On Sun, 11 Jun 2006 03:27:35 GMT, Altum
wrote:

Andy Peteman wrote:
Advice please i have a bit of a situation , i have just put a 2ft tank in
the bedroom ,i've cycled the tank and have filled the tank with a 50/50 mix
of clean and my other fish tank water , my filter is brand .

I have one fish in there currently , but will be stocking this tank with
around 12 -14 small fish , neons , guppies , a couple of plattys and i do
like the tank in the bedroom , but i imagine you've guessed my problem ,
although the filte is not loud or does not seem to be during the day , when
it comes to the dead of night , i can hear it , hummmmmmmmmmming away in the
back ground , i can see it becoming a bugbear .........so i have too options
, i have a nice little suitable space downstairs in my front room , where i
can put the tank .

Or would it be possible to put the filter on a timer so that when the light
goes off on the tank the filter turns off , this i would happen during say
12am - 7am , for 7 hours, but i'm unsure if this is fair or suitable for the
fish ,i've been round the houses and put some filter sponge between the
filter and the glass on the tank , that did cut the nose down a little , but
you guys i'm sure know , that at the dead of night , if you hear a pin drop
you can kinda hear it..........

I hope this will not cause a stir of ppl shouting at me for even making the
sugguestion , my big tank is in my 2nd bedroom and of course the pump is on
24/7 , but i can't hear that pump in my sleeping bedroom.

Sooooooo guys do i have two options , both been okay and fine for the fish ,
or is it a very bad idea and i should simply move the tank downstairs , if i
can't live/sleep with the hummmmmmmming noise from the filter.

Advice welcome.

Are you talking about the airpump or the filter? Use a filter that
provides surface turbulence like a Whisper or an Aquaclear and you don't
need an airstone. You can't turn a filter off for seven hours every
night. The helpful bacteria in it would die off without oxygen - I
doubt the tank would even cycle properly.

Consider buying an internal filter. They're extremely quiet. Canister
filters are almost as quiet, although bubbles stuck in the impeller
sometimes make noise.

I have a 10 gallon tank in my bedroom. It has a Whisper Jr filter.
It is quiet. Also the socks do not have charcoal preloaded as I quit
using charcoal years ago. I just clean the sock and leave it in the
sun for a few hours then reuse it.

I did have one Whisper become noisy. It was cheap to replace.

I quit using air stones well over a year ago when I realized the
bubbles when bursting above the water, were sending minerals flying
making mineral deposits of the frame and in one tank creating
conditions for an algae growth on the glass cover's bottom.

dick