Tunze Master DOC Protein Skimmer 9410.000

[iaJim]

I just installed my new Tunze Master DOC Protein Skimmer 9410.000 and there must be something wrong. It is really noisy. I have cut the air down to next to nothing, and that helped, but still, really noisy, and so far, not much bubble action. If I remove the cup, the bubbles disappear, and they won't appear until I turn it off and then back on. I get a pretty strong hum that transfers to the rest of the house. This is the reason I replaced my Octopus skimmer. I'm also getting a lot of water noise from the super strong flow through the stand pipe (the part that holds the filter sock holder). Is this normal? Do I not have enough water in there? Too much? I'm running around 7 inches of water in my sump. I'd really appreciate any suggestions on getting this quiet. I'm running 7 Tunze pumps/powerheads in my tank, and this is the only really noisy one. Thanks for suggestions!

[shawnz28]

If you cut the air off is the pump still noisy? Have you taken the pump apart to inspect the impeller?

[iaJim]

Yes, it's still noisy after cutting the air completely off. I turned it off last night so we could sleep, but I'm going to take the pump apart today to inspect it. Don't know what to look for really, but that's my plan. I suppose something could be broken inside the pump.

[iaJim]

I have it running in a bucket of saltwater right now. I have the air fully open, I get better foaming, and I don't get water running like a waterfall out the stand pipe. I also don't get water running in a steady stream out the side of the skimmer. I thought this was normal before this test, and I see now that this is a relief hole. I also see that with the air valve open the air intake in the skimmer is not underwater, and it is allowed to draw air in. These parts of the problems seem to be going away. I am still getting a lot of hum from the pump. I read of people having a break in period. Does the hum go away? I also read of silent operation, something that convinced me to buy this skimmer. That's what I'm after.

[iaJim]

Skimmer is back in the sump. I lowered the sump water level to prevent the skimmer overfilling and putting water into the air intake. That helped the noise and the waterfall. I'm running full open on the air, but I'm not getting any skimmate. Still quite a hum coming from the pump. I'll give it a while to see what happens, but there should be something pulled from the water. I have plenty of bioload. No way I'll be able to sleep with that hum though.

[iaJim]

I know I'm the only one following this post with the exception of Shawnz28, but just to update..... The skimmer is out of the sump. I have my Octopus NW-150 back in, and the noise that I wanted to get rid of seems quiet now. I have the 9410 in a bucket. It was making the waterfall again, so I decided to remove the hose from the body at the top. Now I'm getting the sort of water flow that I expected, a nice smooth flow. I have to keep the air hose open full, or it overpowers the chamber and I get the waterfall again. I'm going to put in some skimmate later when I have some and we'll see what happens then. There has to be something wrong. Should the intake on the pump be pointed back at the body of the pump? It would seem that it should be counter clockwise 90 degrees from where it is to mate up with the air intake better. Any help appreciated.

[shawnz28]

From the time I used one for a while there is a rather high flow thru on this skimmer so the water output may be normal. As for it not working yet if it has only been a few days I would not worry. Skimmers often take a few days to a week or two to break in and work as expected, leaving it in the bucket running will serve this purpose. Plastics when new repel water and over time this subsides. Pumps also often have break in and parts wear in so the noise as you are seeing should mostly go away if no defects as these are rather quite typically.

Roger will be on tomorrow and I am sure he will have more to add as he is more familiar then I with these

[iaJim]

Thanks Shawn. I know Roger will be able to explain what I need to do. I'm a bit panicked over a relatively expensive piece of equipment not working out of the box. Every skimmer I have had worked without a break in period. Thanks for your encouragement.

[iaJim]

I put some skimmate in the water, and the skimmer is skimming, but it is also going crazy. Still can't hook up the air line, had to dial back the air going into the pump, and the water in the bucket is pretty foamy. I still have a waterfall going on from the standpipe. Pump noise is about the same.

[iaJim]

I just spoke with Roger, and the problem was that the pump had the wrong needle wheel installed. Roger is sending the correct part. Gotta love the service that Roger provides!

Thanks Roger!

[rishma]

It is worth noting that you should expect to experience a break in period. I found the 9410 took a week to settle down. I suspect this is due to the very powerful pump, high air volume and small body. It will still skim when you get the right needle wheel, but wont settle down immediately.

[iaJim]

How is the sound volume on your 9410?

[rishma]

My 9410 is quiet. I am a silence nut. Noise is a primary selection criteria when I am selecting equipment.

I set the whole skimmer on a mouse pad. The pump does not hum. The air draw will make some noise, but it is not an issue when the cabinet door is closed. Depending on the water level, there can be some splashing noise from the outlet. This can be solved by a higher water level or some people have added a sponge on the outlet to break the fall.

9410 is very quiet and comparable to other quiet high $ skimmers i have used. The Tunze 9011 is probably the most quiet skimmer around, but is much less powerful.

[moondoggy4]

Good to hear everything is working out. Post back when it is working correctly to give another review.

[saltyocellaris]

I am experiencing this exact same problem with my new 9410. Did the new impeller fix the problem? I'm anxious to find out!

[shawnz28]

I have not looked at an impeller in quite a while but what color is the pinwheel and how many rows of pins does it have? If it is the wrong one this may help Roger tell and figure it out on Monday when he returns

[iaJim]

Saltyocellaris, take a look at your impeller. It should have two rows of pins on it. The original in mine had three and was nearly a quarter of an inch wider.

The skimmer is working much better now. It is still going through a break in period, so I've been waiting on that to comment on the performance. I'll dump the skimmate today for the first time.

[saltyocellaris]

Hi all,

iaJim and Shawnz28: I'll have to open up the pump again to double check the number of rows on the impeller. The impeller was definitely black, I remember that much. I have no idea what other colors Tunze may use for the Master DOCs. I'll see if I can dismantle the pump tomorrow and take a look. I'm still running it in spite of the noise since i'm trying to improve my water condition. But it can't go on much longer as the noise/hum really is unacceptable.

iaJim, did the noise level drop alot with the replacement impeller?

Thanks!

[iaJim]

Yes! Big improvement, and I'm expecting it to get even quieter. I'm having a bit of trouble dialing it in, but I did dump a bunch of really stinky skimmate this morning.

[DDRR]

Ive been running a 9410 for awhile, Ive always had to keep the airline clamped down quite a bit to keep the skimmer working well. Overall once dialed in this skimmer works great. I added a foam piece to the outlet pipe and it helps lessen the noise.

[iaJim]

Could you explain the addition of the foam piece a bit? Did you just put a piece of foam where the stream of water comes out of the skimmer body so the stream hits the foam?

[DDRR]

That's it, place the foam piece around the outlet ring and it helps with the splashing noise.

[saltyocellaris]

Looks like my unit also had the wrong needlewheel installed. Mine is black with 3 rows (or circles) of pins. Roger noted that some units were shipped with these. He directed me to the Canadian distributor (thanks Roger!) and I sent him a message. Hopefully this will be resolved soon. According to the pictures from the Tunze online catalog, the proper NW is a clear/whitish colour. This is an easy way to distinguish the 9410 NW from the 9420 NW which is the black one I have. Will let you know how things go. Its too bad its so loud and vibrating so much, cuz its actually skimming out some junk. I'm sure the proper NW will do even better though, and let my household be in peace.

[iaJim]

Just want to post a follow up to this thread. With the right impeller, and a little time for things to work through, my skimmer is now working well. I have put a rubber band around the cup/lid to stop the vibration there. I don't think that should be a requirement on a good skimmer, but I'll live with that.

As always, Roger has provided great support and has shown amazing patience. Thanks Roger.

[saltyocellaris]

Following up! Phil (the Canadian distributor) arranged for my replacement needlewheel to be shipped up via Roger as he was out of stock up here. Many thanks to both Phil and Roger for outstanding customer service!

I popped in the replacement a couple of days ago, and the skimmer is now running properly (much quieter and correct water flow). The pump is not silent,but its not much louder than my Tunze return pump, so I'm quite happy now. The cooling fans on my LEDs are louder actually. I also cut down the output pipe by about an inch so that its only about an inch above my sump water level. I'm now running the air about half open (hard to tell, just an approximation). Bottom line, I now have good control over how wet or dry I want to run it. Pulling thick junk out now very nicely!

With the water flow corrected, i am now able to run media in the post-skim sock. All in all, I'm quite liking this skimmer!