well, it began as an aquaclear caper, but alas.
i wanted a penguin. REALLY wanted a penguin. the 100b. but as my luck tends to have it, they were out of stock. so i bought the AC @ the lfs, decided i couldn't endure the grinding noises it was making (i'm assuming it was defective?), took it back. lfs dude told me it WAS defective, suggested i take the penguin 100b instead (new shipment arrived that day). so i did. brought it home, set it up, and THAT one started making awful, coffee-grinder style noises. not quite as awful as the noises coming from the aquaclear, but definitely enough to make you not want to be in the room with it. i might have been inclined to think that this noise was normal, but my know-it-all boyfriend has a 125 and a 150 and insists that the only noise a penguin should make is the water trickle. he even put the 150 on my tank next to my noisy 100b to prove his point... silent but for the pretty water sound. the next hour, spent impeller-jiggling, did no good for the cause.
i took the penguin back to the lfs, where lfs dude #2 assured me that the only noise the filter should make is the water trickle. he then took it downstairs into the fish room where countless filters were running, plugged it in, and insisted that it wasn't making any abnormal noises.
know-it-all boyfriend put his ear up to the filter, insisting he could still hear it. lfs dude asked what other filters know-it-all has, and then insisted that you could not compare the sound output of the 100 to the 125 or 150, that the filter DOES have a bit of a sound to it (refuting what he had told us upstairs).
so, i guess my question is... do the penguin 100s really make that much noise? or do i need to go kick this lfs guy in the shins? does anyone else have the 100 and another penguin? are the noise levels comparable?
we're thinking about buying another one from petsmart just to compare the two, and if it's silent, we want to take them both back to the lfs and do the side by side test (upstairs this time.. in the quiet part of the shop).
i wanted a penguin. REALLY wanted a penguin. the 100b. but as my luck tends to have it, they were out of stock. so i bought the AC @ the lfs, decided i couldn't endure the grinding noises it was making (i'm assuming it was defective?), took it back. lfs dude told me it WAS defective, suggested i take the penguin 100b instead (new shipment arrived that day). so i did. brought it home, set it up, and THAT one started making awful, coffee-grinder style noises. not quite as awful as the noises coming from the aquaclear, but definitely enough to make you not want to be in the room with it. i might have been inclined to think that this noise was normal, but my know-it-all boyfriend has a 125 and a 150 and insists that the only noise a penguin should make is the water trickle. he even put the 150 on my tank next to my noisy 100b to prove his point... silent but for the pretty water sound. the next hour, spent impeller-jiggling, did no good for the cause.
i took the penguin back to the lfs, where lfs dude #2 assured me that the only noise the filter should make is the water trickle. he then took it downstairs into the fish room where countless filters were running, plugged it in, and insisted that it wasn't making any abnormal noises.
know-it-all boyfriend put his ear up to the filter, insisting he could still hear it. lfs dude asked what other filters know-it-all has, and then insisted that you could not compare the sound output of the 100 to the 125 or 150, that the filter DOES have a bit of a sound to it (refuting what he had told us upstairs).
so, i guess my question is... do the penguin 100s really make that much noise? or do i need to go kick this lfs guy in the shins? does anyone else have the 100 and another penguin? are the noise levels comparable?
we're thinking about buying another one from petsmart just to compare the two, and if it's silent, we want to take them both back to the lfs and do the side by side test (upstairs this time.. in the quiet part of the shop).
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