what should I do?

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nerdyrcdriver

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Sep 1, 2011
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I bought an aqueon 50 quiet flow filter either yesterday or the day before. I have the tank full now and am not impressed with the quietness of it. Others have had the same problem with it. There are 2 reasons I got that filter. one is that it says "quiet flow', the other is that I have a $10 rebate for it. The rebate requires the upc cut from the box. I dont care too much for the filter, and I have the receipt. (bought from petco). Can I return it and just pay the price difference to get an aqua clear? I might try putting some foam or something to quiet it down. If I cant get it to a good sound level, should I just return it? If I return it, is there a different filter you recommend other than aquaclear?


Thanks!
 

nerdyrcdriver

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Never mind, I just removed the "diffuser grid" from the filter and it is WAY quieter. I will be adding a sponge from an aquaclear filter to take place of it.

The point of the grid is
"remove additional toxins while adding oxygen for more active fish. It also reduces splashing and makes the return exceptionally quiet."

That second sentence is a lie from them. I dont see how it removes toxins other than by making it bubble or if it is made of some sort of material that does it. But it seems like plastic to me :) I think that an aquaclear sponge would hlep more than this thing does.
 

BettaFishMommy

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Sherry N.
big box stores are usually pretty good with their return policies, so take it back and get an aquaclear (my number one recommendation for a hob filter).
 

nerdyrcdriver

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By putting little foam spacers between the side of the filter and the tank (on the outside) I was able to reduce vibration noise. And by taking out that diffuser grid the noise went down a lot. I will put in a foam thing from an aquaclear 30 (seems like an almost direct fit). Actually, I will take the one from the 10 and put it in, and put the new one in the ac30 in the 10.

I am pleased with the noise level now. I have heard my ac30 get to the same volume before. The tv easily eliminates the sound now. So unless you are sitting there reading a book, you wont hear it much. Plus if you do, it sounds like a fountain that is meant to be a nice noise. I think I would deal with the slightly louder filter than the fuss of an aquaclear. This one will start dry really quickly and is really easy to work on. Plus I positioned the tank with this one on rather than a thicker aquaclear. So I dont know if it would even fit behind the tank. I am not going to shim the stand again to get the gap for an aquaclear.

Sorry for the pointless thread now. I guess it does show that you can quiet down an aqueon "quiet flow" filter to actually be quiet flow.
 

jm1212

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Waaaay too much work for a filter to stay quiet IMO. You might not want to to return it and are not satisfied with your purchase, but this may be a good reference for those looking at HOB's. None of my penguins have required that kind of work to be silent, and they are traditionally thought of as noisy.


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user_name

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Waaaay too much work for a filter to stay quiet IMO. You might not want to to return it and are not satisfied with your purchase, but this may be a good reference for those looking at HOB's. None of my penguins have required that kind of work to be silent, and they are traditionally thought of as noisy.


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My aquaclear is the opposite way, they are supposed to be quiet but seem extremely noisey. I may be jaded from running almost exclusively canister filters now, but the AC 70 seems much louder than people say it is.
 

BettaFishMommy

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Sherry N.
whereas i've run every aquaclear from the mini all the way up to the 110, and never had an issue with any of them being loud. there is a slight hum, but all filters make that sort of noise to varying degrees, and usually the splash of the water returning to the tank drowns out the hum. if your tank is filled right up to the underside of the filter output 'lip', then you won't have splash noise. i personally like the waterfall sounds :) and it allows for more gas exchange on my tanks, so i keep my water level down an inch or two on purpose.

an exceptionally loud hob may mean that your impeller or impeller shaft are having issues with straightness. these things do need to be aligned really well to work optimally, without any rubbing within the impeller well.
 

nerdyrcdriver

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Meh, wasnt much work. Putting a piece of foam between the filter and the outside back of the tank and taking out the pointless part of the filter and adding something that will actually do work.

There is a lot of good stores and bad stores about almost any filter. My tetra pf10 does its job. For the cost it is really quiet and does an ok job on a 10g. But I would probably put it on a 5g or add a second pf10.

My aquaclear is kind of so so with me. It does a really good job polishing the water, but is bulky, ugly, and easy to make it not work (like a piece of hair getting in it).

I am not super happy I had to do work on it, but the aqueon 50 got to a good noise level and performance level after the modifications.
 
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