Noise!

[Fazulka]

I am currently upgrading my tank, and finally decided how I wanted to do it. The tank is pretty much a bigger version of my old one, only bigger. I took a 40 breeder, and added a separation 4" from the back wall. I divided the 4" section into 2 pieces, one 10", 2" for an bubble trap, and the rest for a refugium. I put a power head (a mag-drive 5) and a SCWD (Switching Current Water Director) in the 10" part (a heater will be in there with them).

My problem is NOISE! The SCWD works great, but is squeaks. The Mag-drive buzzes. I will never sleep again if i keep these on all night.

Is it possible to put the main pump on a timer? Keep a smaller quiet pump like koralia in the main part of the tank to circulate some water at night and only run the mag drive during the day? Or should I just purchase two smaller pumps and ditch the mag and the scwd? Here is a picture of the first water test:

And the noise makers themselves:

All the tiny bubble are from the tap water i just filled it with, about 30 minutes ago.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Jim Tansey]

Tap water, you may want to rethink that. Myself I live in a quiet area and the bedroom is silent, I could never sleep in a room with a tank, but that's me.

Jim

 

[quarrydawg]

I have found that the position of the pump can make a lot of difference in the amount of noise it puts out. It seems as though many pumps want to be vertically or horizontally positioned, no a bit of both. Other things to consider are whether or not the return line is resting on the actual tank which will amplify the buzz. It should also become quieter when you add the sand.


I run tap water, works fine for me and mine. I just let it sit overnight to let the chlorine dissipate.

 

[Fazulka]

I am just testing the tank with tap water, I do not use it for the reef. I was not sure if there would be any leaks or if the overflow was big enough. When i first added the water it was not, so i had to make room for more water to flow out of the main chamber. The tap water will be drained before anything, including sand is added.

I don't quite sleep in the same room, the tank is around the corner from our bed, but since this is a studio apartment i can't really get too isolated from it. It is near the couch, and the squeaking from the scwd is the worst part. the buzzing i could put up with, but the scwd is loud!

 

[JohnK]

Look for ways to isolate the vibration from the pump. To start, just hold it in your hand as it runs and see if a little push or pulling in different directions will quiet it down. If it does quiet down, then start trying to figure out how to get the same effect without your hand... (use rubber material, pieces of vynil tubing, material cut from an old mouse pad, or anything you can think of to isolate the vibration).

If none of that works, then you may just be hearing normal mag drive noise. Not terrible, but enough to be annoying in a lot of cases.


For the SCWD, is it new or old? IIRC they should be pretty silent?

 

[Jennifer]

Could a piece of that white fuzzy stuff (not the bubbles from what I can see) on the tank walls have gotten into the SCWD's Impeller?

Jimmy is right about the pump tho.
Also the more clogged a pumps prefilter becomes the more noise it may make.

 

[JayM]

dump the mag and put an oceanrunner or eheim pump in there.....WAY quieter

 

[delta]

dump the mag and put an oceanrunner or eheim pump in there.....WAY quieter

Great advice

 

[Dave McReeferson]

dump the mag and put an oceanrunner or eheim pump in there.....WAY quieter

Not to mention more efficient.

 

[JayM]

what Dave and Greg said

IMHO, all a mag pump is good for is mixing water change water....as a combo heater and water agitator.

 

[jrmx635]

noise

wuiet ones are super quiet and efficient too

 

[Fazulka]

Look for ways to isolate the vibration from the pump. To start, just hold it in your hand as it runs and see if a little push or pulling in different directions will quiet it down. If it does quiet down, then start trying to figure out how to get the same effect without your hand... (use rubber material, pieces of vynil tubing, material cut from an old mouse pad, or anything you can think of to isolate the vibration).

If none of that works, then you may just be hearing normal mag drive noise. Not terrible, but enough to be annoying in a lot of cases.


For the SCWD, is it new or old? IIRC they should be pretty silent?

The SCWD is new, but it seems to be the major offender now. The mag is not exactly silent, but tolerable, after running for a little while.

 

[Fazulka]

Could a piece of that white fuzzy stuff (not the bubbles from what I can see) on the tank walls have gotten into the SCWD's Impeller?

Jimmy is right about the pump tho.
Also the more clogged a pumps prefilter becomes the more noise it may make.

The fuzzy white stuff could cause the problem. When I first put the water in a found it could not flow into the back chamber fast enough, so I had to cut some plexiglass off. The pre filter on the mag seemed to have grabbed all the specks, and it was making the noise before I cut off the extra.

I have the 3/4, so i can't open it. Is there a way I could still flush out the impeller?