Noise!

Kevster · 02-24-2007, 11:20 AM

I set up my 90 gallon reef aquarium last week, and added the LR and water last night. Now that everything's running I am faced with the noise that I'm sure you are all accustomed to. Any tips on reducing it?

Some is from the overflow. I have the overflow filled with bio-balls to help reduce the noise...so I'm not sure what else can be done to address that.

The majority is a low humming sound from the pumps in the sump. I noticed that one hose (that travels to the chiller) is up against the cabinet. I will try placing some foam around it to prevent it from vibrating the entire cabinet.

The wife keeps asking...will it always be that loud? Help.

Loverotties · 02-24-2007, 11:38 AM

If it's a reef take the balls out and extend the pipe down into the water.You don't want the bio balls, the LR is your filter. and for the pumps.Sit them on a piece of foam to take the vibration out.

Tim224DT · 02-24-2007, 11:44 AM

You can line the inside of your stand with styrofoam this is what i did and it cut down on the hum noise a lot.

Tim

Phishy · 02-24-2007, 11:54 AM

I have a noise issue also, and the pipe is in the water, but the overflow (lifereef) also has air that goes down and as that is forced out it gurgles/chugs.

I can reduce it alittle with turning back the pump from the sump slowing the down the overflow.

I am thinking of making the bottom half a "half pipe" so the air can get out without bubbling in the water

cdemeritt · 02-24-2007, 04:07 PM

Buy her earplugs. I rather enjoy the trickling sounds of the water flowing from tank to tank. besides once you get used to it, it is barely noticable, unless something goes wrong to change the noise. I minor change in the noise one day woke me out of a sound sleep in time to avoid a major disastor, and keep it to a minor inconvienance.

But in seriousness, the hums and vibration sounds can be muffled some. As far as the hose that vibrates against the cabinet, after rapping the foam, use a plastic wire tie to keep it from moving much. If most of it is coming from the sump, line the inside of the cabinet with more foam, and keep the doors shut. After putting doors on my cabinet, the sump noise was cut in half.

Hope this helps.

Kevster · 02-24-2007, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdemeritt

Buy her earplugs. I rather enjoy the trickling sounds of the water flowing from tank to tank. besides once you get used to it, it is barely noticable, unless something goes wrong to change the noise. I minor change in the noise one day woke me out of a sound sleep in time to avoid a major disastor, and keep it to a minor inconvienance.

But in seriousness, the hums and vibration sounds can be muffled some. As far as the hose that vibrates against the cabinet, after rapping the foam, use a plastic wire tie to keep it from moving much. If most of it is coming from the sump, line the inside of the cabinet with more foam, and keep the doors shut. After putting doors on my cabinet, the sump noise was cut in half.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the suggestions. I, too, enjoy the trickling sound...but this goes beyond that. I will try placing some foam around the pumps in the sump. Foam lining the cabinet is a good idea too.

I am beginning to notice a "slurping" sound coming from the overflow. It sounds a bit like it is sucking some air down into the pipe in there. Any suggestions on what to do with that?

Geoff · 02-25-2007, 08:12 AM

what does your overflow plumbing look like inside the overflow? it you do not have a standpipe in there, you might want to put one in.

as for pump noise, only one way to get rid of pump humm, buy a Velocity pump. these are the only pumps that DO NOT MAKE NOISE. i have found that if the woman finds it noisey than she will never be happy. spend the extra money on the Velocities and make your life better.

i had the same problem with my wife when i set up her tank in the bedroom. it was always to noisey. i replaced all of the pumps with Velocities and she was much happier.

G~

BadOleRoss · 02-25-2007, 08:27 AM

I also had a 90G with a corner overflow that was very noisey. One thing i found is that air remained in the overflow tube where there was a dip in the tube just before it entered the sump. The tubing was a flexable ribbed type of tubing that came w/the sump. If I gave the tube a few good shakes this allowed some of the air to escape and quieted the tank a little. Our cabinet always hummed but that was a nice indicator that I needed water in the sump. As the water level got lower, the noise go higher.

JY13131 · 02-25-2007, 09:33 AM

Lucky for me, my husband likes "white" noise....that includes the fish tank!

Kevster · 02-25-2007, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geoff

what does your overflow plumbing look like inside the overflow? it you do not have a standpipe in there, you might want to put one in.

G~

I'm not sure what a "standpipe" is.

I don't know what all the proper terminology is...but I'll do my best to describe what I have. Inside the overflow (which is centrally located) there are three pipes. Two of these are "return pipes" from the sump. They exit the overflow on the sides of it through a "fixture" that has two nozzles that can be pointed in different directions. The 3rd pipe in the overflow, it the means for the water to travel to the sump. All three of these pipes go through the bottom of my tank. The pipe that leads to the sump extends up into the overflow about a foot. I didn't build the overflow, but when I received the tank and peered down into the overflow, it looked like the pipe leading to the sump had a "cap" of some sort on it, with a number of holes in it (to let the water in). In addition to all this, the overflow (at the reccomendation of the LFS that built it) is filled with bio-balls.

Now I know everyone says "Don't use bio-balls, the LR+sand is your bio-filter." But the LFS placed them there to "cut down on the noise" from the overflow (if this is true...I can't imagine how much louder it could be).

Ok, so now the noise seems to definitely be coming from the overflow, and it sounds like when the last bit of water drains down the drain (a slurping type of sound), but really loud and ALMOST continuous (every once in a while for a second or two, it stops).

It seems like the water is being pumped into the tank at a rate that the overflow is struggling to match. I wonder if I decrease the rate of return (closing the ball-valves attached to the pumps) if that will help.

Is there anything I can do to address this problem?

Kevster · 02-25-2007, 10:51 PM

I've done some reading...I think I need a duro mod for my standpipe. That seems to be geared at addressing the problem I'm having. Are these easy to do once that tank is filled, or have I messed up? Also, the overflow was dome by the guys at the LFS...you don't suppose they cemented the standpipe in place do you? I sure hope not. This project will be for tomorrow. Please let me know if you have any tips/suggestions...

know-it-all · 02-25-2007, 11:06 PM

buy some acustical foam for the inside of the stand

it works wonders

Ikaria · 02-25-2007, 11:12 PM

I use the hofer gurgle buster in my overflow. Works great.

http://home.everestkc.net/jrobertson57268/HGB/

crvz · 02-26-2007, 07:58 AM

The durso style overflow is very simple to build, and I would be very surprised if they cemented the pipe in place. Let us know how it goes, and snap some pictures if you can!

Geoff · 02-26-2007, 10:24 AM

i would remove the bio-balls from the overflow. sounds like your LFS needs some help with tank design.

either the Stockman, Durso or Hofer mods will work and make your tank very quiet. when doing these mods the important part is that you make the drain pipe as long as possible. you want the water flowing over the overflow teeth to fall as little as possible. make the standpipe about 1/2" lower than the overflow teeth.

G~