need help getting 'nearly' silent setup

[ijasont]

I have a 30cube and my girlfriend is not happy at all with the noise it makes. I (she) knows that there will be some noise but since it is in the livingroom I am now on a quest for a 'quiet setup'.

I have an aquaclear 50 that I made a 'ramp' for the waterfall. works great - and quiet.

powerhead is maxijet 400. nice a quiet.

Skimmer: BakPak 2r HOB. This is a loud annoying thing. I modded it for airstones and replaced the maxijet 1200 venturi (loud) with a maxijet 400 (no venturi). All the bubbles are coming from the coralife luft pump.

Problem is, the luft pump is quite loud itself. Now nearly as loud as the maxijet 1200 venturi but still no good. It is the vibrations (humming) that is the problem.

I am afraid to go to a lower psi becuase I dont want to sacrifice skimmer bubbles.

If you have any suggestions, gear, comments please let me know.

 

[GSMguy]

what kind of skimmate are you getting would doing a bigger waterchange eliminate the need for it all together?

 

[ijasont]

I am not getting any skimmate. All the bubbles are white and none flow up into the skim cup. the cup is sitting right on top of the water surface as directions say for dry skim.

Im new to reefing to going skimmer-less worries me.

 

[herostar]

I have nad the same problem w/ my bak pack 2r+. That thing is loud. Only think I can think of to keep vibration down would be to cut up an old mouse pad and use it in between where the skimmer touches the tank. Just make sure the pad doesnt' touch the water. Only other thing that'd work well is larger more frequent water changes and no skimmer...

 

[GSMguy]

the skimmer is non esential on a small system water changes will do way more
you are not skimming now but you are geting all the noise and stuff so why not ditch the skimmer

 

[ijasont]

yeah, ive tried all kinds of foam, padding and configurations. I have this thing. My worries are that if I were to replace it and spend $150+ on another skimmer it would be just as loud.

Need to find a solution soon. my girlfriend will not allow it to be on when she is here and I have even stopped sitting in the room the tank is in. Kinda sad.

the airstones are dead silent but the air pump is loud
That and I worry that all this is for not as I am getting no skimmate anyway. I can post a pic later.

 

[GSMguy]

there are only a couple silent or nearly silent Hang on/in tank skimmers

tunze doc skimmers

deltec Mce300
both are expensive tunze nano is the cheaper one

i have been running my 20l skimmerless and it is great

 

[ijasont]

GSMguy, good point. As I said. Im new to reefing so loosing the skimmer does make me a little nervous but I can do 10% weekly or something to help cover it.

I would need to up my circulation as well. What about aerating the water? Isnt that half of what a skimmer does?

 

[GSMguy]

no need for aeration just get a powerhead like a maxi jet or a tunze nano stream and point it slightly at the surface the water rippling on the surface will do everything the airstone is doing now

 

[ijasont]

beyond ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and ph testing what other water tests should I do if i go skimmer-less?

This would certainly solve my problems

 

[GSMguy]

what you test for depends on what kind of corals you keep I would keep the tests you mentioned on the list and add CA ALK and MG but that is becase i keep stony corals that need specificly higher Ca numbers
i use B ionic for calcium/alk
and only Ro DI water
here are some pics of my 20l i took allot of corals out and put them in my other tank this tank is mainly for my maroon clown pair and a couple lil fish

 

[GSMguy]

i dont test my skimmerless system much at all really unless something looks wrong i test the 50g more since it is has stonys

 

[GSMguy]

a couple months ago i added an aquaclear 70 with the fuge mods to run cheato in since then i have had zero nuiscane algea and there are som many Pods and worms that i can feed as much as i like and the amonia and nitrate never build up

 

[ijasont]

yep. was just researching detritivores. I have an aquaclear 50, the fuge sounds like a good idea. Im a little worried about adding detritivores directly to the tank with something like this.
http://www.inlandaquatics.com/prod/prod_detrit.html

My snails leave a great deal of droppings on the substrate so I would like to get something (worms?) that I can place in the tank for detritus clean up.

havent read much on fuges yet. probably should but I think I have a month or so to worry to much about LHA and such.

 

[GSMguy]

i use a fuge to feed my mandarin and the cheato is fantastic for nitrate reduction htis tank has zero nuiscance algea

a detrivore kit is good just dont use sand sifting stars they will just eat all the microfauna in the aquarium
i would not worry about adding it to the tank it could only help