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Quietest HOB filter?

7K views 24 replies 11 participants last post by  JJ09 
#1 · (Edited)
#3 ·
Yes, the water sound is the loudest with hobs, you are unlikely to hear the motor.
You can just fill the tank until it meets the lip onthe hob to keep it quiet, I suspect it will oxygenate the water a tiny bit less this way.
I'm also a big hob fan. I stick a filter sponge (you get some with holes in already) over the intake. The inside of the filters stay clean and can get on with the biological purification, while the crud stays on the sponge. Also handy when doing water changes as the foam wicks up water even when it is lower than the point where the pump would normally break siphon.
 
#5 ·
The AC is the quietest hob I've used. But every hob seems to rattle a bit and nothing beats a good canister filter for quiet operation. I had pretty quite running out of my Penguin biowheel filters after removing the biowheels. Of course that defeats the purpose of buying these...
 
#16 ·
Not the C series . You can use what ever you want once what comes with it needs to be changed . I use Matrix in all and crushed coral in some for pH and the sponges that come with them will last a long time . You can use cut to fit instead of them if you want .
+1 - I have a C3 running on a 20H and I really like it. I ran AquaClear filters 25 years ago and the C3 sounds exactly the same - a little bit of rattle when brand new, but quiets down after a bit of run time to where it's silent. When they start to get noisy again, time to replace the impeller and shaft.

I also have a Aqueon QuietFlow 20 on another tank and it is also silent. It works just as well as the Fluval but doesn't allow the same level of media customization.

Chris
 
#12 ·
I bought 4 x AC 30 at the same time and 3 are completely silent and 1 was rattling. I exchanged that one and the replacement still rattles but almost silent.

BUT they became silent after I removed the top cover from all 4 of them.
 
#15 ·
I don't even bother buying new filter cartridges, just stuff the thing full of filter wool, and Bob's your uncle.
Also a big tip, never remove the motor from the casing unless you have a spare O ring. I've had problems with leaks late at night after fidgeting with the filter. My late night solution was to wrap the existing O-ring in teflon tape and squeeze the bugger in there.
There is no reason to fidget with or clean the casing, take out the media, wring it out in old tank water and stick it back in trying not to mess up the bacteria growing on the inside surfaces. I hold a fine net under the outlet while doing this to capture the stuff under the filter media that wants to come out when you remove it.
 
#17 ·
My AC20 is silent. Have you tried putting Vaseline in the impeller shaft, at least to get started? This worked for me. The lid doesn't rattle after this fix either. Completely silent, other than an imperceptible hum (unless you're listening for it.)
 
#20 ·
I've tried using food grade silicone lube on the impeller shaft, and also trying to tighten up the impeller blade to magnet connection with a tiny strip of teflon tape. This works, but for my AC20, it always comes back to the slight rattle sound within a week or so after this treatment. With as many reports saying that theirs is silent, I wonder if maybe the ones I had were made on a friday..
I just disconnected 4 tanks from the air supply system in the old fish room and decided to use a simple diaphragm pump to supply air to them. I bought 5 (1 spare). All were silent right out of the box. The one made on Friday started buzzing over the weekend.
 
#23 ·
I have a marineland penguin biowheel HOB. Mine just has a quit murmur and I can tell when the water level is getting too low because then there's the splashing sound. Last time it started to make a little rattle/grinding noise I took it apart and scrubbed those crusty hard water deposits off the impeller w/a toothbrush. It's starting to rattle a bit again I am going to try vaseline this time. It's not very noisy, I can ignore it in the living room, but if it was in the bedroom might be an issue.

If I ever have to replace it I don't know if I'd got with a biowheel again, though. I read a study that tested their effectiveness and with hard water, supposedly it's no improvement because the hard water deposits eventually clog up the texture of the biowheel and the bacteria can't live on it anymore. Anyone else heard of that... ?
 
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