dead quiet filter?

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Awesomehugs420

Awesomehugs420

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 4, 2013
Messages
26
Location
San Antonio, TX
My cousin gave me his old 20gal tank with aqueon filter (I think). It's still going through its cycle but I can't sleep with it on. I'm completely new to this and would like a filter with absolute minimum sound.
I've googled it a couple times and people say aquaclear is quiet but idk if water trickling would keep me up also...
For my current filter I topped the water off so there is no trickle.

Thanks :)
 
The trickling you will get used to, give it a week or so. You could top it off to the lip and you shouldn't get much noise. The aqueons are pretty quiet when the water level is to the lip. The trickling will become second nature. It's funny because at times I let my turtle tank evaporate a little to the point the trickle from the spray bar gets somewhat obnoxious and when people come down to my room they don't understand how I sleep at night lol.
 
But yeah with a HOB filter it will be hard to achieve the quiet filtration a canister provides. I have a fluval 304 and unless I open the cabinet and listen carefully you would not know the filter was running. There have been times where I was nervous it wasn't lol.
 
What exactly does a canister filter do differently than mine now? And what would be a good brand that's about $30... Lol
 
I have an Aqueon Quiet Flow, Tetra Whisper 40, and a Aquaclear50. All of them are quiet. The Whisper was noisy when I first got it and I had to replace the impeller. Now it is very quiet. I never hear it unless something gets stuck. My Aquaclear got a little noisy a few months ago and I found a broken impeller. I replaced that and it went back to being quiet. If the filter you were given has been sitting around for awhile, it may need cleaned and a new impeller. You can take it apart and clean the motor with q tips. You can replace the impeller for around $8. Most of the time that will fix it.
 
Well I have the tank about ~6ft from where I actually sleep. Would it be that much quiet after I attempt to fiddle with it? Thanks for the responses by the way.
 
Okay... I'm looking at it an it seems abit complex. I put it under or in the tank? And it makes no noise like trickling or loud motor noises?
Thanks by the way.
 
I have three tanks with the previously mentioned filters within 8 ft of where I sleep and all I hear is the water fall. You can reduce that by raising the water level. Cleaning the filter will make a big difference. Especially where the magnetic impeller spins in the motor housing. A lot of gunk gets built up there. If it wasn't washed before storing than it is most likely caked on grim causing the any motor noise. If the impeller has any nick or roughness on it, it will make a noise.
 
Awesomehugs420 said:
Okay... I'm looking at it an it seems abit complex. I put it under or in the tank? And it makes no noise like trickling or loud motor noises?
Thanks by the way.
Click to expand...

You can put it under or beside the tank. I don't have that particular model, but the sunsuns I have are great. Super silent.
If you position the spray bar to that the water gently ripples the surface you won't get any trickle noise.
You can look on YouTube for vids on how to set it up.
 
Yeah the aqueons tend to be super siltent so I think you must have a bust impeller shaft. Canisters are great, I upgraded my tank from an aqueon 55/75 to a fluval 306 and you can't even hear it along with te fact you have less hardware in the tank. Canisters are also thought to have superior filtration compared to hobs. Good luck with replacing the impeller.
 
When cleaning the impeller make sure both ends of the shaft are in the plastic bushings. If not they make a loud grinding noise. I lost one while cleaning and it was loud. I called aqueon customer service and they mailed me replacements. It's back to being quiet. Like others have said, canisters are dead silent.
 
Would the fluval 360 for with 20gals? And do you know how much $? Or if there's a super cheap-o one? :p
Canisters sound good.
 
Awesomehugs420 said:
Would the fluval 360 for with 20gals? And do you know how much $? Or if there's a super cheap-o one? :p
Canisters sound good.
Click to expand...

There is no "cheap" canister unless you go with a Sun Sun which apparently is a great no name filter for the bargain price ($50-60). The 306 is like $170. I would do a search on Craigslist the next couple days and I bet you will find a canister for $100 or less.
 
Okay... I replaced the implerr and cleaned everything in the motor with a q-tip but it's still loud, though I have gotten rid of the trickling. I took it to the pet store and they said nothing was wrong with it so I'm going to try the sun sun...

Gl me haha.
 
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