Let me start by saying that I've relied heavily on people's posts while starting this hobby. My tank has finished its first cycle and is purring along in my living room with many happy inhabitants.
I'm sure many of the tips I've learned through trial and error or have read elsewhere are posted deep within the threads on this site, but I figured I would help out any newbies such as myself that might stumble upon this thread.
First, I had no idea how loud a saltwater tank with an overflow and a sump could be. Once I set it up and turned on the panworld pump that I bought ( i was told it was quiet), I immediately thought that the tank could not stay in the living room. However, in the living room is where I wanted. I didn't want it tucked away in a basement. So here are some things I've learned:
An in pump sump with the flexible tubing for the return plumbing is key. I purchased a tunze, and couldn't be more happier with it. There was some vibration noise from the pump, even though it rests on 4 suction cups, but the vibration was fixed by a $3 mouse pad placed under the pump. I also use a mouse pad under my Reef Octopus NW 150 protein skimmer (which is exceptionally quiet).
The other extremely loud contraption on this tank was the overflow. To quiet this monster, I built a durso standpipe. They are cheap to construct and easy to adjust. Of course, I had to deal with the flushing phenomenon, as my return pipe to the sump was too far under water. Once I read that the pipe should be no more than 1 inch under, and I made the adjustment, the burping went away. You could also place a T fitting in the return, just above the water level to eliminate the burping, or cut a small hole in the return tube just above the water level. Then I was left with a low slurping noise from the cap of the durso (from where I had drilled many small holes). This couldn't do, so I switched to one large hole, 1/4". This was even worse. So I then inserted a piece of 1/4" diameter tube, about 3/4" long. This muffled the slurping noise, but introduced a faint whistle-like noise. This bothered me also. I needed SILENCE, so I replaced the 3/4" piece of tube with a 1' piece, with the idea of bending it behind the tank. This completely eliminated the noise but also the air flow, brining back the dreaded rise and fall and eventual slurp within the overflow. To overcome this, while also hiding the tubing, I drilled 3, 1/4" holes in the side of the durso cap, and placed 6" long ,1/4" tube out of each hole. This eliminated all noise from the overflow, except for a slight, slight trickle from the water flowing from the tank into the overflow. You can angle the durso slightly away from the overflow wall to eliminate the lapping sounds of air getting stuck against the side of the durso as well.
I'm sure many of the tips I've learned through trial and error or have read elsewhere are posted deep within the threads on this site, but I figured I would help out any newbies such as myself that might stumble upon this thread.
First, I had no idea how loud a saltwater tank with an overflow and a sump could be. Once I set it up and turned on the panworld pump that I bought ( i was told it was quiet), I immediately thought that the tank could not stay in the living room. However, in the living room is where I wanted. I didn't want it tucked away in a basement. So here are some things I've learned:
An in pump sump with the flexible tubing for the return plumbing is key. I purchased a tunze, and couldn't be more happier with it. There was some vibration noise from the pump, even though it rests on 4 suction cups, but the vibration was fixed by a $3 mouse pad placed under the pump. I also use a mouse pad under my Reef Octopus NW 150 protein skimmer (which is exceptionally quiet).
The other extremely loud contraption on this tank was the overflow. To quiet this monster, I built a durso standpipe. They are cheap to construct and easy to adjust. Of course, I had to deal with the flushing phenomenon, as my return pipe to the sump was too far under water. Once I read that the pipe should be no more than 1 inch under, and I made the adjustment, the burping went away. You could also place a T fitting in the return, just above the water level to eliminate the burping, or cut a small hole in the return tube just above the water level. Then I was left with a low slurping noise from the cap of the durso (from where I had drilled many small holes). This couldn't do, so I switched to one large hole, 1/4". This was even worse. So I then inserted a piece of 1/4" diameter tube, about 3/4" long. This muffled the slurping noise, but introduced a faint whistle-like noise. This bothered me also. I needed SILENCE, so I replaced the 3/4" piece of tube with a 1' piece, with the idea of bending it behind the tank. This completely eliminated the noise but also the air flow, brining back the dreaded rise and fall and eventual slurp within the overflow. To overcome this, while also hiding the tubing, I drilled 3, 1/4" holes in the side of the durso cap, and placed 6" long ,1/4" tube out of each hole. This eliminated all noise from the overflow, except for a slight, slight trickle from the water flowing from the tank into the overflow. You can angle the durso slightly away from the overflow wall to eliminate the lapping sounds of air getting stuck against the side of the durso as well.
