Have you spent time setting up the QUIETEST reef possible? Tell us about your setup!

[kelp47]

Did you spend lots of time researching and testing equipment to find the quietest components for your system? Have you taken other measures to silence your tank? Tell us about your setup. List your equipment and tell us anything else you have done to create a beautiful reef without the noise.

[Epicreefer]

The biggest noise of the tank is usually the overflow. Going with a multiple pipe overflow where one is a siphon, like the beananimal can greatly cut down on noise. Also try to reduce the waterfall effect that can be caused by things like the overflow having too much of a drop or baffled sections in the sump at dramatically different heights, basicaly try to prevent falling water or excess bubbling. Other than that pump and skimmer noise. Do a lot of research here. As a general trend more expensive equipment lasts longer and is better quality but it's not always quiet. I have found reeflo to be fairly quiet pumps, quiet one pumps to be quite chattery(some of these were euro pumps running on an inverter but some were us voltage pumps). Many external pumps are a bit more noisy than submersible because the water can buffer some sound but some are dead silent. If you manage the overflows and water noise then it's quite possible to have a tank that just humms a bit from the pumps in a quiet room.

[mcgyvr]

coast to coast overflow + bean animal + reeflo blowhole 1450 = DEAD Silent.. I'm sitting here 2 feet away and can't here a darn thing. (close to 4000GPH of total flow including powerheads)
Foam insulation on the inside of the stand/sump tank/fuge walls,etc.. is amazingly quiet and energy saving
My wife is REALLY impressed how quiet this tank is compared to my last one.

[James77]

Silence is #1 priority with myself. I used to have loud tanks with fans buzzing and water gurgling, and actually liked it

I now use a siphon overflow, BeanAnimals design is the best IMO. My circulation pumps are Tunzes, which I have found are as close to dead silent as possible. At 100% they can be faintly heard a couple feet away. My return is a Laguna 1500, same exact pump as the ATB FlowStar 1500....but without a stand and $165 cheaper. My fans if needed are Noctua NFP12s. The skimmer i use is a SRO 2000, and I cannot hear it much out of the stand, though it is audible. A ceiling fan would make similar noise.

Every single local hobbyist that has seen my tank immediately comments on its silence.

[autodave]

I am on the same page as Jim,
BeanAnimal drain, Tunze powerheads, ATB Flowstar return pump, Noctua fans, SWC 160 skimmer

[kelp47]

This is exactly the kind of information I am looking for. Thanks, and keep 'em coming.

[TOM BLEVINS]

Mine seems to be the Reeflo Hammerhead return and the waterfall in my sump, Also multiple tunzes powerheads.

FYI - the hammerhead is 18' from my tank and runs my chiller and my Calcium
reactor as well.

[E.intheC]

Since doing some routine maintenance on my tank yesterday, my overflow and sump plumbing have become extremely loud. You can easily hear it throughout the first floor, and at times I mistake it for the dishwasher running.

It's now my obsession to create a silent tank. I'm looking at implementing the bean animal overflow, although the tank is already up and running, and plumbing is one of my least favorite tank-related tasks.. Any suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated.

Tunzes are very quiet pumps, and I'm going to replace one of my MP10s with a Tunze 6025 for a bit and see how the flow is. My return pump is a Tunze silence model. It's very quiet.

[meegwell]

Originally Posted by E.intheC

Since doing some routine maintenance on my tank yesterday, my overflow and sump plumbing have become extremely loud. You can easily hear it throughout the first floor, and at times I mistake it for the dishwasher running.

It's now my obsession to create a silent tank. I'm looking at implementing the bean animal overflow, although the tank is already up and running, and plumbing is one of my least favorite tank-related tasks.. Any suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated.

+1 on the BeanAnimal. That part of my tank is silent...its that dang Mag7 return that is perfectly described as "rattle and hum"....will be replacing it.

E.intheC - as far as converting to Bean Animal, it depends on what your current setup (particularly the holes drilled) is. Head over to the Do it Yourself forum and find the thread "silent and failsafe overflow"...it usually resides on the first few pages because its always active. Its a long thread but you can start by searching for terms related to your current setup like "two holes" or "bottom drilled" or "converting from"....there is extensive feedback and instruction on converting all types of systems.

[swcc]

Tunze products... return pumps and circulation are as quiet as it can get... red dragon run skimmer = silence.. skimmer wise....sedra's(ecoplus as well as it is the same pump) with good impeller assemblies and Tunze skimmer pumps very quiet...sicce pumps pretty quiet... eheim skimmer pumps also super quiet... as far as overflow, no sound from the durso that came with my tank but experiences vary.

[sirreal63]

I also insist on a quiet tank, it has taken years to find the right equipment and some modification of equipment to make it quiet. I run a glass-holes overflow, which wasn't quiet enough for me so I made a baggie baffle to silence it. I have no fans on the tank, Tunze for flow and the loudest pump I have is a Sedra ksp5000 on the skimmer, I can only hear it when the stand is open.

Everyone has different opinions of quiet or silent. We keep our house quiet, our neighborhood is quiet, so any sound from the tank is unacceptable. I could never have a Vortech, the sound would drive me crazy and I have never seen one that was quiet. If your house has a lot of sound in it, kids, animals, traffic noise or other white noise then your tank would probably blend in and you won't have the same need for a quiet system that some of us do. It is a matter of what is acceptable to you.

[KafudaFish]

You never realize how loud a tank can be until you take it down and hear nothing.

[kmu]

To me a quiet reef means a quiet skimmer, haven't found anything close to the vertex alpha cone, mine doesn't even make a single noise at all..

[E.intheC]

Originally Posted by meegwell

+1 on the BeanAnimal. That part of my tank is silent...its that dang Mag7 return that is perfectly described as "rattle and hum"....will be replacing it.

E.intheC - as far as converting to Bean Animal, it depends on what your current setup (particularly the holes drilled) is. Head over to the Do it Yourself forum and find the thread "silent and failsafe overflow"...it usually resides on the first few pages because its always active. Its a long thread but you can start by searching for terms related to your current setup like "two holes" or "bottom drilled" or "converting from"....there is extensive feedback and instruction on converting all types of systems.

Thanks for the help. I'll post in the DIY forum so I don't distract further.

More on point.... I've found it helps to put my return and skimmer pump on rubber or silicone so it absorbs vibrations. Also, some MP10s/40s are definitely louder than others. If your pumps arent pretty quiet, I would suggest investigating the cause further. They won't be as quiet as Tunzes, but they should be pretty close.

I've owned many skimmers in the past, and will say, without doubt, the i-Tech 100 (Tunze hydrofoamer) was the most quiet. My Warner Marine skimmer is also quiet.

[solitude127]

I switched to an askol based skimmer pump and it makes a world of difference.

[WDGLEAVES]

[QUOTE=sirreal63;20926231]I also insist on a quiet tank, it has taken years to find the right equipment and some modification of equipment to make it quiet. I run a glass-holes overflow, which wasn't quiet enough for me so I made a baggie baffle to silence it.


What are the baggie baffles? I have that overflow and it's too loud.

[gaubow22]

2 controllable 6055 tunze streams, razor led lights where the fan has NEVER come on, bean overflow... all plumbed 13 feet down to the basement. Silent.

I had this same tank in a separate room in my house until about 3 years ago. I realized that I never went in that room so it seemed like a waste to maintain it. I knew when I move it to the TV room that IT MUST BE SILENT... and it is.

[bugs713]

I used Spa-Flex PVC on the pumps all intake and return lines to further reduce water noise and back pressure noise from the pumps.

I use a Reeflo Snapper for the return and an Iwaki MD40 for the closed loop pump; both pumps are screwed into anti-vibration pads sold by BRS.

The floor under the stand which the pumps and sump sit on in 1" foam insulation board and that is covered with Dynamat (Used in car audio installation)

The stand is temporally covered with 1" foam insulation with one side covered in aluminum (Comes this way from Homedepo) When I finally skin the stand with wood, I will use acoustic tiles on the inside to further keep it all quiet.

My tank is 38" tall and first tried two Durso returns which were violently noisy! I changed to a modified Hearbie and that is dead silent.

This tank sits 3' from my bed, so quiet was the plan from the beginning.
I run the above two pumps and two MP40's 24/7 and all I hear is the quiet pulse of the MP's. I've achieved an incredible amount of with very low noise, I'm happy!

It is easier to plan and build a quiet tank than trying to quiet a loud tank!

My build thread has a ton of pics: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2139179

Good luck!
[IMG]http://i47.*******.com/2chb9yw.jpg[/IMG]

[sirreal63]

Originally Posted by WDGLEAVES

What are the baggie baffles? I have that overflow and it's too loud.

It is just a Baggie cut down to the width of the GH overflow and attached to the top of the teeth so it wont restrict flow. The baggie directs the water straight down and prevents it from splashing. This is an old trick that has been used by many people over the years, it is simple and effective. I am not able to snap a pic at the moment but will try and get you one tomorrow evening when I get back home.

[E.intheC]

Originally Posted by sirreal63

It is just a Baggie cut down to the width of the GH overflow and attached to the top of the teeth so it wont restrict flow. The baggie directs the water straight down and prevents it from splashing. This is an old trick that has been used by many people over the years, it is simple and effective. I am not able to snap a pic at the moment but will try and get you one tomorrow evening when I get back home.

I think these baggies are connected with zip-ties usually, right? Good idea, thanks for the reminder.

[sirreal63]

You probably could, but I just used a fw small drops of super glue, easily removed if needed. With the GH overflow, it is important to not obstruct any of the teeth, there really aren't that many and any obstruction would limit flow.

[kelp47]

Originally Posted by kmu

To me a quiet reef means a quiet skimmer, haven't found anything close to the vertex alpha cone, mine doesn't even make a single noise at all..

How are these to set up and maintain? ... just saw a good deal on one.

[BigCity]

Great timing on the thread, I am about to start building a ~300g setup and have been researching equipment and setups to quiet the system compared to my 120g. Plan on using hte bean animal overflow and Tunze pumps for internal flow. I have dual MP40's on my 120 and they are not all that quite to me, so going to try the tunze on my next setup.

[bdw3031]

I use a reeflo barracuda, bean animal overflow and tunze powerheads it is extremely quiet. The only noise I have is my deltec protein skimmer.

[TomNeely]

Originally Posted by kafudafish

you never realize how loud a tank can be until you take it down and hear nothing.

agree!