Ghetttoooo tricks to quiet down noise in the tank?

[cabenn]

Well, finally got water in the sump and everything going last night but the darn noise is unbearable. I'm gonna work on putting a durso in the lifereef overflow I have to see if I can quiet it down but another thing that makes a lot of noise is the water splashing into the sump itself. It's about 2" from the top of the water and if it gets any closer it would probably be too close. Is there a problem with having the pipe actually go into the water or does it need to be above the surface?

The pump for the skimmer is a mag 9 and that darn thing is loud and I plan on making a little thing out of eggcrate to suspend it and stop it from vibrating against the bottom of the sump which is what is causing that noise. But damn that Aquac EV180 produces about 100x the bubbles the HOB skimmer did I can't wait to break it in and quiet it up a little bit.

So my questions are this. What other ghettooooo style things can I do to quiet down the system?

 

[Biggie]

Lets see advice, Mousepad under the pump, get a "Quiet One" pump thats much quieter than a mag and more powerful.

Return in the water is no Biggie (no pun here) and will keep the noise down alot.
You could zippy tie a filter sock over the return too so the water cushions before it hits the water.
Enclose the back of the stand if its not allready and then vent it with a small fan. You can use suction cups under vibrating components if thats an issue. Im still trying to quiet up my venturi on my skimmer havent found the cure or solution for that yet.

Other than that move everything to an isolated room and close the door lol...Le tme know if I was any help.
Good luck!

 

[cabenn]

OOOO suction cups are a great IDEA. I have plenty of those from my maxi jets lying around!! SO maybe I'll get some egg crate rigged up with some suction cups.

The mag isn't that loud and my quiet one return is pretty quiet. It's just the mag has that filter part on it which vibrates on the acrylic.

Also what causes the PVC to shake so violenlty when the water is moving through it? I may end up taking the PVC out and using spa flex or some other type of hose but I feared it would somehow come loose when I am working on something and then I'd have a ton of water on the floor

 

[phishcrazee]

The tube from my overflow is about 6" under water in my sump and it's nice and quiet My return pump is tilted at a 45 degree angle and propped that way with a few small slabs of marble and now it doesn't vibrate. It's a mag drive and they are noisy little buggars!

 

[NuccaTree]

with you roverflow box, get some 1 1/2 - 2" dense (blue) foam and cut to the size of the top of the overflow in the back. Drill a small 1/4 hole through it to allow for ventilation and stuff a cotton ball down it. Then through a towel over the whole overflow box. This cuts down the sound by extreme measurements! The retrun in the sump, have a 90 degree elbow dum the water right to the surface, as sock would reduce it even more.. Also, get a pc of plexiglass to cover the top of the return side of the sump.

Just a few thoughts.

I love the mousepad idea for the vibration under the pumps.

 

[cabenn]

Yah, the mag drive came along with the EV180 that I bought used from some guy on RC so I'll stick with it and hopefully I can get the noise down to a reasonable level

I planned on making a modified silent standpipe based on stockmans website.


1 - 12" piece of 1" pvc (drill 3/8 holes into it)
1 - 2" to 1" reduction fitting
1 - 2" PVC union fitting (slide over the 1" PVC pipe to meet the reduction fitting)
1 - 1" end cap with 1/8" holes in it.

Where do you buy the foam stuff?

 

[Biggie]

The PVC shakes from the pressure most likely. I use silicone hose its easy to obtain and easy to work with. They make pvc hose clamps that work well but for the most part the connection Ive made really dont need them clamped because of the nipples I screw in dont allow for slippage or leakage its just a safety factor for my peace of mind.
Use a ball valve under your return also which can slow the water down and keep it quiet also.
Im in the process of upgrading to quiet one pumps tonight for this very problem. I run mags too and they are so noisey compared to others on the market. Best bang for the buck though.

 

[cabenn]

Well, maybe I'll buy another quiet one pump and use the mag just for circulating water in my rubbermaid trash can.

Yah, I put ball valves on both the return and the overflow just so I could shut off both or just one or the other.

 

[jbrunken]

Beware that the QuiteOne pumps have a nasty habit of not restarting after a power outage...

I have a QuiteOne 4000 and while it does pump good, and it is fairly quiet, it has failed to restart for me a couple of times.

Also, what part of your overflow is creating all of the noise? The CPR overflows include a small tube that you insert into the top that helps prevent a vacuum from forming when there is a lot of flow throw the tubes. Without that little tube, the whole thing gets really noisy (kinda like that noise you hear when a bathtub is just about finished draining).

If your overflow doesn't have something like this, you could probably do the exact same thing with a piece of air line tubing.

 

[cabenn]

It's the gurgling sound you get when water is going down the pipe and creating a vortex and then going up the pipe. It's a simple fix with maybe 3 bucks worth of PVC and I already have enough end caps and 1" pvc just need to buy 2 things really.

 

[terryricke]

If you shove an airline or slightly larger tube down the drain pipe that will stop the vortex and gurgle of the drain. You will have play around with the depth you insert the airline but it should solve the flushing action of the drain. The standpipe goes the extra step and helps eliminate the sound of the water falling over the overflow. Well worth the few extra bucks to help eliminate almost all the sound of an overflow.

Terry

 

[cabenn]

Cool, I'll try that little tip.

I did the suction cup thing last night attached to a normal MJ support thing and it quieted it down quite a bit. I'll have to get some of that insulation though to put around the inside of the tank to help muffle the sound a little bit cause I can still notice the vibration noise.

Great tips though