Quietest External Filter ?

[[email protected]]

Hi,

I have a 4 foot tank with a Fluval Biolife internal filter in it.
Whilst it does a great job on the water quality and is pretty quiet
from MY perspective, it's deafeningly loud *inside* the tank. If I
press my ear against the glass, all I can hear is a LOUD 50Hz hum of
the powerhead motor.

If I were my fish, listening to that 24/7, I would go crazy. I know
there is some debate over whether such noise bothers the fish, but
I've decided that I want to keep the noise levels as close to nature
as possible - and that means getting rid of the Biolife.

So... what can I replace it with ? Can anyone recommend an
ultra-quiet external canister filter please ?

I intend to make a couple of 'DIY silencers' too, one for the air pump
and another for whatever filter I buy to hopefully remove all
'mechanical noise' from the tank.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Kev.

[Michi Henning]

> wrote in message
om...
>
> So... what can I replace it with ? Can anyone recommend an
> ultra-quiet external canister filter please ?

The Eheims are very quiet. I have a 2128 and I have to literally
stick my head into the cupboard underneath the tank to hear it.

Cheers,

Michi.

--
Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com

[NetMax]

> wrote in message
om...
> Hi,
>
> I have a 4 foot tank with a Fluval Biolife internal filter in it.
> Whilst it does a great job on the water quality and is pretty quiet
> from MY perspective, it's deafeningly loud *inside* the tank. If I
> press my ear against the glass, all I can hear is a LOUD 50Hz hum of
> the powerhead motor.
>
> If I were my fish, listening to that 24/7, I would go crazy. I know
> there is some debate over whether such noise bothers the fish, but
> I've decided that I want to keep the noise levels as close to nature
> as possible - and that means getting rid of the Biolife.
>
> So... what can I replace it with ? Can anyone recommend an
> ultra-quiet external canister filter please ?
>
> I intend to make a couple of 'DIY silencers' too, one for the air pump
> and another for whatever filter I buy to hopefully remove all
> 'mechanical noise' from the tank.
>
> Any help will be greatly appreciated.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Kev.

Very admirable to want to improve your pet's acoustic environment,
especially as fish are far more sensitive to vibrations than we are.
Noise to fish are vibrations in the water, and fish have a secondary
organ commonly called the lateral line which detects these vibrations and
translates them into a motion source (direction & amplitude).

From my limited experience, there isn't a significant difference between
manufacturers of external canisters, but the difference between any
canister and other filters (ie: airpumps) is huge. I think the filter's
hoses dampen the pump noise (so a bit of algae in the hoses makes it even
quieter ;~). Note that my opinion is based on pressing my ear against
the glass of various tanks, and that the human hearing range is
theoretically 20-20,000Hz (probably 50 to 10,000Hz for me). I would
expect a fish's hearing range to be much more acute into the lower
frequencies (which travel better in water), so we won't be the best judge
on what is the quietest canister filter for fish ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Sylvan Butler]

On 28 Dec 2004 15:01:57 -0800, > wrote:
> I've decided that I want to keep the noise levels as close to nature
> as possible - and that means getting rid of the Biolife.
>
> So... what can I replace it with ? Can anyone recommend an
> ultra-quiet external canister filter please ?
>
> I intend to make a couple of 'DIY silencers' too, one for the air pump
> and another for whatever filter I buy to hopefully remove all
> 'mechanical noise' from the tank.

Have you considered adding a sump, and putting all the mechanicals
(pumps, filters, etc.) in there instead of in the fish tank?

You could use a drilled overflow, or else a siphon overflow to get water
out of the main tank down to a sump, and then pump return from the sump
back to the main tank.

Or you could even do a veggie filter above the main tank to accept the
output of the pump, and gravity return from there to the main tank.

Oh, and incandescent lighting is quieter than fluorescent.

sdb
--
Wanted: Omnibook 800 & accessories, cheap, working or not
sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com

[George Pontis]

In article >, pcmangler2000
@hotmail.com says...
>
>
> So... what can I replace it with ? Can anyone recommend an
> ultra-quiet external canister filter please ?
>

I have tried the Eheim classic and Professional canisters as well as Fluval x04
series. The Eheim cans are remarkably quiet, but I think even noise-sensitive
people would be satisified with Fluval. I tried your test with the ear to the
glass on two tanks, one with Fluval 104 and one with Eheim Pro 2224. I was
surprised that I could actually detect some very muted pump noise in the tank with
the Fluval. The tank with the Eheim was quiet as best I could tell.

If you put any kind of bubble stone in the tank, the noise from that will far
outweigh any noise from these canisters. I happen to have a muffled air pump
connected to air stones in these two tanks, though I don't use it these days. I
turned it on and repeated the listening test. There is a *lot* of bubble noise.
Without a muffler, there is a lot of annoying pump hum too.

[blank]

Eheim Pro II 2028 is very quiet, very quiet indeed.

To quieten your air pump just screw a cup hook into the underside of your
tankstand, and hang the pump from that with a bit of breadbag tie or
whatever. This is a tip I learned from this group, and it works really
well, really well indeed.

I cant help it, I keep repeating myself, repeating myself indeed.

[NetMax]

"Sylvan Butler" > wrote in
message ernal...
> On 28 Dec 2004 15:01:57 -0800,
> > wrote:
>> I've decided that I want to keep the noise levels as close to nature
>> as possible - and that means getting rid of the Biolife.
>>
>> So... what can I replace it with ? Can anyone recommend an
>> ultra-quiet external canister filter please ?
>>
>> I intend to make a couple of 'DIY silencers' too, one for the air pump
>> and another for whatever filter I buy to hopefully remove all
>> 'mechanical noise' from the tank.
>
> Have you considered adding a sump, and putting all the mechanicals
> (pumps, filters, etc.) in there instead of in the fish tank?
>
> You could use a drilled overflow, or else a siphon overflow to get
> water
> out of the main tank down to a sump, and then pump return from the sump
> back to the main tank.

Excellent idea. I would just mention that drilled overflows can be very
noisy contraptions (especially standpipes). For a drilled overflow (out
the back of a tank), do not have the pipe/hose drop vertically. Instead
have it drop at an angle until it reaches the sump (you could even spiral
it down). There is a lot of noise generated by the vertical splash
(mostly people-noise though, not neccesarily fish-noise). jmo

> Or you could even do a veggie filter above the main tank to accept the
> output of the pump, and gravity return from there to the main tank.

: ) and have critters spawning (triops, artemia?) in your veggie filter
so your main tank is always fed a supply of fresh food. Ooops, this is
supposed to be about noise.

> Oh, and incandescent lighting is quieter than fluorescent.

Hmmmm. I'm going to ponder that one. While essentially true, how much
of it is ballast hum (which could be removed from the immediate vicinity)
and on the whole, how transportable is any humming to the water with the
air gap in between? Makes a stronger case for spot halogen lighting
(which gives the nice rippling shadow along the bottom of the tank).
--
www.NetMax.tk

>
> sdb
> --
> Wanted: Omnibook 800 & accessories, cheap, working or not
> sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com

[George Pontis]

In article >,
says...
>
> To quieten your air pump just screw a cup hook into the underside of your
> tankstand, and hang the pump from that with a bit of breadbag tie or
> whatever. This is a tip I learned from this group, and it works really
> well, really well indeed.

That is effective at keeping mechanical vibrations from the pump case from
coupling into the aquarium cabinet, which can act like a soundboard coupling the
vibes into the air.

A different source of noise is the pressure pulses present at the output of these
vibrator pumps. If you connect any of these vibrator pumps to an airstone and
place the airstone in a plastic bag with water, you can hear this clearly. So
would the fish. Since the original poster was concerned with noise inside the
aquarium, he would also need to damp out these pressure pulses. This is the reason
for the "silencer", which in the simplest form is a chamber with enough volume to
smooth out the pressure pulses. Some have also reported good success with nothing
more than a very long section of airline after the pump, perhaps at a cost of
reduced airflow.

[blank]

"George Pontis" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> says...
> >
> > To quieten your air pump just screw a cup hook into the underside of
your
> > tankstand, and hang the pump from that with a bit of breadbag tie or
> > whatever. This is a tip I learned from this group, and it works really
> > well, really well indeed.
>
> That is effective at keeping mechanical vibrations from the pump case from
> coupling into the aquarium cabinet, which can act like a soundboard
coupling the
> vibes into the air.
>
> A different source of noise is the pressure pulses present at the output
of these
> vibrator pumps. If you connect any of these vibrator pumps to an airstone
and
> place the airstone in a plastic bag with water, you can hear this clearly.
So
> would the fish. Since the original poster was concerned with noise inside
the
> aquarium, he would also need to damp out these pressure pulses. This is
the reason
> for the "silencer", which in the simplest form is a chamber with enough
volume to
> smooth out the pressure pulses. Some have also reported good success with
nothing
> more than a very long section of airline after the pump, perhaps at a cost
of
> reduced airflow.

That's interesting. Thanks for the lesson--amazing what can be learned from
newsgroups.

[Toni]

> wrote in message
om...
>
> So... what can I replace it with ? Can anyone recommend an
> ultra-quiet external canister filter please ?
>


My Eheim 2026 and 2028's run so silently that you have to touch them to know
they are running.


--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/discus.htm

[Ozdude]

"George Pontis" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> says...
>>
>> To quieten your air pump just screw a cup hook into the underside of your
>> tankstand, and hang the pump from that with a bit of breadbag tie or
>> whatever. This is a tip I learned from this group, and it works really
>> well, really well indeed.
>
> That is effective at keeping mechanical vibrations from the pump case from
> coupling into the aquarium cabinet, which can act like a soundboard
> coupling the
> vibes into the air.
>
> A different source of noise is the pressure pulses present at the output
> of these
> vibrator pumps. If you connect any of these vibrator pumps to an airstone
> and
> place the airstone in a plastic bag with water, you can hear this clearly.
> So
> would the fish. Since the original poster was concerned with noise inside
> the
> aquarium, he would also need to damp out these pressure pulses. This is
> the reason
> for the "silencer", which in the simplest form is a chamber with enough
> volume to
> smooth out the pressure pulses. Some have also reported good success with
> nothing
> more than a very long section of airline after the pump, perhaps at a cost
> of
> reduced airflow.

There are a series of articles here about this very thing! ;)

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/doityourself/

I can vouch for the inline "buffer pipe" and suspending the whole thing
inside a jar with restricted air inlet because I used them both to totally
silence externally and (aquarium) internally when I was running air stones
at night.

Enjoy the Silence :)

Oz

[[email protected]]

Many thanks for all the very informative replies ! Much appreciated.
Happy New Year !!

[Martin Moran]

On 28 Dec 2004 15:01:57 -0800, wrote:

>I have a 4 foot tank with a Fluval Biolife internal filter in it.
>Whilst it does a great job on the water quality and is pretty quiet
>from MY perspective, it's deafeningly loud *inside* the tank. If I
>press my ear against the glass, all I can hear is a LOUD 50Hz hum of
>the powerhead motor.

Hi there,

I just replaced my Hagen (BioLife) 35 this weekend on my 27 gal. tank.
I had always been running an Aquaclear Mini HOT unit, and have now
just added a Penguin 125 bio-wheel. Seems to be working great, and
the two filters are whisper quiet.



--
Martin Moran omNO.SPAMmoran at telusplanet dot net
Beaumont, Alberta remove "no.spam" on replies

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