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reef_aholic
04/13/2015, 06:04 PM
Hi, I took a sound reading with my phone with an app that measures decimals. My tank, from 10 feet away on the couch, measures 48 decibels. It is a 120 G. Just curious as to what everyones measures??

snorvich
04/13/2015, 06:06 PM
All my stuff is in the basement for both tanks which are on the first floor. If they were not silent, I would be divorced.

reef_aholic
04/13/2015, 06:21 PM
My tank is in basement already, all plumbing under stand, when I have the tv on, it is around 60 decibels.<a href="http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/reef_aholic/media/IMG_0122_zpsevjq5rtx.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j387/reef_aholic/IMG_0122_zpsevjq5rtx.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_0122_zpsevjq5rtx.jpg"/></a>

Sorry for poor phone picture.

Indymann99
04/13/2015, 06:31 PM
Herbie drain system, full siphon quiet

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/05DC42B0-8FF2-4A86-B1F5-92F7C574F366_zps6sris7cw.png (http://s300.photobucket.com/user/Indymann99/media/05DC42B0-8FF2-4A86-B1F5-92F7C574F366_zps6sris7cw.png.html)

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/Basement52009.jpg (http://s300.photobucket.com/user/Indymann99/media/Basement52009.jpg.html)

whiteshark
04/13/2015, 06:52 PM
Everything is louder than the tank so I can't measure it. For all intents and purposes silent.

kmbyrnes
04/13/2015, 07:11 PM
I have 2 tanks, 125 and 100, less than 10 feet from my easy chair. SILENT.
However, the HOB filter for the QT is 3 feet away and I can sometimes hear that.

reef_aholic
04/13/2015, 07:18 PM
I unplugged my ventilation fan under the stand, and it is silent too, i have a durso overflow, cant hear it at all.

whiteshark
04/13/2015, 07:18 PM
I have 2 tanks, 125 and 100, less than 10 feet from my easy chair. SILENT.
However, the HOB filter for the QT is 3 feet away and I can sometimes hear that.

Same here. I have the tank just about within reaching distance behind my chair. I can't hear the tank over the fridge. Granted the kitchen and living room aren't separated by a wall, but the tank is much much closer.

Out of curiosity I tried the decibel meter. From about 10 feet and as far away from the fridge as possible I got an average of about 37 decibels. I'm not 100% sure there was no fridge interference, but I am sure the 3 Vortechs contribute 90% of the noise coming from the tank.

jonwright
04/13/2015, 07:29 PM
I have a loud reeflo pump. It's about 70 decibels but it's a constant whine. Noticable but rather blends in with ambient noise in the house. In kitchen so it's no big deal.

kendrid
04/13/2015, 07:32 PM
Silent. I have two Jebao RW-8s, Aquamaxx EM200, Eheim 1260 and all are quiet. I also run a herbie drain.

Kies1
04/13/2015, 08:49 PM
Mine runs 45 decibels. A little louder when the mp10 winds up

eddiereefs
04/13/2015, 09:34 PM
Mines at 40 too, thats pretty much the standard i guess.

DexterOne
04/13/2015, 09:57 PM
With a water trickle over the internal overflow box, 40db.

Around 35db when I raise the water level in the overflow box so you don't hear the water falling in the overflow...

All at 5 feet from the tank.

DasCamel
04/14/2015, 12:11 AM
39-40 from the couch, about 5-7 ft away. This is w/o messing anything before going to sleep. I need to,clean one of the WP-40, annoying noise.

smedlin
04/14/2015, 04:54 AM
If they were not silent, I would be divorced.

Same, which is why all my pumps are internal.

More heat, but less noise.

Toby_Kourtney
04/14/2015, 05:01 AM
My 125 gallon with a herbie overflow measures 30-35 decibels 5 ft away.

magikarptrainer
04/14/2015, 05:22 AM
Mp40s are seriously loud powerheads. Everything else is ok. Measued my tank at 40-45db, but it can be heard pretty far away

Would have went with Tunze's if i knew what i know now about vortechs.

myram
04/14/2015, 05:26 AM
I unplugged my ventilation fan under the stand, and it is silent too, i have a durso overflow, cant hear it at all.

Share your secret for a "silent durso".

toothybugs
04/14/2015, 05:28 AM
I haven't taken a decibel reading but all I hear is my skimmer and a very mild waterfall from the overflow. You have to be within 10 feet and not have the TV on to hear it. Frankly I kind of like the faint gurgling/ churning sound, it's kind of relaxing. Otherwise the tank is silent - have to put my ear up to the glass to hear the pumps at all.

Dmorty217
04/14/2015, 06:40 AM
My QT tank is loud to say the least, sits in the other room and sound like a garden hose is filling a bucket from about 8ft up... Just got the decibel meter app so we will see what it says when I get home. I quickly threw the PVC together so there are some things I can do to quite the tank some.

Roccus
04/14/2015, 07:30 AM
I have 3 tanks... 2 down stairs 1 up stairs.. the only one you actually hear is the soft, muffled gurgle of the overflow on 75G in the foyer ( the sump and skimmer are in the basement)... and like any other "background " noise... we don't even hear it... we had guests over the Easter holiday... they slept in the room above it and never mentioned it.. so I guess it's not TOO loud..now the blue...."moon" shadows are ..I was told.... creepy...

SparkyTuna
04/14/2015, 07:36 AM
I dont hear my tank at all. I sit about 8 feet from my tank when on my pc. Only exception is when my ato kicks on.

Raoul5Duke
04/14/2015, 07:45 AM
I measure 55-60 decibels using the Decibel 10th app on my Iphone. That is with the blower on the hot water heater running which is louder than any piece of equipment on my tank. I recently added some soundproofing material to the access panels on my in wall 360 DT and it unfortunately showed no improvement. I guess most of the sound comes through the acrylic tank but considering I have 3 MP60s, 2 mp10s an MP4, a reeflo dart and 2 sicce pumps on my skimmer going I think its reasonable.

LeakyZ
04/14/2015, 08:16 AM
I too would be divorced if tank was loud. 150 in wall, I spent hours upon hours adjusting flows and tweaking lines to make it silent. Added 2" rigid insulation to wall as well. If it's pindrop silent in the room, I can almost hear the water entering the sump!

jacksonpt
04/14/2015, 08:19 AM
About the same volume as my TV at evening listening volume (when kids are in bed). So reasonably quiet, but not as quiet as I think it should be. Vortechs are the loudest part, followed by my drain lines.

elFloyd
04/14/2015, 08:23 AM
Using the same app I am at 65 db. 180g in a 11'x11' office. External skimmer, durso, and LED fans each contribute a little.

Thanks for posting this thread... Now I know my noise reduction goal.

myram
04/14/2015, 11:08 AM
Having my sump in the basement makes the tank very quiet, 2 - MP10 are silent, only noise I get is the water falling in the Durso standpipe. If/when I fix that..........my tank will be completely silent.

reef_aholic
04/14/2015, 04:58 PM
Share your secret for a "silent durso".


1" stand pipes, gate valve on bottom before entering filter sock. The top of standpipe has a 3/8" hole drilled, with a hose that i run from the top down to the bottom of the rear of tank. On the end of that hose, i have a makeshift air silencer out of a pop bottle, similar to silencer on skimmer.

BleuFish
04/14/2015, 05:47 PM
My bedroom tank ranges from 60 db to about 43 from a few feet away after the reef octo bh-2000 skimmer goes off after 5pm, then a few db's lower after the led lights and fans go out and the rw-8 goes to night mode.

If I put my phone right next to the skimmer it goes up to 80 db, probably going to put some foam pillows around soon.

snorvich
04/14/2015, 06:07 PM
Same, which is why all my pumps are internal.

More heat, but less noise.

Yes, however I find my heaters rarely kick on.

smedlin
04/14/2015, 06:25 PM
Yes, however I find my heaters rarely kick on.


I umm.. yea.... i took out my heater a long time ago.

myram
04/15/2015, 04:27 AM
1" stand pipes, gate valve on bottom before entering filter sock. The top of standpipe has a 3/8" hole drilled, with a hose that i run from the top down to the bottom of the rear of tank. On the end of that hose, i have a makeshift air silencer out of a pop bottle, similar to silencer on skimmer.

Any pictures?

Dmorty217
04/15/2015, 08:05 AM
I'm at 66 db according to the app but if I go in a quiet room I can't get it below 50db so I think the app is so so as far as accuracy goes which is expected. I personally like hearing a little noise from my tanks

ReefsandGeeks
04/15/2015, 08:18 AM
you'd be suprised how hard it is to get below 40 dB. The scale is not linear at all for those not aware. 20 dB is like the ticking of a watch, 100dB is a loud rock concert. 5 ticking watches doesn't come close t o a rock concert. A quiet room where I'm at (city, but dosn't seem loud) is 45dB. A few feet away from my tank is 50dB. Casual talking is 60-65 depending on the size of the room and echo.

Because of the scale, it's hard to realy say my tank is loud or quiet because the differance on the dB scale between a pretty quiet tank vs a louder tank would likely be no more than the normal noise variances in our houses. I think the best way to describe would be like this: I don't notice my tank sound unless I'm right next to it, but when I unplug my skimmer I can tell there's a bit of an erry silence. Can't tell if my PH is on or not.

myram
04/15/2015, 07:17 PM
1" stand pipes, gate valve on bottom before entering filter sock. The top of standpipe has a 3/8" hole drilled, with a hose that i run from the top down to the bottom of the rear of tank. On the end of that hose, i have a makeshift air silencer out of a pop bottle, similar to silencer on skimmer.

I have 1-1/4" standpipe. I have tried a small air hole, then made it bigger and bigger. I have tried feeding air line down into the stand pipe with different sizes.

My latest idea is to make cuts in the standpipe and insert small baffles into them, that will break the fall of the water, and should quiet it down. Might make that up this weekend with the extra parts I have laying around.