Reef tank and tv noise

bfd211 · Jun 16, 2021

Setting up an 88 gal open top for the first in our family room. Will the tv noise from sound bar stress my critters out too much? What about cooking nearby? Thoughts ?

monkeyCmonkeyDo · Jun 16, 2021

Nope they will get used to it.
D

Gtinnel · Jun 16, 2021

My tank is in my great room that is my living room and my kitchen both and it's never been an issue. It worries me a little if something that is being cooked smokes but so far so good. I don't see any reaction from the fish due to the noise of my surround sound either. I believe I read that fish can't hear the noise.

MaxTremors · Jun 16, 2021

If you’ve ever been snorkeling/diving you’d know that the reef is LOUD. If anything a loud TV might comfort them.

RobB'z Reef · Jun 16, 2021

They won't even notice, most of my fish enjoy 110 decibels of five finger death punch while I'm doing tank maintenance.

Bugger · Jun 16, 2021

You guys are nuts. Put your head up to your tank and hear what your putting your fish threw. Its abuse. It's also the reason why so many fish jump out of the tank.

monkeyCmonkeyDo · Jun 16, 2021

Fish jump because they are scared of another fish or something outside the tank scares them. They run. Hit a wall and go up. Lol.
My opinion.
D

MaxTremors · Jun 17, 2021

Bugger said:
You guys are nuts. Put your head up to your tank and hear what your putting your fish threw. Its abuse. It's also the reason why so many fish jump out of the tank.

Its objectively not. Fish may be startled by a singular, out of the norm noises, but that can happen regardless of background noise. Fish are not bothered by sustained noise, even when it’s pretty loud (by human standards). The sound of a reef is incredibly loud. Just some averages: a reef during a storm can reach over 200 decibels, an average reef during good weather can be anywhere from 75-90 decibels. The seas around Antarctica average a 100 or more. The open ocean averages over 40 decibels. Whales can sing at over 230 decibels. A reef has the sound of all the water moving and crashing against the reef, the sound of all of the fish and inverts grunting and clicking and snapping, corals breaking and rocks tumbling, the distant sounds of whales and the shore, the sound of the wind, there is just a lot of different sounds that add up to a very loud environment.

The point is, the ocean is incredibly loud by human standards, and while noise pollution is absolutely an issue in the ocean (ships and drilling and the sound from all manner of human activity can disorient fish and whales and may be why some whales beach themselves), the noise from a tv or a stereo (even a fairly loud one) isn’t going to bother your fish or corals (in fact there was an article I read recently where someone was studying how the lack of noise and the vibration from noise could hinder coral growth - there was no definitive proof, but it’s certainly a part of a natural reef that’s missing in our tanks).

Bugger · Jun 17, 2021

A reef tank is not the ocean. Fish have ears Inside there bodies and have complex emotional lives. Try going to sleep in a rave. That is what going on in a fish tank. There have been studies were fish ears were damaged by loud noises. Its unatuaral and you are playing NASA with aquatic life. Even on a reef at night things go quite were sound and noise dont bounce back and forth on glass walls

MaxTremors · Jun 17, 2021

Bugger said:
A reef tank is not the ocean. Fish have ears Inside there bodies and have complex emotional lives. Try going to sleep in a rave. That is what going on in a fish tank. There have been studies were fish ears were damaged by loud noises. Its unatuaral and you are playing NASA with aquatic life. Even on a reef at night things go quite were sound and noise dont bounce back and forth on glass walls

A reef does not go quite at night. And for the record, I don’t think anyone is suggesting that you should play loud music or turn your TV on full blast in the same room as your tank, the question was ‘does the sound from having a TV on bother fish?’. A TV or stereo at levels where if you lived in an apartment your neighbors wouldn’t complain isn’t going to bother your fish one bit.