Quietest filtration for a 550?

[Fish Tank Travis]

This right here.

It would be much easier to plumb the drains using one if these methods than to start busting up walls lol.

Noise was a big concern with my 300. I went with a herbie set up only because it made sense to me. But like jk mentioned any method would work.

The main aspect is to remove air from the main drain with a valve (i used a gate valve, was easier to fine tune) they system is dead quiet. I have an ac110 on another tank and is way noisier. You can move a ton of water by eliminating the air from the lines (full siphon)
I actually just made a vid for a friend on here who is considering it. I can pm it to you if you want.

Some of the dc pumps out there are really quiet as well and are energy efficient

J jaws7777 is right on. He and I have similar setups as far as how our sumps are plumbed to the main tank and how the pumps return the water, but our dumps are different.

However, I would like to cover a few things in detail:

First, 10,000 gph is way too much flow. Generally, for freshwater setups, 4-6X flow per hour of the full tank volume is plenty of flow. For your 550, you would be looking at about 2,750 gph. I’d recommend aiming for that, or possibly a little more.

Next, you will want to setup a full siphon overflow system with the tank and sump ends of the overflow submerged. With this, you will also want to plan an overflow drain in case of clogs. I think three 2” drains will suffice, but you could step up to 2-1/2” if you want to. As J jaws7777 mentioned, gate valves can be very useful for adjusting the overflows to achieve the siphon.

Then, the returns need to be submerged in the tank. This will keep them from making any water sloshing noise.

You will then need to choose pumps that are quiet. I’d recommend running two Jebao DCP 15000’s. I use two of the 8000 versions on my 220 and they are very quiet. These are energy efficient DC pumps that have controllers that can be used to turn the pumps up and down.

I have this type of setup on my 220 and J jaws7777 has a very similar setup on his 300. I know that we both have setups that are completely silent. No soundproofing was necessary on the tank or stand. When I say silent, I mean that I cannot hear anything at all while standing right next to the tank. I am running about 1,500 gph in my setup.

I would recommend you look for a used 120, 125, or 150 that you can use as your sump. Then, set it up with filter socks and fill it with bio media.

You can drill a hole in the sump so that you can setup your drip system. Just be careful that it can drain quick enough, while leaving enough water in the sump for system restart, in the event of a power outage so the sump doesn’t overflow when draining or run dry when starting back up.

I can guarantee that you can use this method to set up a silent but effective system.

Let me know if you have any questions about what I’ve mentioned.

 

[nzafi]

For my 8x4x30 (h) 535g tank I went with corner HMF filters and an ultima 1,000. Filters are very quite but the reeflo pump can be heard, nothing an insulated stand would take care of. One of the benefits/drawbacks of my setup is that the hmf pumps and reeflo pump in combination heat my water to 80-81 degrees in the summer even with my cold water drip, and then keep the temp at 77 degrees now in the winter with heaters turning on minimally. Cheaper than running heaters in reality.

I went closed loop because I also wanted to completely seal my tank, and keep both evaporation and heat loss to a minimum. HMF needs to be clean ~ once a year (depending on stock) and ultima is very easy to backflush.

From a gph, my HMF are pushing about 1,500 gph, and my reeflo is probably close to 2,000 gph, giving me a total of 3,500 gph. I then use eductors on on my reeflo returns that should bump the in tank flow from 2,000gph to 8,000 gph.

 

[Chicxulub]

J jaws7777 is right on. He and I have similar setups as far as how our sumps are plumbed to the main tank and how the pumps return the water, but our dumps are different.

However, I would like to cover a few things in detail:

First, 10,000 gph is way too much flow. Generally, for freshwater setups, 4-6X flow per hour of the full tank volume is plenty of flow. For your 550, you would be looking at about 2,750 gph. I’d recommend aiming for that, or possibly a little more.

Next, you will want to setup a full siphon overflow system with the tank and sump ends of the overflow submerged. With this, you will also want to plan an overflow drain in case of clogs. I think three 2” drains will suffice, but you could step up to 2-1/2” if you want to. As J jaws7777 mentioned, gate valves can be very useful for adjusting the overflows to achieve the siphon.

Then, the returns need to be submerged in the tank. This will keep them from making any water sloshing noise.

You will then need to choose pumps that are quiet. I’d recommend running two Jebao DCP 15000’s. I use two of the 8000 versions on my 220 and they are very quiet. These are energy efficient DC pumps that have controllers that can be used to turn the pumps up and down.

I have this type of setup on my 220 and J jaws7777 has a very similar setup on his 300. I know that we both have setups that are completely silent. No soundproofing was necessary on the tank or stand. When I say silent, I mean that I cannot hear anything at all while standing right next to the tank. I am running about 1,500 gph in my setup.

I would recommend you look for a used 120, 125, or 150 that you can use as your sump. Then, set it up with filter socks and fill it with bio media.

You can drill a hole in the sump so that you can setup your drip system. Just be careful that it can drain quick enough, while leaving enough water in the sump for system restart, in the event of a power outage so the sump doesn’t overflow when draining or run dry when starting back up.

I can guarantee that you can use this method to set up a silent but effective system.

Let me know if you have any questions about what I’ve mentioned.

Excellent! Thank you!

I'm strongly considering at this point going with a larger pond style canister, but if I go with a sump, this is how I'm going to do it!

I should have been more clear: 10k is my turnover goal for the simple reason that I am going for a riverine setup with a smooth flow from left to right. The filter itself would be running roughly 3000gph, with additional pumps and plumbing just to move water.

For my 8x4x30 (h) 535g tank I went with corner HMF filters and an ultima 1,000. Filters are very quite but the reeflo pump can be heard, nothing an insulated stand would take care of. One of the benefits/drawbacks of my setup is that the hmf pumps and reeflo pump in combination heat my water to 80-81 degrees in the summer even with my cold water drip, and then keep the temp at 77 degrees now in the winter with heaters turning on minimally. Cheaper than running heaters in reality.

I went closed loop because I also wanted to completely seal my tank, and keep both evaporation and heat loss to a minimum. HMF needs to be clean ~ once a year (depending on stock) and ultima is very easy to backflush.

From a gph, my HMF are pushing about 1,500 gph, and my reeflo is probably close to 2,000 gph, giving me a total of 3,500 gph. I then use eductors on on my reeflo returns that should bump the in tank flow from 2,000gph to 8,000 gph.

That's good to know! I'm pretty sure at this point that a larger pond canister like that is what I'm going to be using as well

 

[nzafi]

Excellent! Thank you!

I'm strongly considering at this point going with a larger pond style canister, but if I go with a sump, this is how I'm going to do it!

I should have been more clear: 10k is my turnover goal for the simple reason that I am going for a riverine setup with a smooth flow from left to right. The filter itself would be running roughly 3000gph, with additional pumps and plumbing just to move water.



That's good to know! I'm pretty sure at this point that a larger pond canister like that is what I'm going to be using as well

Just be aware that pond filters tend to be slow flow. Personally, I prefer redundancy hence the reason I did two filters. Doing 2 smaller ultimas might be better than one large. Check out maxspext gyres, expensive but give tons of flow.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

If going with Ultimas, I have heard that if you run them above their rates flow, they lose their mechanical filtration very quickly.

 

[nzafi]

If going with Ultimas, I have heard that if you run them above their rates flow, they lose their mechanical filtration very quickly.

Heard the same. I run mine higher, but that is based on feedback from JK47 that has significant experience with playing with flow rates.

 

[Chicxulub]

If going with Ultimas, I have heard that if you run them above their rates flow, they lose their mechanical filtration very quickly.

I had heard that as well. I was planning to run inline filter socks in front of the pump to get around this problem.

http://www.fsifilters.com/filter-ve...gs/x100-convertible-filter-housing.html#specs

 

[Chub_by]

If by pond filter you mean the pressurised ones that look like a giant canister, I'd stay away from those since they're a maintenance nightmare and really quite ineffective.
As for the bigger boxed filters, they're good but mine is pretty loud so I don't think you'd have any advantage there over a sump if you put the output under the water line.