Turning Filter Off At Night

[Lockhaart]

I posted yesterday about my Fluval U2 being noisy, I took it back and swapped it, but this one does it too so it must meant to make that noise, but I cant sleep with it. So I'm planning on turning the filter off at night, would this hurt the fish at all?

 

[CezzaXV]

Yes, it would. Fish rest but they don't really sleep, and they are always producing ammonia. Your filter will likely deal with it when you turn it back on, but it will likely shorten your fishes' lifespan if it doesn't make them ill.

I've had a Fluval 205 and 305 and I've not had a problem with noise, and it's about 2 feet from my bed.

If the noise is absolutely intolerable and it is something to do with the model rather than the individual filter, I'd get a different type. If you can get an external you can always shut it in the cupboard underneath your tank (if you have one).

 

[LucyB]

Maybe there is air trapped in it, tip the filter upside down (in the water) and wiggle it, see if any bubbles come out.

 

[TRAGICTRAMP]

have you got the u2 fully submerged or using the venturi to add air? , i have got the u2/u3 filters spare but when i did run them they were silent, well if not using the venturi, i would also say that your dicing with death if you were to turn it off every night, the bacteria is not being supplied new supplements and surely would suffer and struggle to keep up with removing the ammonia/nitrate/nitrite.

 

[Lockhaart]

I had a U2 for about a year and a half, and the motor packed in the other day so I had to go buy a new one, that one was silent and I thought I'd get the same so as I thought it'd be the same, but it rattled, and was frustrating. So changed it like I said but this ones the same if not a bit louder. I asked the woman in the shop about the Elite Stingray as it said it was quiet and i checked on my phone and reviews said it was quiet, but she said thet weren't as good as the fluval, so I got the same one again hoping it turned out the other one was faulty. I've no room for an external one unfortunately.

It's fully submerged, without the venturi on, I've turned it upside down and got the air bubbles out, and I've pulled out and cleaned the propeller. the insides all as it should be too, I've no idea what to do next

 

[TRAGICTRAMP]

the stingrays are crap, what about trying a u3 or the impeller from your failed u2?

 

[Wills]

Turning it off is not a great option as explained above. I had this problem a few years ago when I got a tank in my room, I kind of got used to it but know its really annoying for a while. How tight is the lid on the tank? Just wondering if you could cover any gaps sound is getting out?

Or could you cover the tank with something over night? Like a blanket to try and dull the noise?

Wills

 

[Lockhaart]

I left it on last night, it seemed to have calmed down a bit, I had to throw the old one away, the propeller and the magnet thing inside had broke so couldn't use it. I may try covering it, the tank is in a space that I have to force down the lid to fit it's so tight, but the back sticks up a bit.

I pulled it out of the holder last night and when it was in the middle of the water, it didn't make a noise, so maybe it's something vibrating. I tried the new holder (i was using the same holder as the old one) and it does the same. I'm sure I'll get used to it, maybe the old one did the noise at the beginning, but as it's got older made less noise and just cos this is a new one I'm noticing it now. Who knows! i appreciate all the replies though

 

[cswim]

I had a U2 for about a year and a half, and the motor packed in the other day so I had to go buy a new one, that one was silent and I thought I'd get the same so as I thought it'd be the same, but it rattled, and was frustrating. So changed it like I said but this ones the same if not a bit louder. I asked the woman in the shop about the Elite Stingray as it said it was quiet and i checked on my phone and reviews said it was quiet, but she said thet weren't as good as the fluval, so I got the same one again hoping it turned out the other one was faulty. I've no room for an external one unfortunately.

It's fully submerged, without the venturi on, I've turned it upside down and got the air bubbles out, and I've pulled out and cleaned the propeller. the insides all as it should be too, I've no idea what to do next

Possibly not much help, but I think your replacement replacement is faulty too. I bought one a couple of weeks ago and it's completely silent. I've had to keep checking it's still working because it makes so little noise.

All the reviews also seem to say that the U series are all very quiet filters so if possible I think you should be trying to get another exchange.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I don't have a U2 but I have a U3, its secondhand even and the motor runs silent. I have the top vent partially out of the water and it only even sounds like running water. Doesn't seem right to me that it should be so noisy.

 

[Lockhaart]

That's what gets me about it, my original one was silent, completely, when I say this makes noise it's like a crackling sound, it's hard to explain.It's so much faff to do it all again, I got this one from a shop 40 minutes away, no-where had any. It's frustrating, partly because they're expensive too

 

[KittyKat]

If you are buying from an LFS and are going to try swapping it again, have you considered asking them to unpack it and try running it in the shop?

It could be that they got a bad batch! One time (back when I was working for an LFS), I got about 10 Tetratec airpumps from the wholesaler and 8 or 9 of them didn't even run when I plugged them in!

 

[Lockhaart]

Not sure i'm going to take it back, I might call the fluval customer care line, see what they say. Both were bought from Pets at Home, but two different stores, and I believe they were two different batches, the first one was a new design on the box whereas this one was the same as the one I had the first time

 

[josh_g]

Noisy filters in the bedroom when your trying to sleep is all part of the fish keeping experience my friend lol. It probably seems worse than it is because now when you are trying to get to sleep instead of focusing on getting to sleep your focusing on the noisy filter keeping you awake. Like Wills said throw a couple of towels over the tank should quite things down a bit

 

[ian_m]

I used to turn the filter off on my Juwel Vision 180 in the evening (7pm - 10:45pm) with a timeswitch, so I could watch TV in same room as tank in 100% silence. However there are two modes of failure, both of which I encountered quite a few times.

1. Sometimes the filter would not start, the rotor would just not rotate. Not too sure what issue was, possible worn out rotor loosing magnetism, but most likely something jamming the rotor whilst stationary, bearing loosing its fluid layer. Flicking the power on and off would almost always start the pump again.

2. The time switch would sometimes just reset, lose all its setting and never switch the filter on again. I understand this is due to switching an inductive load (had same issue with air pump time switch) and after much swapping round of all the various makes of timeswitch I have, I eventually got one that wouldn't occasionally reset.

Most time I either noticed the pump not running that evening or next morning and just turned it on. When ever I went away I put pump in 100%, but in the end not worth the effort loosing the tank contents just to hear the TV better.