What is the absolute quietest hang-on skimmer?

hillbillyreefer · #1 11-01-2009, 02:09 PM

I've got a deltec mce 600 in my living room, it is far from quiet. Maybe something isn't set up right. Of the three skimmers I have running at the moment
1. Tunze 9002 in the bedroom and very quiet
2.Aqua C Remora, quiet with a piece of paper towel under the cup in the inlet chamber.
3.Deltec 600, haven't figured out how to shut it up yet.

nlreefguy · #2 11-01-2009, 02:41 PM

I am currently running an eshopps psk-100h and, again, it was something that I had read was very quiet and proved to be dramatically less so in reality. What a disappointment! Makes you wonder if you're doing something wrong, doesn't it?

mike31154 · #3 11-01-2009, 05:23 PM

Old schoold DIY counter current air diffuser skimmer. Only audible component is the air pump, so any sound produced is dependent on that single component. Small Aquaclear 301 power head in a pre-skimmer box provides water flow thru the skimmer and it's virtually silent since it's mostly submerged. On the other side of the coin, I ran an Aqua C Remora on a Mag 3 for about 8 months and that thing had to be the noisiest piece of equipment I've ever run on my system. I was actually glad when I cracked the intake tube during some maintenance and went back to the DIY unit.

Limewood air diffusers are still one of the best and most silent ways to produce very fine bubbles. Most of the newer technology skimmers use high power pumps with needle wheels and other relatively noisy technology to produce bubbles. It's difficult to design these components to be efficient and silent at the same time. A trade off in high performance I guess.