The Quietest Filter

[aavery]

hi everyone,
i hate to ask a stupid question but here it is:
my boyfriend and i just started our fish tank going. it lives in my room. i have sleeping problems--i can't sleep with the noise of the filter, and my ears are too sensitive for earplugs any more. there is no where in my house to move the tank (unless: is there anything wrong with putting it right beside the tv??) and i assume turning it off at night is out of the question. does anyone know if there is an especially quiet filter available? thanks for your help, my sleep appreciates it!

 

[Lateral Line]

My Eheims are virtually silent.

What kind of filter do you have, (make, technology etc.).

i assume turning it off at night is out of the question

Correct, you'll starve your bacteria of Oxygen if there is no flow through it for more then a couple of hours.

 

[tomstanks]

My Eheims are virtually silent.

What kind of filter do you have, (make, technology etc.).

i assume turning it off at night is out of the question

Correct, you'll starve your bacteria of Oxygen if there is no flow through it for more then a couple of hours.

All my RENA filters are silent. What are you using?

 

[dizzied]

I actually used to turn off one of my Aquaclears at night because it's so noisy. Never had any ill effects.

Canister filters are usually pretty quiet. It's really the power filters that can become noisy.

 

[thefirethief]

What size of tank is it for? I use a fluval 3 plus in my 30Gal. Its about 4 ft away from my bed and completely silent at night.

 

[Daz CPFC]

I have a fluvial 3 internal filter which is extremelly quiet and also have a TetraTec EX700 which is also very quiet.

I guess really it comes down to how sensitive your hearing is. Also if the filter is noisy make sure their is no air stick in it as this seems to make filters a bit noisy.

 

[aavery]

it is for a 20gal tank. i don't know the make of the filter off the top of my head, but it is a wet/dry fitler, which i heard were the most quiet. anyone hear anything different?

 

[andywg]

A true wet/dry filter will be the loudest filter there is as the water will be splashing down over the exposed media. The quietist filters I have found are Eheim cannister filters, though sound is not a great problem for me and all my tanks run on sumps and/or wet/dry filtration now.

 

[PaPeRo]

IMO motor hum and vibrations are a lot more annoying than water trickling. The water sound is actually quite soothing.

 

[rhysiboy]

i too have a tank in my room a 17 gallon and it runs a 500lph powerfilter thing and an air pump and god it is incredibly loud. i turn it off and i seem to not have any negative effects. remember my tank is at the bottom of my bed.

 

[Lateral Line]

Any biological filter bed that is depleted of Oxygen for more then a couple of hours will start to loose bacteria. If you have a large enough colony, then loosing 10% may not be an issue. Be warned, by turning a filter off overnight you are losing bacteria. Only you can determnine if it is a significant loss or not.

 

[Iron Man]

I also am a very light sleeper and have a tank in my bedroom. I've tried a lot of HOB filters and all were noisey. So I made the investment in an Eheim canister.

Besides the tank and stand itself the Eheim 2217 canister filter was the best investment I've made for my fish tanks. They are solid and silent and stay that way for years. You would not need a large model for your tank....mine is on a 55 gallon right now and that means that biologically its way overfiltered (which is how I like it).

 

[anodized]

i have a eheim 2215 in my 55G community and a 2217 for my cichlid tank. the fans in my coralife light are actually louder than the rest of the aquarium. bubbles in the water are what make noise.. the ehiems are silent