet on it to keep it in place

mine are hard plumed and I always thought what if I put tubing instead. I do know what made the most difference was the bio sponge under it.

 

[CKI]

Removed the bottom plate, seems to be a lot better I'm assuming maybe that was causing excessive vibration. Will monitor over the day and if it stays the same ill get a sponge to put under it to take out the rest of vibration

 

[mcarroll]

Removed the bottom plate, seems to be a lot better I'm assuming maybe that was causing excessive vibration. Will monitor over the day and if it stays the same ill get a sponge to put under it to take out the rest of vibration

Good deal!

As I said (just using logic) you have already ruled out the pump as a defect as being the problem by replacing it. Unless you've just hit the 1 in a million lottery of pump problems and you happend to find two identically flawed pumps. Right?

It's either the installation or something about its operating environment – which you are on the track of now.

A picture of the install would still really help.

And for what it's worth, the QuietOne 2200 is probably a quieter pump, but only by a little. I also think the Mag is a stronger pump. I have both. Note that you had to change the installation significantly to hook up the 2200 (which has 1" fittings vs the 1/2 fittings of the Mag) – a change that could have impacted how either pump would run.

 

[Frop]

Idk if it relates but I have a Hydor powerhead on my fresh water. Some times you plug that thing in and it squeals like crazy. I just unplug it and plug it back in. Basically do that 4-5 times until it stops. Then usually it's good to go.