Wall behind tank - Acoustic Panel examples?

[Spyro_UK]

Hey,

I'm looking at upgrading from a 3ft to a 5ft tank and wanting to decorate the wall the new tank will be on before setting the tank up.

I've had the idea of setting up an acoustic panel wall in walnut or oak.

Has anyone done anything like this as I can't find any examples online to help persuade the wife!

Thanks!

 

[Rocks reef]

I have not heard of any one doing this before. It will be interesting to see what you come up with. I hope you are successful in your endeavor.

I do like how the grooved panels look, but it also is VERY dependent on your wife... LOL

 

[Spyro_UK]

I have not heard of any one doing this before. It will be interesting to see what you come up with. I hope you are successful in your endeavor.

I do like how the grooved panels look, but it also is VERY dependent on your wife... LOL

This is the vision:

Ordered a handful of sample panels in the week and undecided on going with natural oak and gloss white D-D 1500... Or going walnut and gloss grey D-D1500.

Was hoping to find someone who's done similar before firing in!

 

[SoWhatNow]

Fairly easy to build, but you can buy decent panels on amazon now (UKer too).

Depending on the frequencies you want to kill will depend on the materials needed in the panels. iirc IKEA have full wall 'kits' as in actual walls.

ETA i didnt add the hyperlink, its doing it itself (forum)

 

[UncommonSense]

Just out of curiosity; why the acoustic panels? Is it just cosmetic? Or is there a noise concern?

I know I installed soundboard under the wall cladding of my fish room, but that was moreso for general sound deadening!

 

[Ziggy17]

This is the vision:

Ordered a handful of sample panels in the week and undecided on going with natural oak and gloss white D-D 1500... Or going walnut and gloss grey D-D1500.

Was hoping to find someone who's done similar before firing in!

As a person who sound engineered a listening room in my basement for my two channel stereo I can add some insight. If it’s just aesthetics, use wall paper. It’s much cheaper and it will get what you want. If you’re looking for soundwave manipulation, that design will only take away waves in the 8k plus range, and limited in even that. Any of the stuff you see for sale on retail stores, won’t do anything for sound. It’s all just aesthetics. You have to know exactly what hertz of sound you want to scrub and then understand how big the soundwave is so you can design something that can scrub it.
For example. The average human voice if between 80-250 hertz. At 250 hertz, the soundwave is 1.3 meters or 4 feet ish. Which means the device the scrub that would have to be 4 feet thick (free standing) or 2 feet against a wall (which gives you 4 feet with the reflection).
With a wall like that, it’s trying to diffuse sound, not scrub it. And if you don’t design purposefully how the diffusion will take place, the sound will get manipulated into something the brain can’t figure out, and it will be awful on the ears.
Does it look nice? maybe. But you don’t want to cause an ACCOUSTICS nightmare either :)

 

[SoWhatNow]

As a person who engineered a listening room in my basement for my two channel stereo I can add some insight. If it’s just aesthetics, use wall paper. It’s much cheaper and it will get what you want. If you’re looking for soundwave manipulation, that design will only take away waves in the 8k plus range, and limited in even that. Any of the stuff you see for sale on retail stores, won’t do anything for sound. It’s all just aesthetics. You have to know exactly what hertz of sound you want to scrub and then understand how big the soundwave is so you can design something that can scrub it.
For example. The average human voice if between 80-250 hertz. At 250 hertz, the soundwave is 1.3 meters or 4 feet ish. Which means the device the scrub that would have to be 4 feet thick (free standing) or 2 feet against a wall (which gives you 4 feet with the reflection).
With a wall like that, it’s trying to diffuse sound, not scrub it. And if you don’t design purposefully how the diffusion will take place, the sound will get manipulated into something the brain can’t figure out, and it will be awful on the ears.
Jose’s it look nice, maybe. But you don’t want to cause an ACCOUSTICS nightmare either :)

Don't... just don't.

 

[Ziggy17]

Don't... just don't.

The OP or me?

 

[Staghorn]

If you’re just going for the look, Home Depot actually sells a quarter inch panel that gives the European cladding effect, at a greatly reduced cost, compared to the actual European cladding panels

 

[Spyro_UK]

Fairly easy to build, but you can buy decent panels on amazon now (UKer too).

Depending on the frequencies you want to kill will depend on the materials needed in the panels. iirc IKEA have full wall 'kits' as in actual walls.

ETA i didnt add the hyperlink, its doing it itself (forum)

Yeah I've found a place called EasyPanels in the UK that are selling panels just taller than I need at a pretty good price (£45 per 600x2400mm panel - 5 panels needed)
It's purely aesthetic so not really wanting to kill any frequencies. Just want something that looks a little more interesting behind my tank, rather than the plain magnolia wall with a blue tint from my lights behind my current 250l

I think the only place I've not thought of looking is IKEA. The B&Q panels were extortionate! Might take a detour on my way home from work and see what they've got.

Just out of curiosity; why the acoustic panels? Is it just cosmetic? Or is there a noise concern?

I know I installed soundboard under the wall cladding of my fish room, but that was moreso for general sound deadening!

Purely cosmetic - the new tank location backs onto an external wall - my 250l doesn't create too much noise, therapeutic if anything... so hoping the 500l is the same.

As a person who sound engineered a listening room in my basement for my two channel stereo I can add some insight. If it’s just aesthetics, use wall paper. It’s much cheaper and it will get what you want. If you’re looking for soundwave manipulation, that design will only take away waves in the 8k plus range, and limited in even that. Any of the stuff you see for sale on retail stores, won’t do anything for sound. It’s all just aesthetics. You have to know exactly what hertz of sound you want to scrub and then understand how big the soundwave is so you can design something that can scrub it.
For example. The average human voice if between 80-250 hertz. At 250 hertz, the soundwave is 1.3 meters or 4 feet ish. Which means the device the scrub that would have to be 4 feet thick (free standing) or 2 feet against a wall (which gives you 4 feet with the reflection).
With a wall like that, it’s trying to diffuse sound, not scrub it. And if you don’t design purposefully how the diffusion will take place, the sound will get manipulated into something the brain can’t figure out, and it will be awful on the ears.
Does it look nice? maybe. But you don’t want to cause an ACCOUSTICS nightmare either :)

Thanks for the advice but as mentioned above - it's not to kill any sounds, purely cosmetic. I've got a little concern having wallpaper behind the tank. The wood can be treated to add some waterproofing, whereas I see wallpaper and evaporating tank water not mixing well... This will be in a kitchen dining room, not a music arena so I'm hoping it actually makes no difference to sound with only being 13mm mdf on a 9mm felt/foam backing.

If you’re just going for the look, Home Depot actually sells a quarter inch panel that gives the European cladding effect, at a greatly reduced cost, compared to the actual European cladding panels

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm based in the UK - so I think the postage from Home Depot would probably give me a heart attack!