Aquamax HOB-1 Very Loud

[Admonition]

I just installed an Aquamax HOB-1 on my Fusion 40 tank (picked up from Marine Depot). Everything seems to be working just fine and the skimmer is foaming nicely, but my god this thing is loud. Its not the pump thats loud, it seems to be coming from the air line. It sounds like when you blow bubbles in your chocolate milk with a straw really fast as a kid. This sound can be heard throughout my house and its overpowering in the living room. Strangely enough the sound is completely silenced if I pinch the yellow airline tubing closed, but obviously that stops the skimmer from working properly. Has anyone else had this issue with this skimmer or know how to fix it? Is this something that will go away with time? Because if I can't get this to quiet down I'll have to replace it with a different skimmer, which I'd rather not have to do. My understanding was that this was a relatively quiet skimmer. I appreciate the help!

[xiaoxiy]

Make sure the airline silencer is seated correctly!

 

 

[Admonition]

Just now, xiaoxiy said:

Make sure the silencer is seated correctly!

 

I've seen that mentioned before but I guess I don't understand what it means. The plate that the silencer is attatched to is seated on the right side of the skimmer body in its tiny square groove. This places the silencer inside the body with the yellow tubing attached to one of the knobs on the top. Is there a different way?

[xiaoxiy]

Just now, Admonition said:

 

I've seen that mentioned before but I guess I don't understand what it means. The plate that the silencer is attatched to is seated on the right side of the skimmer body in its tiny square groove. This places the silencer inside the body with the yellow tubing attached to one of the knobs on the top. Is there a different way?

Does swapping the knob that the tubing is attached to make a difference?

 

I don't personally own a Aquamax HOB-1, but what your describing sounds like a gurgling airline that isn't being silenced properly.

[Admonition]

2 minutes ago, xiaoxiy said:

Does swapping the knob that the tubing is attached to make a difference?

 

I don't personally own a Aquamax HOB-1, but what your describing sounds like a gurgling airline that isn't being silenced properly.

 

Nope, swapping the knob that the tubing is attached to doesn't change the noise level. It's actually a little bit quieter when the tube isn't attached to the silencer at all lol. Any other ideas on how to silence it properly? 

 

 

[J-Ranko]

I have an Aquamax HOB.   The silencer has a long plastic screw that holds it together (cylinder + top/bottom end caps).  Make sure the cylinder and the end caps fit correctly and tightly.  Loosen the screw and then put it back together if necessary. You should not be hearing the air intake at all.

[xiaoxiy]

Do you get big bursts of larger bubbles or are you getting nice even microbubbles in the reaction chamber?

 

EDIT: Also, the silencer is dry right? i.e no water in the silencer.

[Admonition]

28 minutes ago, J-Ranko said:

I have an Aquamax HOB.   The silencer has a long plastic screw that holds it together (cylinder + top/bottom end caps).  Make sure the cylinder and the end caps fit correctly and tightly.  Loosen the screw and then put it back together if necessary. You should not be hearing the air intake at all.

 

I loosened the silencer screw and then retightened the cylinder and top/bottom end caps and I actually did notice a noise reduction. Although the skimmer is still pretty loud, this seems to have quieted the harsh gargling down to a medium, thank you! Oddly enough, when I removed the long screw from the body that allowed me to move the silencer and plate out of the skimmer body, the skimmer became almost completely silent. It's almost like having the silencer inside the skimmer body echos/magnifies the sound. I wonder if it's worth running the silencer outside of the body kinda like my old Tunze?

 

28 minutes ago, xiaoxiy said:

Do you get big bursts of larger bubbles or are you getting nice even microbubbles in the reaction chamber?

 

EDIT: Also, the silencer is dry right? i.e no water in the silencer.

 

Where the bubble plate is? It's all pretty even. And yes, silencer is dry, no water inside. 

[J-Ranko]

1 minute ago, Admonition said:

 

I loosened the silencer screw and then retightened the cylinder and top/bottom end caps and I actually did notice a noise reduction. Although the slimmer is still pretty loud, this seems to have quieted the harsh gargling down to a medium, thank you! Oddly enough, when I removed the long screw from the body that allowed me to move the silencer and plate out of the skimmer body, the slimmer became almost completely silent. It's almost like having the silencer inside the skimmer body echos/magnifies the sound. I wonder if it's worth running the silencer outside of the body kinda like my old Tunze?

 

 

Where the bubble plate is? It's all pretty even. And yes, silencer is dry, no water inside. 

I don't use the long screw for that reason.  The silencer just sits in place.

 

The bubble plate is the part attached directly to the outlet of the pump, where bubbles form and diffuse through numerous small openings. 

[Admonition]

17 hours ago, J-Ranko said:

I don't use the long screw for that reason.  The silencer just sits in place.

 

The bubble plate is the part attached directly to the outlet of the pump, where bubbles form and diffuse through numerous small openings. 

 

What do you mean you don't use the long screw? Do you mean you don't use it because it can shift the silence plate out of position? 

[J-Ranko]

6 hours ago, Admonition said:

 

What do you mean you don't use the long screw? Do you mean you don't use it because it can shift the silence plate out of position? 

 

You're referring to the long screw that goes through the skimmer body front-to-back, correct? I don't use it because it's quieter that way and it's easier to lift the silencer when I need to prime it for re-starting the pump.

[thedon986]

I don't use that screw either. I managed to find an airline tubing plastic elbow piece that fits on the intake tube not covered and it quiets it down much more. Not pretty but I'd say it quiets it down by half maybe a bit more. 

[Admonition]

10 minutes ago, J-Ranko said:

 

You're referring to the long screw that goes through the skimmer body front-to-back, correct? I don't use it because it's quieter that way and it's easier to lift the silencer when I need to prime it for re-starting the pump.

 

Yeah. Okay I figured. I'll probably remove it as well as it really doesn't keep the silencer plate in place, it only stops it from being removed. 

 

Thank you both for all the help. Tightening the end caps seems to have been the fix I needed because the noise has greatly lowered to what I would expect a skimmer of this size would make. 

[Admonition]

6 minutes ago, thedon986 said:

I don't use that screw either. I managed to find an airline tubing plastic elbow piece that fits on the intake tube not covered and it quiets it down much more. Not pretty but I'd say it quiets it down by half maybe a bit more. 

 

I actually have that exact elbow in my fish stuff bucket (got it at Home Depot I think). I'll definitely if that a try as well tomorrow, thanks! 

 

From your picture it looks like you have your cup higher than mine. Even though it's breaking in still, any suggestions for the cup height? 

[Admonition]

Thanks for the tip thedon. I put that little elbow on like yours and I can't believe how it instantly silenced the remaining air intank gurgling sound. The loudest part of this thing is just the pump itself now which just is what it is. But it's a far cry from what I was two days ago that's for sure. 

[thedon986]

10 hours ago, Admonition said:

Thanks for the tip thedon. I put that little elbow on like yours and I can't believe how it instantly silenced the remaining air intank gurgling sound. The loudest part of this thing is just the pump itself now which just is what it is. But it's a far cry from what I was two days ago that's for sure. 

Good to hear. I bought this skimmer used and the prior owner had marked it slightly with a Sharpie where he ran the cup at so I've always used it at that height. I tweak it here or there when it is running dry or wet but the rubber band is at 2.25" from the bottom of the cup. 

[Omarons]

Hey reefers 

 

min facing the same problem, tried the advice that is in this thread but it’s still noisy 

 

can you help ? 

 

YouTube link below 
 

 

[Ishtar]

I am curious if the gurgling noise goes away after the skimmer breaks in?

[HiImSean]

Mines been running since September I think and it’s still noisy. I’m going to take it apart completely tomorrow for a good cleaning and see what I can do. 

[jservedio]

1 hour ago, HiImSean said:

Mines been running since September I think and it’s still noisy. I’m going to take it apart completely tomorrow for a good cleaning and see what I can do. 

The silencers that come on any skimmer made for a nano is going to be crappy because it's going to be tiny and have no damping material in it - just make your own that's as big as you can stuff behind your stand. I made one out of a tennis ball can, some contractor sponges, and filter floss - but you can make one out of one of those big ass pill bottles, a small soda bottle, really anything.

 

They aren't rocket science to make and will silence any skimmer air intake. The only other source of noise is vibration, so some silicone feet between the tank and skimmer body and pump and skimmer body will dampen those vibrations.

[HiImSean]

I had a little water in my silencer. I cleaned it out and tightened it up and it seems to have lost a lot of noise. I get the gurgle from the return but I put a piece of filter floss in there and it helps even more. 

[cluc]

I own a HOB v1.5 as well as a v1, I think the v1.5 is much louder than the v1.

 

I run the Air intake to a CO2 scrubber and it is much quieter than the silencer, but the real noise issue is not that. From previous poster's video, there is gurgling noise from time to time, almost feels like it's pulling in too much air or there's a fair bit of air getting stuck in the impeller.

 

The other noise is the humming and bubbles, it is ridiculously loud.

• The humming comes from the vibration between the HOB and the glass as it's vibrating.
• The bubbles/foam is also quite loud

 

So with the 3 different noises combined, it get quite loud.

 

I tried getting some noise dampening boards and cut out a box to go around it, but I think it needs to be fully covered, i.e. all sides that are exposed, in order to dampen the noise.

 

I have been running the HOB v1.5 for 2 weeks now and my v1 I have been running for 4 years.

[Al Capitan]

I just installed the Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 and I think the loudest part of it is the gurgling noise. The foam gives off a slight fizzle sound but it's not that loud. The pump gives off a mechanical hum but it's ok. The bubble plate gives off some noise as well but it's steady noise so it's not too bad.  My silencer is tight so the air noise is not too strong.

 

I think the gurgling sound comes from the bubbles escaping the middle divider and bubbling on the intake side. it's louder when I put my ear on the intake side than the foaming side. I wonder if the noise will reduce if I were to create a better seal on the divider. Maybe adding a second plastic piece might create a thicker barrier to lessen the amount of bubbles crossing the divide. Or if I had some additional texture on the intake side that would prevent the bubbles from gurgling?

[DSA65PRO]

I’ve modified my Skimmers so the Air pickup is from the Skimmer Cup. Measure to the Top of the Foam Tube from the bottom of the Skimmer Cup. This is where the Dead Center of the Drilled hole will be. Use a Small Standard point drill bit, for the pilot hole. Then the drill bit in your needed size. I use a Strong mix of Dawn Dish Soap as the Lube. Also if it’s a brand new drill bit, run it through a block of wood a couple times before using it. If it has small Machining burrs, this will knock them off. Likewise if you are going to Tap the hole for threads, use a used tap. Also use the Dawn as a lube, turn the die back and forth to cut the threads. Always use Teflon tape on any plastic fitting so you don’t friction weld them together. Do not use a Metal nipple to make the threads, no matter how careful and slow you go you will crack the plastic. Also if you see any Craze line on older Skimmer cups, I wouldn’t try and Tap the cup. You can also practice on a piece of PVC pipe. A couple of added benefits to tapping into your Skimmer cup, is Greatly reduced odors, and the Skimming Action will stop if the Cup Starts to overflow.