Skimmer noise

[Reefyone]

I'm planning to built DIY skimmer for 20+ gal tank, my concern is noise produced by skimmer - I have to be able to sleep in 3 m/10 ft from it.

Which kind of skimmers is least noisy, any links to it's construction?
Thanks.

[Geoff]

here is mine. the DIY archive has a few in there.

the quietest would prolly be an air driven skimmer. all you have to worry about is the noise from the air pump. these do require more maintenance though. a venturi driven skimmer is not that noisy if you make a silencer for the air intake. just a piece of PVC filled with polyester pillow filling. it needs to be very loosely filled. just enough to muffle the sound yet not enough to restrict air movement.

generally the water pump is the big noise maker. if noise is of utmost concern than i would only look at the Velocity series of Blueline pumps. these are truely silent. these are the only pumps i use if it is going to be in the same room as i am. all other pumps go in the basement.

G~

[Reefyone]

Do you know by any chance what air pump is more or less quiet - the one I bought (Elite) is very noisy; also when water pump is necessary - will it be enought to have power head instead of full-sized water-pump for 20 gal tank? They seems to be quiet. Or smallest internal pumps - may be thay have not enough power for skimming? What GPH generally it should be?

I read a lot about DIY skimmers, but particular pieces of hardware tend to be very different in performance, in my not too fortunate experience.
Thank you.

[Twitterbait]

Actually the white noise created by a skimmer would help you sleep once you get used to it.

[Reefyone]

No one alive can sleep in the same room or next with this device I bought. I would like to share your optimism, but there are hardware choices I have to make with insufficient information about most critical parameters.

Also, because skimmer will not skim without air supply and water supply devices, I'm including them too in my question of skimmer.

Reason of asking - because no one can afford to buy next and next and next device in trials to find barely useable one, just wanted to know other peoples experiences with their misbuys and findings.