Silence aquaclear 110?

[360º]

i just got an aquaclear 110 and its in the room i sleep in. its not loud, nothing is rattling or anything but i can still hear the hum of the impeller motor.

does anyone know of a way to make this quieter?

i was thinking about adding foam around the filter to dampen the noise, but i dont know

 

[Gail]

I had a fish tank in the room I slept in, had to move it, the constant hum bothered me. Good luck!!
Gail

 

[melosu58]

Moved to General Hardware and equipment discussion.

 

[HN1]

I've used a piece of 1" foam cut to shape and placed in between the filter and the tank instead of the plastic doohickie.

 

[Osage_Winter]

I have always found that a tank is best situated in somewhere other than a bedroom, if possible...

That said, my 110 is dead silent compared to the Aqueon that supplements it in my tank -- the "QuietFlow" 55 Aqueon is nothing of the sort, making a loud racket between the splashing of the so-called "bio bar" that is supposed to polish the water upon return and the motor in this thing...NOT quiet AT ALL.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

If you want a super quiet filter then you need to look at external canister filters.

 

[uscamaro]

I have always found that a tank is best situated in somewhere other than a bedroom, if possible...

I agree completely! It was a soothing sound for studying though. In my college apt I had a 55gallon with a 125gallon-rated wet/dry filter. That thing was so loud! Kept the tank extremely clean, so it was worth it.

 

[360º]

i figured out a way to silence it.

i bought a sheet of foam board.

cut out an enclosure that surrounds the filter on all sides and filled the gap between the filter and enclosure with foam.

can barely hear it

 

[Osage_Winter]

I agree completely! It was a soothing sound for studying though. In my college apt I had a 55gallon with a 125gallon-rated wet/dry filter. That thing was so loud! Kept the tank extremely clean, so it was worth it.

Indeed, Camaro...some do make a soothing hum (the AquaClears are in this category from what I can tell) and it's more than tolerable...but alot, like my cartridge-loaded Aqueon, make a racket that is FAR from quiet, despite what their marketing claims...

Still, I don't recommend keeping a tank in an area where you're going to sleep, unless it's absolutely unavoidable -- in a house, for example, a tank should be anywhere but in a bedroom unless the residents MUST have it there because they MUST look at the fish at night, whatever...but see in my situation, we have a two story, four bedroom house and we keep the tank in an upstairs loft area that's like a relaxing lounge...between the splashings of the filters, the jazz music played on our stereo system up there and the recliners, this room puts you to sleep within minutes...

When it's a dorm, small apartment or a kid's room, keeping a tank away from a sleeping area is near impossible. I realize this. It's just best to keep them out of a sleeping area whenever possible due to the unavoidable noise of air pumps, filters, splashings, etc.

 

[HN1]

We have 2 tanks (75G & 8G) in the bedroom and don't have a problem unless the (topless evap king) 75 is past due for a water change. To each their own....

Sounds like a good fix 360. Nice!

 

[Laurence]

The simplest way to solve this problem is just turn the filter off when you are sleeping. Unless the tank is overstocked with fish, a few hours without a filter will not harm the fish or stagnate the water. The idea that filters must run 24/7 is a myth.

 

[HN1]

The simplest way to solve this problem is just turn the filter off when you are sleeping. Unless the tank is overstocked with fish, a few hours without a filter will not harm the fish or stagnate the water. The idea that filters must run 24/7 is a myth.

By all means cite some form of research for this statement. Turning filters off routinely also adds wear. They are designed to run continuosly.

 

[360º]

i also dont want to turn it off because it provides surface agitation for oxygen exchange

 

[mudraker]

A+ for the foam. I have often found you can knock out small noises in my aquaclears that way. If that doesn't work, sometimes just playing with the intake tube where it leads to the impeller works wonders.

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but we have seven aquariums in the bedroom, and I hate watery noises. It is possible to keep silence and aquariums at once

 

[Osage_Winter]

A+ for the foam. I have often found you can knock out small noises in my aquaclears that way. If that doesn't work, sometimes just playing with the intake tube where it leads to the impeller works wonders.

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but we have seven aquariums in the bedroom, and I hate watery noises. It is possible to keep silence and aquariums at once

[moderator edit]
You have seven aquariums in the bedroom?

Why??

 

[Laurence]

My research is my own experience. Several times I have had to turn off my filter for a day or two and nothing happened. Aquariums that turn cloudy when the filter is turned off usually have two factors to consider: 1) too many fish for the size of the tank and 2) too much food for the fish. Giving fish too much food is the most common mistake aquarists make, and the main reason for water turning foul.

If an aquarium is properly stocked and cared for, a few hours without a filter will not do the plants or fish any harm.

 

[HN1]

I agree that a few hours unfiltered will do no harm to an established aquarium. Recurrent long periods off however absolutely will and IMO it's bad advice to give to anyone.

 

[Laurence]

If a filter is off for 7 or 8 hours and then runs for the remaining 16 that should be sufficient filtration for an aquarium that is not overstocked or overfed. Several times I have had to turn my Ehiem filter off for the weekend and nothing happened - but I have a large tank with not too many fish. There are many variables here, including size of tank, number of fish, size of filter, etc. so the aquarist will have to experiment and find out.

 

[HN1]

Absolutely the stocking and details matter, BUT disolved oxygen matters and turning off your filters is the worst thing you can do for the O2 content. If your fish survived, cool but if you did a bit more research you might not be so ready to place your fish at risk or to offer that piece of advice. Just sayin....

 

[Laurence]

The amount of dissolved oxygen in a tank is determined by the total air surface, not the filter. The filter merely moves the water around and eliminates small bits of debris. Also, the bacteria in the filter actually consume oxygen, not add it. By circulating the water, air stones will slightly increase the oxygen content, but they are not necessary to maintain fish health.

A correctly-stocked tank allows ten square inches of air surface for every inch of fish. A tank 30L x 20w would have an air surface of 600 square inches, which means it could support about 30 two-inch fish, no more.

As previously stated, the most common mistake of aquarists is putting too many fish in a tank, which then requires excessive filtration just to support the overpopulated aquarium.