Quiet HOB filer recommendations

[Gellisjr1]

I just set up a pico tank in my bedroom yesterday. It's a 5.5 gallon petco tank that I have set up as a peninsula style tank on my night stand. I am currently using an Aquaclear 20 HOB filter. I really didn't notice any noise last night. However tonight the noise from the filter is driving me crazy. Any suggestions how to quiet this down or recommend a more quiet filter assembly?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Thats why I would never put an aquarium in my bedroom, the noise would drive me nuts. Every machine makes some amount of noise, nothing is absolutely completely silent.

 

[mjw011689]

Quiet and HOB don’t usually go together. Don’t get me wrong, some are quiet enough, but almost any HOB I’ve had would drive me nuts if it were in my room. I have a tidal 110 on my qt tank, and I’d say it’s far from quiet. I’ve had several aquaclears which tend to be less noisy but still.

Pretty much all you can do is make sure it’s balanced properly, make sure there’s no clogs and that the media and lid are sitting properly to prevent vibrations. I’ve also used felt pads between the filter body and tank to prevent rattle.

 

[Gellisjr1]

Thank you for your responses. I accepted the fact there would be some noise from the tank before even setting anything up. The white noise of the water trickling, a low hum of the pump would be acceptable and welcomed. This is more of a vibration type of noise that I am hearing. After posting this I messed with the filter assembly trying different things. I did manage to figure out that If i removed the lid the noise would be slightly less but if I put the lid back on but slightly off to the side a little bit it was much better. For whatever reason if I install the lid the way it's supposed to sit it vibrates.

I am going to take MJW011689 advise and look for some rubber or material to dampen the vibrations of this filter assembly. For the lid a very thin, large "O" ring would be perfect so I will be stopping at the hardware store or home improvement store on my way home tonight. I also need a power strip as well so I can plug my lamp back in and have extra outlets for future additional equipment.

Thank you.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

full up the tank more

 

[SaltySiren]

I always love the excitement of setting up a new pico tank!!!!!
I have always admired the humble petco tank with HOB reef tank, simple, affordable, and easy to care for.

As for the noise. I do like the Seachem Tidal 35 HOB. It was designed in partnership with Sicce and specifically for marine tanks. With that said idk how it compares with what you have, as far as am I at sound but I assume it’s better or the same since it was designed specifically for what you are doing. I believe it may be more quiet because it has built in redundancy to prevent the unit from running dry in case of equipment failure like water level dropping.
If the noise is coming from the lid of the unit I would look into finding some kind of liner, buffer, or gasket you could use to pad the rattle instead of just removing the lid. Besides evaporation salt creep is always a thing to consider whenever using any HOB.
Good luck and let us know what solution you came up with!

 

[Jeff K]

I’ve got a Sicce whale canister which is the smallest they have and it’s virtually silent