Gatvol with skimmers

mariusmeyer

mariusmeyer

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I am getting very gatvol with skimmers now. I exchanged my OCTX200 internal for a bubble blaster 2000 due to the sicce pump making a huge noise as the pinwheel mulches up the bubbles. Got the bubble blaster today as it is supposed to be super silent and hooked it all up, just to find a freaking humming sound that is lowder than say 3 air pumps running at the same time. The mulching of the bubbles are dead quiet but the humming is terrible. It is quite a bit louder than my cheap lifetech return pump that pumps more than twice the amount of water.

I can not take i anymore. You spend close to R5000 on a skimmer that is supposed to be quiet and then you get the humming? Am I missing something here or am I wanting unrealistically low noise levels from my equipment?

Is internal skimmers noisier than external ones? Cause I listened to the external bubble blaster at idol marine and I had to put my ear right next to the 7000LPH pump to hear if it was on. So why is my 2000LPH noisier?

Sorry for the rant but I'm running out of ideas here. Maybe I should just go skimmerless and build a mother of an algae scrubber.
 
That is what I am going to do. Got the skimmers from Idol and the guys were very helpful so far. They had no issues exchanging the extreme 200 for me. I can just imagine the look on their faces when I walk into the shop tomorrow with the new skimmer. They will most probably think "Oh no, not the guy with the noisy skimmers again".

I was really hoping/thinking the bubble blaster was going to be quiet as I compared it to the big one on the display tank of Idol Mairne. Lets see what happens tomorrow.
 
My octo 135 did this as well. What I did to fix it is place some rubber pads that you buy from builders under the skimmer. The noise is caused by the vibration of the skimmer on the glass.
 
Ya i know how you feel. I hate the hum they make. If they are enclosed in the wood cabinet i cant hear it, but its a pain. Maybe the rubbers on the bottoms of the pumps and the like are not quite 100%?
 
The rubbers on the feet are perfect. The pump makes the humming sound even if I lift the skimmer up so that it does not touch the glass, as I also thought that it was the vibrations on the glass. Does it make a difference with regard to the humming sound if the pump is internal or external? Cause the 7000LPH external bubble blaster pump at Idol is dead quiet. I had to get on to my hands and knees to get my ear close enough to the pump to hear it. They have 2 of those pumps on that tank and you cant hear a thing if you stand next to the tank.
 
Yea, sounds like your pumps are either vibration on the bottom glass, or touching one of the sides.
My skimmer, Aqua Medic shorty air intake is noisy, Like somebody with a very long snoring habit. Put a piece of tubing on it, all the way out the window. Now it sucks air outside, fresh and clean, no gasses released by DSB being sucked in. And the noice is gone.
Until I move the skimmer slightly and the inlet pump touch the back of the sump. Sounds like a drill bit on hammer 3 floors down.
 
You might have a bent impeller. You can wrap the plastic part of the impeller with plumping thread tape, this should fix things. If you want a more detailed explanation let me know...
 
I have taken the venturi off and it still humms. I will take it back tomorrow as it is brand spanking new. Only got the new one today. Hoping for the best.
 
Let the LFS do a house call, best evaluated on your system :)
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Hi bra why not try the german skimmers like bubble master 250,deltec new range or old range,atb,and these skimmers are super silent but priceyyyyyyyyyyy
 
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