Suggestions to quiet down the tank?

[Ginja]

Just got into the hobby, so I'm a newbie.

Got a 125 gallon in my living room with a tank, pump, and skimmer down below. Now it sounds like I have a dishwasher in my living room. :/

Any suggestions out there for how to quiet it down??

Most of the noise is in either the pump or the skimmer. It's a motor noise, not so much a water noise.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!



Please excuse the 2 color combo tank and hood. Hood is a work in progress!

 

[ezy33]

If you can put some foam or filter floss under your skimmer and pump.

 

[Daniel Fishy]

I heard of people using a mouse pad.

 

[Sniperhank]

Take both pumps apart and rinse them out. Sometimes they can get gunked up. You'd be able to see if there was damage to the impellers.

 

[jeffaquarius]

Determine first where the noise is coming from by turning them off one at a time. Mostly return pump would make noise if its suction base is not mounted properly. A good set up is by using a flexible pipe for the return to DT or just a portion of it to dump the noise that may be transmitted from the PVC pipe to your tank cabinet. Air pump would also make noise if not isolated properly from other stuff.

 

[Ginja]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Both pumps have thin rubber already under them to cut down on the vibration noise. I did put some filter material under both of them and it did help. The pumps were very recently cleaned out from moving them from one house to another so I know it's not from debris in the pumps. I've attached a picture of what the underside looks like in the tank if you have any other suggestions. I think if I were to put some pieces of wood on the back of the stand it would help trap the noise as well.

 

[Sniperhank]

Looks like the pump is just vibrating against the glass. Im a fan if styrofoam in those cases. Wood would break down and make a mess.

 

[Ginja]

It does look like it touches the side of the tank, but it doesn't actually.

 

[Sniperhank]

But it might as it vibrates. I had a similar issue, wasn't touching directly but as it worked was rubbing against the glass.

 

[Ginja]

Good point. I'll try that too

 

[jeffaquarius]

Put some rubber caution on the plastic hose touching your stand and make sure its not leaning on your sump.

 

[Ginja]

All, thanks for your suggestions. None of the items in the tank have touched the sides, and I have put filter material under both items.

Still not quiet.

Is it bad to put on a valve to turn down the flow of the pump a little?

 

[kdpuffer]

I would suggest adding some sort of bumper on the sides of the pumps. If its motor noise your hearing and not water noise then somewhere a motor is transferring vibration to the sump and/or stand. If it just has rubber under the pumps it probably won't cut down vibration at all, the trick is to have something to absorb vibration. My return pump is on suction cups and I can't hear it. Another option is to mount some rubber tubing under the pump and that should work well. The return pump looks very close to the baffle and adding something between could help also. As far as the valve on the return line I don't see an issue with it. Most people have a valve on the return so they can balance out the return and drain to prevent the syphon flush and gurgle.

 

[jeffaquarius]

is this a new return pump or the same before you moved to a new location?

 

[jeffaquarius]

It looks too big for your sump. A ball valve is a good idea and it won't hurt. It will surely quite it down to optimize your flow. Oops I would take it back. A restriction actually will make more noise.

 

[kdpuffer]

It looks too big for your sump. A ball valve is a good idea and it won't hurt. It will surely quite it down to optimize your flow. Oops I would take it back. A restriction actually will make more noise.

I restriction could lead to more noise but that depends on how much. I small restriction in flow will be negligable, a large restriction will likely add to the noise. I personally have my return choked back about 25% and I get no additional noise.

 

[jeffaquarius]

it is possible that the noise is inherint to your return pump. That is if you have already eliminated your skimmer by turning it off. The pump head pressure might have went up when your DT is mounted higher or longer than before. Thus it is making more work for the pump.