My skimmer is driving me nuts (loud hum)

[Bars]

After multiple skimmers, I'm willing to say that I simply hate them. All the ones I've had are loud or were impossible to tune right. Of all the things in this hobby that can drive you insane, skimmers are the one for me.

My current skimmer is a Blue Marine Skim 300. It produces an extremely annoying, very loud hum, which has gotten louder over time I believe. That, or I simply didn't notice it over the noise of my previous powerheads. This skimmer is less than a year old, no snails, shells or anything stuck inside and not dirty either. If I clean it anymore it'll fall apart I think. Cleaning it doesn't make the noise go away either. The previous owner attached insulation foam to the inside of the cabinet and I placed a bunch of aquarium insulation mats underneath the skimmer. Yet, I can still hear it loud and clear. It's in my living room, so I want it to be as quiet as possible.

Unfortunately, I don't have the budget to get a better, possibly more expensive, skimmer. So I ask you, kind people: what can I do to eliminate this sound? Would it help if I stick insulation mats to all the walls of the skimmer's compartment?

 

[LRT]

After multiple skimmers, I'm willing to say that I simply hate them. All the ones I've had are loud or were impossible to tune right. Of all the things in this hobby that can drive you insane, skimmers are the one for me.

My current skimmer is a Blue Marine Skim 300. It produces an extremely annoying, very loud hum, which has gotten louder over time I believe. That, or I simply didn't notice it over the noise of my previous powerheads. This skimmer is less than a year old, no snails, shells or anything stuck inside and not dirty either. If I clean it anymore it'll fall apart I think. Cleaning it doesn't make the noise go away either. The previous owner attached insulation foam to the inside of the cabinet and I placed a bunch of aquarium insulation mats underneath the skimmer. Yet, I can still hear it loud and clear. It's in my living room, so I want it to be as quiet as possible.

Unfortunately, I don't have the budget to get a better, possibly more expensive, skimmer. So I ask you, kind people: what can I do to eliminate this sound? Would it help if I stick insulation mats to all the walls of the skimmer's compartment?

Sorry no experience with your particular skimmar so can't comment on noise control. Although I do feel your pain. Sounds like its driving you nuts and im totally there trying to dial all things in to all things silent but working at fullest maximum efficiency!
Skimmers can be hard to dial. But once broken in ive found eshopps and bubble magus to work like a charm.
Trick is finding correct water depth and intake to achieve what your shooting for.
Anyhow have you checked your airline and is it blocked? Saltwater can creep in and build deposits and overtime create blockage leading to poor and loud air intake also throwing things off and making pump seem louder because its not working correctly as designed. Fresh air intake from outside? Vibrating against anything in sump?
Maybe it just your skimmer.
I have 2 different ones though and can't hear them now.

 

[Bars]

Sorry no experience with your particular skimmar so can't comment on noise control. Although I do feel your pain. Sounds like its driving you nuts and im totally there trying to dial all things in to all things silent but working at fullest maximum efficiency!
Skimmers can be hard to dial. But once broken in ive found eshopps and bubble magus to work like a charm.
Trick is finding correct water depth and intake to achieve what your shooting for.
Anyhow have you checked your airline and is it blocked? Saltwater can creep in and build deposits and overtime create blockage leading to poor and loud air intake also throwing things off and making pump seem louder because its not working correctly as designed. Fresh air intake from outside? Vibrating against anything in sump?
Maybe it just your skimmer.
I have 2 different ones though and can't hear them now.

To be honest, I haven't checked the airline in a while. I'll do that later today!

The skimmer isn't touching anything besides the eggcrate underneath (with a piece of insulation mat between the eggcrate and pump). I guess it's sort of getting fresh air. About 4'' directly behind is a 4x4 hole in the back wall of the cabinet. I assume there's some air circulation in there, but not a whole lot.

Thanks for the tips

 

[homer1475]

Cheap skimmer with an even cheaper pump. Doesn't surprise me one bit it's loud. Unfortunately there probably isn't really much your going to do to quiet it down.

I don't mean that as a dig on you, it is what it is. If you want quieter you'll have to pony up the doe for a more expensive unit with a proven pump.

 

[Bars]

Cheap skimmer with an even cheaper pump. Doesn't surprise me one bit it's loud. Unfortunately there probably isn't really much your going to do to quiet it down.

I don't mean that as a dig on you, it is what it is. If you want quieter you'll have to pony up the doe for a more expensive unit with a proven pump.

No worries, I knew it was cheap. Unfortunately I'm on a college budget, so I can't afford the more expensive ones. Tried a second hand BM twice and a TMC Reef Skim, but all 3 pumps failed within just a few months. Out of pure frustation I bought the Blue Marine new from the store, not the absolute cheapest option they had, but still affordable.

Guess the next big purchase will be a proper skimmer

 

[Iiismet]

Alright so I was in the same boat about hating skimmers that I took mine offline for over a year. About a month ago I changed my pump on my vertex 150 to a varios 2 and it is seriously night and day difference in sound level, and performance seems to be similar. The old sicce had a loud hum that drove me nuts.

 

[Bars]

So turns out the insulation that the previous owner applied in the cabinet actually made the noise worse. I replaced the insulation attached to the doors with a different kind and it's so much more quiet now. Slightly closed the air valve as well due to it performing a bit poorly and that has reduced some of the noise as well

 

[Snoopy 67]

I would have put he insulation matt under the eggcrate since it rests on the sump floor.

 

[Pistondog]

Alright so I was in the same boat about hating skimmers that I took mine offline for over a year. About a month ago I changed my pump on my vertex 150 to a varios 2 and it is seriously night and day difference in sound level, and performance seems to be similar. The old sicce had a loud hum that drove me nuts.

For op: The sicce is ac, the varios is dc. Ac can hum from 60hz power. When buying new get dc if you can.
Liismet: any adapter for varios to vertex?

 

[Iiismet]

For op: The sicce is ac, the varios is dc. Ac can hum from 60hz power. When buying new get dc if you can.
Liismet: any adapter for varios to vertex?

Just a pvc bushing