Reefs.org Forums

[behruz]

I am a long time reefer (>20 years) but new to this forum. Sadly due to a micro leak which I was not able to find, I had to take down my 120G 10 year old tank... Since the constant vibration noise and other water noise from the tank drove my wife up the wall in our small apartment (and lack of time on my part), I have decide to build a smaller (~50 to 60 G) SUPER quite tank. my current thinking is no fan and no chiller of any kind. Since I live in San Francisco, I am sure with LED lighting and an open top setup I will not have any heat problems at all. I am leaning toward a Elos 70 tank with 2 e-lite (plus additional blue add-on when it becomes available at the end of the year). the rest, is basically all undecided yet.

I would appreciate advice on total soundproofing the Elos cabinet (what material to use for sound and vibration reduction) as well as suggestion for the protine skimmer and return pumps and other sound proofing techniques. The choice of type of coral and fish will be dectaited by the setup and not the other way around.

thank you in advance
Behruz...

[oldtank]

Go skimmerless and without a sump. Keep everthing in the display tank and you will have very little noise.

[khuck2002]

My system is very quiet, I have a sump in the rear of the tank. The only time when I hear the tank at all is when the fan comes on but thats only when my MH comes on. by the way its a 100g my 90 g on the other hand has a flulaval and it is quite noisey.

[Saltlick]

I think there is a reef in Florida that you can't hear in your house. That seems like the only way
to have a quiet reef in an apartment, is remotely. But like they said, if you never splash water
OUT of your tank, it should be just quiet enough for the perfect amount of background white
noise. But once you overflow and pump back, man, that's some noise.

[wetworx101]

I too once saw a totally silent sump as impossible, but I did it (in an apartment).

Main Tank:125g
Sump:40L

In Tank Flow: Tunze Streams (these were the loudest thing on the whole tank, which says alot).
Sump return: Eheim 1250 on silicone airline feet (floss the silicone airline through the holes in the pump's feet so it sits on the silicone lines)... low flow through the overflow helps with noise.
Overflow: No teeth, rounded backside for the top edge on the overflow for no splashing/noise. The Herbie or dual standpipe method is used for the overflow here and makes for a silent overflow.
Skimmer: ATB Medium w/ eheim 1262, on rubber feet with a silencer on the intake. An in-sump skimmer means that the pump and most of the noise is buried underwater. This pump is one of the quietest around next to the Askoll/Laguna based skimmer pumps. The pump doesnt cause the skimmer to vibrate because it is attached to the skimmer body with a piece of silicone hose/pipe. The air intake is silenced with a muffler and air baffle system.

There, those things should help you go in the right direction. Its easily possible to have a silent overflow, skimmer, etc... you just have to plan ahead.