Quiet Filters

bigscout said:
Even with a sponge in the ouput, my AC made some noise. High end cannisters, internals, and RFUG are all silent. any hob will make some noise. of all of the Hob's the emporers, and the AC's have been the quietest for me. Penguins come in third, but are considerably noisier than the Emps and AC's. the water level is the main factor in HOb noise, so keeping a high water level will help your cause, but silence is still impossible with a filter tha cacades water back into the tank.

Waht you ahve to decide is are you after silent or just really quiet. If rally quiet is the goal an AC would work, or an emporer.

If you want silence, RFUG, internal filters or good cannisters are the only real options.
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I'm not very keen on the aqua lingo. What exactly are RFUG and HOb's?

I ordered a new part for the motor of my AC 300... if I don't notice the difference after that, I just jmight switch filters.

The noise I'm getting is kind of a grinding sound coming directly from the motor, so it's not so much a hiss or a hum but more like a stone or two being shaken in a film canister.

Is any one style of filter significantly better than the rest?
 
UGF is undergravel filter. RUGF is an undergravel filter that has been modified to work in reverse, with flow going UP through the plates beneath the gravel, so crap gets kicked up instead of sucked down and stuck beneath the plates (yuck). HOB is hang-on-back power filter. AquaClears, Whispers, and Penguin Bio-wheels fall in this category. HOT is the same thing as HOB's, it stands for hang-on-tank.

the grinding noise sounds to me like the impeller is not properly seated. That's the thing with blades and a magnet that rotates. I've had that happen to me, but I can't remember if suction was affected, I don't think it was. Anyway, try taking the U-shaped intake tube off and move the impeller around in its seat (unplug the filter first!). Then replace the intake tube and turn it back on. More often that not, that has solved any problems of noise with my power filters.
 
What exactly do you mean as noise? Noise as in the mechanical sounds or water noise?

I will admit, I've only used Topfin and Penquin filters (fairly new at this, got my first fishie a year ago, learning a lot from reading books, magazines and from here!), but the only noise I get from my Penquins is the water falling off the Bio-Wheels.

Little off-putting at first, filled the tanks a little higher, that helped. But now it's just a backround noise, don't hear it (sorta like road/traffic noise; after awhile it just goes away...)

Only mechanical noise I get is when the impellers aren't fully seated in the filter or when an impeller goes **** up (as did one of the Topfins)

I'm happy with my Penquins. Running 350's on my 29 gallon tanks, a 200 on my 20. Way over rated as for the water flow, but as others have said, can't get too much filterage! Running a Topfin 30 (rated for a 30 gallon tank on my 10 gallon) with the new mystery snails and ghost shrinp (again too much filter can't be bad)

Sorry too have rambled on, not sure if I helped any....

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
aardvark1 said:
What exactly do you mean as noise? Noise as in the mechanical sounds or water noise?

I will admit, I've only used Topfin and Penquin filters (fairly new at this, got my first fishie a year ago, learning a lot from reading books, magazines and from here!), but the only noise I get from my Penquins is the water falling off the Bio-Wheels.

Little off-putting at first, filled the tanks a little higher, that helped. But now it's just a backround noise, don't hear it (sorta like road/traffic noise; after awhile it just goes away...)

Only mechanical noise I get is when the impellers aren't fully seated in the filter or when an impeller goes **** up (as did one of the Topfins)

I'm happy with my Penquins. Running 350's on my 29 gallon tanks, a 200 on my 20. Way over rated as for the water flow, but as others have said, can't get too much filterage! Running a Topfin 30 (rated for a 30 gallon tank on my 10 gallon) with the new mystery snails and ghost shrinp (again too much filter can't be bad)

Sorry too have rambled on, not sure if I helped any....

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
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It's definitely a mechanical noise. I have had the filter for about 3 years now and I didn't hear this until just a few months ago.

plah pretty much nailed it. I took the whole thing apart and tried fixing the impeller... no luck.

I had one ordered at my lfs, so next Thursday I'll get to see if indeed that was the problem. Thanks a lot for the help, everyone.
 
tks4d2 said:
The new AC filters should be fine. I got a 50 in my bedroom and i can barely hear it. If quiets your main thing then get a whisper by tetra.
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My Whisper 60 is noiser than all three of my AC'c put together.
 
Midas-n-Titus said:
plah pretty much nailed it. I took the whole thing apart and tried fixing the impeller... no luck.
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Those "marine biology mechanical engineering" students are something else!

:cool: :clap: :dance2:
 
I'll have to go with Aquaclear as well. Mine are all very quiet. I have an XP3 that is fairly quiet, but its weak. As far as HOB goes, get the AC, its the best bang for the buck by far IMO.
 
Rallysman said:
I'll have to go with Aquaclear as well. Mine are all very quiet. I have an XP3 that is fairly quiet, but its weak. As far as HOB goes, get the AC, its the best bang for the buck by far IMO.
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My dilemma is that I already have an AC. I either just have to get a new one or fix the one I already have. I'll let you guys know if changing out the impeller worked or not once I get it.
 
Ok, I decided just the other day to completely replace my old AC300 with a brand new one... I forgot just how quiet they really are.

My impeller was absolutely aweful, but decided to go all out. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
 
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