Quietest protein skimmer

[mike31154]

Is that Seaclone a needle wheel? Anything that chops the water to produce bubbles is going to make some noise, cost has nothing to do with that. In my experience, the most quiet way to produce the finest bubbles remains the old school wooden air diffuser run by an air pump. I reverted to this technology (diy skimmer came with my tank) after trying a Remora C for a while. That Remora was the noisiest thing in the entire house! And it didn't skim very well either, then the intake pipe broke when it was moving it... my experience, so I went back to old wooden air diffuser unit. Modified it to improve performance, larger air pump running more air diffusers, but still using the old body of the skimmer. More noise now with the big air pump, but I'm skimming a 77 gallon, your 30 would be fine with a smaller air pump running one good air diffuser.



Small powerhead moves water from tank thru skimmer.


I've upgraded to this beast as an air pump to run multiple air diffusers, so yeah, more noise now than with the little Stellar W-60 unit in the first photo.


...but the result... rockin' some serious bubbleology.




... before you go spending big $$$s on the latest/greatest, why not look into trying to mod the Seaclone if that's feasible? For a few bucks invested in a wooden air diffuser & air pump, you may be able to convert that cheapo Seaclone into something that works just fine with your 30 and all you will hear is the hum of a small air pump.