[Dogstar]

Hello, I've been reading that fish are very sensitive to sound and repeated or prolonged exposure to loud sound can cause stress and death. I've noticed that my HOB filter while not very loud to me is probably very loud to the fish. I put my ear up to the glass and its really loud and constant noise. Does anyone do anything to combat this issue? Is it even a thing? I was thinking of putting sponge pieces as a buffer for wherever the filter meets the glass to muffle the sound. What do you think?

 

[GrampsGrunge]

Seems like the noise is always going to be present, especially with tank raised fish, who probably spent their entire life in the proximity of really noisy sponge filters.

I've used small cell bubble wrap and those padded USPS approved Manila envelopes in the past to isolate filters. Seems like my AquaClears and older MarineLand HOB's were the quietest of the filters I've used.

The new little Jebo 501 I have is fairly quiet.

 

[iceburg]

I saw a youtube video a while ago where someone put a waterproof camcorder into their tank and I was surprised how loud it seamed in the tank. I realized though that most of the sound was pretty close to white noise, and fish would be exposed to similar noise in a stream or river, so it's probably something most of them can get used to fairly easily.

My overall opinion is that the fish and the keepers would probably both prefer to eliminate excess noise if possible, but a bit of reasonable noise will usually be less stressful for the fish than lack of filtration.