Emperor 400 is LOUD as all heck!

[jfoust]

I currently have a 20gal tank with a Fluval submersible filter. It does the job well and is more or less silent. My son's tank is a 10gal with a Aquaclear 20, and it's also very quiet except for the waterfall noise. The actual motor is almost silent.

I picked up a 29gal tank today for next to nothing. It needs a good scrubbing and it'll be up and cycling in np time... It came w/ a heater, stand, and Marineland Emperor 400B filter.

I picked up some new media on the way home, cleaned the filter, and fired it up in my 20gal just to check it out... It's SO LOUD! The best way I could describe it is a very loud vibration. I took it apart, re-cleaned the impeller and set it back in (3 or 4 times actually). I've never had an impeller go bad, so I don't know what the symptoms would be, but I'm guessing that's the culprit. Also the spray bars that spray on the bio wheels don't spray at all. I get a good flow out of the main discharges, but nothing out of the spray bars. This is the older model with the flow adjuster in back FWIW. With the adjuster pulled all the way up, I get the best volume of flow and it's more quiet, but still very loud.

Any suggestions??

 

[kdogg85]

When you had it apart, did you put your finger in the hole where the impeller goes? If you didn't, do that and see if the magnets feel scratched, if they are then loud forever it shall be, no matter what. Check the feed tubes to see if there is any debris in them? I have one of those and had a clump of trash plug the main feed tube.

 

[jfoust]

I didn't really stick my finger down there... I did stick the toothbrush down there to clean out any crud while I was at it. I'll try cramming my finger in there and see what I can feel. Wish I could pop the motor off like I can on my Aquaclear, but I guess that's not a user-serviceable part on the Marineland..

The feed tube runs nice and free. I'll double check it, though.

 

[jfoust]

Just double checked, and it's smooth as far as I can get my hands down the impeller tube. Do impellers go bad? Like are there bearings or something inside them?

 

[mwilliams]

Not sure if you ever got your Emperor 400 resolved yet or not but I have both the Emperor 350 and the Cascade 300 each on two seperate tanks the only one I sometimes have problems with regarding sounds is my Cascade if I don't have the tube pushed down all the way on the impeller it will make a loud sound till I push down a little bit harder to get the tubing on it.

 

[jfoust]

Not sure if you ever got your Emperor 400 resolved yet or not but I have both the Emperor 350 and the Cascade 300 each on two seperate tanks the only one I sometimes have problems with regarding sounds is my Cascade if I don't have the tube pushed down all the way on the impeller it will make a loud sound till I push down a little bit harder to get the tubing on it.

Nope, it's still unresolved at the moment. I heard about the intake tube thing somewhere, so I really tried jamming the tube in there and still have the noise. I was going to replace the impeller, but they want like $20 shipped for one everywhere I looked. In an effort to save a few bucks, I had a Fluval 4 Plus that I pulled out and I'm running on low. High was creating too much current for a 29er!

 

[eric1514]

Mine was very loud and produced lots of micro bubbles when it was new. It took a few weeks for some slime to build up. That quieted it down a lot. When I break it down every few months and really clean it out, it's noisy again for a few days.

Oh, it must run wide open or you can't be in the same room with it.

Overall, I hate it and have just ordered an Eheim to replace it.

Eric

 

[jfoust]

Thanks Eric. I don't think I'm going to bother with the impeller. My neighbor might be interested in tinkering with it, so I'll probably dump it on him if he wants it. I can't see bothering with it at this point. The Fluval is going strong, and I'd rather put that $20 toward a canister filter...