Noisy pump in Aqueon 55/75

[Joey P]

I've been having this problem for the last few weeks now. I've noticed that everytime I change the water in my tank (and shut off the pump when I do it), the filter is loud for the next few days, then it seems to quiet down.
It's not the water sloshing around in the sump, it's definitely the impeller. I've taken the pump off, but from what I can tell, the most you can do is rinse it out. I can't see anyway to disassemble this to clean/inspect it or replace the impeller itself.

I'm about ready to just shut it off and toss it since I'm running two pumps and the other one us just about silent, but I really like the idea of running both of them so I'd rather just fix this one.

Looking around online, I see I can buy just the impeller, so I have to assume it comes out. I suppose I can try a bit harder. i didn't want to pry at it too hard and end up breaking something, but I didn't even see anything that looked like it would come apart to give me access to the impeller.

 

[Joey P]

I just rememebered that I have a small, identical filter for a QT so I went and looked at that one. It's a lot easier to dismantle a pump when it's not wet and slimy and you don't have a fully stocked tank with water draining out of it at the same time.
I got that one pulled apart. I'll try the same thing on the bigger tank the next time I feel like sticking my arms in the water or I get sick of listening to this one rattle.
I'm not sure what I'm expecting to find, but if nothing is clearly broken, maybe just taking it apart and resetting the impeller will shut it up.

 

[ArtesiaWells]

Hello Joey.

I own the predecessor to your 55/75, the QuietFlow 55; honestly, I have never experienced what you're describing...my filter (you keep referring to it as a "pump" but I assume you mean "filter" as "pump" normally refers to an "air pump" for a bubbler?) is actually pretty dead quiet when I'm not running the bubble curtain (the bubbles are being sucked in by my other filter, an AquaClear 110, causing a HORRIFIC amount of noise, but this is another story). When the bubbles aren't being sucked in by the AquaClear filter, both HOBs are pretty dead silent actually...the only thing I have noticed that is remotely associated to what you describe (but has nothing to do with your Aqueon equipment) is that when I turn my Top Fin AIR PUMP off, when I turn it back on, it takes like forever for the bubbles to return to a nice solid wall through one of my bubble bars...it takes days upon days for the "power" to kind of return to the pump as weird as that sounds...

 

[Ian086]

I just rememebered that I have a small, identical filter for a QT so I went and looked at that one. It's a lot easier to dismantle a pump when it's not wet and slimy and you don't have a fully stocked tank with water draining out of it at the same time.
I got that one pulled apart. I'll try the same thing on the bigger tank the next time I feel like sticking my arms in the water or I get sick of listening to this one rattle.
I'm not sure what I'm expecting to find, but if nothing is clearly broken, maybe just taking it apart and resetting the impeller will shut it up.

Sometimes the impeller is set in a metal shaft rather than a ceramic shaft. I'm not familiar with your filter but if it is a metal shaft, check that it's not bent. This can cause the impeller to become un-level, causing it to hit the side, causing noise/severe vibration. This can be straightened, gently though. Another thing you could try is to put some Vaseline on the shaft and round the impeller. This usually quietens noisy filters.....