Seaclone 100 HOB skimmer -- how to quiet?

[jmNoles]

I'm running a Seaclone 100 HOB skimmer on my 72 bow front. This thing is LOUD. Like, "have to turn the TV volume up to 30 just to hear it" loud. I've seen all kinds of reviews saying this skimmer is quiet or barely makes a sound, anyone have an idea of what I'm doing wrong?

 

[andrewey]

You're going to need to fashion yourself an air silencer. You can look up "skimmer air silencers" to visually see what I'm talking about, but ostensibly, you will take the airline tubing that has the black thumb screw (remove the thumb screw), and secure that into an airtight container. You will then have a second piece of tubing drilled into this same container, and you can place the thumbscrew on this for tuning purposes. This used to be done easily with film canisters, but really any airtight container will work (even an empty water bottle)- the trick is finding something that is small enough and you won't mind hanging around your tank.

That will reduce the air noise. The other part is to make sure you aren't hearing vibrations from the pump and the U-bend going to the skimmer. You'll want to test if either of these are the culprit by slowly raising the pump and unit (while running) so the U bend isn't resting on the lip of the tank. If that reduces the noise, you'll need to put something between this U bend and your tank, such as foam or any insultating material that is reef safe (silicone mats are fantastic in this application). The same process can be done with the pump making sure it's not resting against the glass. This is one where a strip cut out of a silicone mat is fantastic (or using some spare suction cups against the glass to prop the pump further away).