# Sound proof cabinet



## Furgan (21 Feb 2021)

Has anyone here sound proofed their cabinet under your tank? I upgraded my filter from a tetra 800 to a biomaster 600 and the filter is producing more noise. I am noise sensitive and even after a few hours it’s annoying me! It’s only a 170L cube tank so not a massive area inside. Looking for materials that have worked well.


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## Paul Willi (21 Feb 2021)

Hi
ive not had to myself, but rockwool slabs or insulation panels should work well, but might be too thick depending on free space available
cheers


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## noodlesuk (21 Feb 2021)

Car audio sound deadening foam/acoustic foam is quite thin and might help. Guess you don't want too much heat insulation, pump might warm up, with thick insulation.

Acoustic Foam

Check that it isn't vibration from the filter itself, through pipes or feet. Foam underneath migh help too.


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## Epiphyte (25 Feb 2021)

I would say any type of foam will help massively. Either the egg crate style foam or triangle pattern ones to dissipate the sound waves. Thin dense foam will work wonders as a floor to absorb vibrations.

A lot of cabinets are made from materials that unfortunately amplify the hum of a filter, but putting a false floor in with 5mm of neoprene will make a huge difference.


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## Aqua sobriquet (25 Feb 2021)

Any old foam won’t help, it needs to be closed cell. You first need to isolate the vibrations from the filter going into the cabinet. Mines on a foam and cork mat. Gaps around the cabinet door let out sound as well. Any gaps where the hoses exit the cabinet need to be covered somehow as well.
My TetraTec EX400 is almost completely silent with very, very little vibration. My other filters have produced an irritating humming noise. This seems to be due to poor design or manufacturing tolerances to do with the impeller. My last noise reduction attempt was to make and fit a PTFE washer to the ceramic shaft under the impeller. It has helped a little. Sadly my aquarium cabinet has lots of gaps around the doors that aren’t easy to seal.


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## Aqua sobriquet (25 Feb 2021)

Does your filter have a stainless steel impeller shaft? If so these can wear quite badly sometimes and the impeller will rattle around. Many manufacturers use Ceramic shafts that seem to wear a bit better. Luckily you can buy these on eBay - provided they have your size.








						Replacement Ceramic Shafts For Aquarium Fish Tank Powerheads Filters Water Pumps  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Replacement Ceramic Shafts For Aquarium Fish Tank Powerheads Filters Water Pumps at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.



					www.ebay.co.uk


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## idris (3 Mar 2021)

Sheets of EDPM foam are cheap, easy to cut and are cost effective. 
The other thing used in car audio is mass loaded vinyl (MLV) but not a great advantage great it in this application.
Equally, dont bother with "egg box" foam - it will do less good than thicker, cheaper foam here.
However, your biggest enemy is vibration directly transmitted from the pump to the cabinet. So as suggested, check for wear to the pump and put a thick, dense foam pad underneath it.

(Acoustics isn't my field, but as a professional sound engineer, I have a passing interest.)


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## Barry Hannah (17 Jan 2022)

I was looking at the same, just something to put inside the cabinet to help with the sound.

Does anyone think something like this may help?

Amazon product


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## idris (17 Jan 2022)

(For refrence, whilst sound proofing is not my job, I've speant over 25yrs working as a professional sound engineer. And I'm a cynical **** when it comes to specialist products..)
There's a lot of marketing hype written into that product description.
You'd get better value for money if you spoke to a carpet fitter (or got on Freecycle) and found an off-cut of carpet underlay. And the sound reduction would be comparible in this application.

It won't be as pretty, and you might not get the same warm glowing feeling as you might from buying something sold for sound-proofing, but you might also have the satisfaction of knowing you spent no money (or at least very little) and usefully repurposed something that otherwise would have gone into land-fill. And who doesn't like saving the planet?
_T&C Apply. Your enviromental credentials can go up as well as down. Your bank balance may be at risk if you read the marketing hype._


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## Barry Hannah (17 Jan 2022)

Oh ok so something like that is basically just the same as carpet underlay?

Do you think carpet underlay would work just as well as other types of "sound insulation" foam you can get, like this? 

Amazon product

Just trying to see what might be best to help cover the sides, door and floor.

I get it wont make it silent but just thinking anything that might help a little would probably be worth it.

Cheers


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## idris (17 Jan 2022)

What you primarily need in a use like this is a sound absorber. Funky wedge surfaces (like in your second link) are about stopping reflected sound, and not significant here.
Underlay is a genuinly good option and new underlay will be demonstrably better, so off-cuts are good.
Assuming you have an external canister under your tank, even sitting that on a foam pad (or off cut of carpet underlay) should make a noticable difference. Most of your noise will probably be low frequencies and come from being transmitted (via direct physical contanct) into the structure of the cabinet (which then acts like the body of a guitar), and the pad will act as an isolating dmaper.
Try it. If you can get a free off cut, and if it doesn't work, throw it away and you've lost nothing.


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## Barry Hannah (17 Jan 2022)

idris said:


> What you primarily need in a use like this is a sound absorber. Funky wedge surfaces (like in your second link) are about stopping reflected sound, and not significant here.
> Underlay is a genuinly good option and new underlay will be demonstrably better, so off-cuts are good.
> Assuming you have an external canister under your tank, even sitting that on a foam pad (or off cut of carpet underlay) should make a noticable difference. Most of your noise will probably be low frequencies and come from being transmitted (via direct physical contanct) into the structure of the cabinet (which then acts like the body of a guitar), and the pad will act as an isolating dmaper.
> Try it. If you can get a free off cut, and if it doesn't work, throw it away and you've lost nothing.


All good points will pop into a local carpet shop and see what they have.

Happy to put some under the filter and maybe on the sides and door as well.

Ive got an Oase Biomaster Thermo 850, it's not really loud but you can certainly hear and notice it even when watching TV etc

Thanks


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## ian_m (17 Jan 2022)

One of the local aquatic shops near me that made custom marine cabinets and tanks (I have a feeling they didn't survive the pandemic last time I looked) made cabinets from waterproof board, but lined the equipment section with soundproof & waterproof plasterboard. This as well as placing all equipment on rubber legs and short sections of silicone tubing connected to pumps etc, apparently kept the equipment almost silent so you could run a marine tank in your lounge or bedroom no issue.

Me, I made my system quieter by placing my pump, a JBLe1500, outside the Vision 180 cabinet on a "pile" of carpet cutoffs. Also I carefully placed the intake/outtake pipes to make sure they don't touch the cabinet or rear lounge wall.


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## Planted_Box (17 Jan 2022)

i just turn the tv up ....... side note i use sound foam in my office/studio and to be fair it pretty good i don't know what it would be like on small scale if you decide to go with foam the deeper the pattern and grooves the better traps sound


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## idris (17 Jan 2022)

ian_m said:


> One of the local aquatic shops near me that made custom marine cabinets and tanks (I have a feeling they didn't survive the pandemic last time I looked) made cabinets from waterproof board, but lined the equipment section with soundproof & waterproof plasterboard.


Plasterboard is good for soundproofing, though it works differently to using foam - it doesn't resonate in the way wood / fibre based boards do. A good, cheap, room sound proofing "hack" is to add a second layer of bog-standard plasterboard. Way more dB/£ than fancy products.


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## The grumpy one (17 Jan 2022)

Sheep's wool in between two sheets of dense material (like 9mm MDF).
Sheep's wool is very good at absorbing sound and it does not burn. Very sustainable.








						Knauf Eko Roll Loft insulation roll, (L)7.28m (W)1.14m (T)100mm | DIY at B&Q
					

This loft insulation is one of 3 pack sizes available from Eko Roll, this roll measures (L)7.28m (W)1.14m (T)100mm and provides excellent thermal performance



					www.diy.com


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## The grumpy one (17 Jan 2022)

Sheep's wool in between two sheets of dense material (like 9mm MDF). Make a box. line inside with wool. Make another box to fit inside without touching outside box. Make a door the same way.
Sheep's wool is very good at absorbing sound and it does not burn. Very sustainable.








						Knauf Eko Roll Loft insulation roll, (L)7.28m (W)1.14m (T)100mm | DIY at B&Q
					

This loft insulation is one of 3 pack sizes available from Eko Roll, this roll measures (L)7.28m (W)1.14m (T)100mm and provides excellent thermal performance



					www.diy.com
				




Sorry duplicate. Server had a wobbly


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## jaypeecee (17 Jan 2022)

Aqua sobriquet said:


> You first need to isolate the vibrations from the filter going into the cabinet.


Hi @Aqua sobriquet 

Spot on! This is the _cause_ of the problem. It's high time that filter manufacturers addressed this. Not that it's an easy one to solve with vibrations at 50Hz* and multiples of this frequency. I wonder if we'll ever see aquarium filters being driven by DC motors. Ah, I can almost hear the silence!

* I'm thinking UK

JPC


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## arcturus (17 Jan 2022)

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @Aqua sobriquet
> 
> Spot on! This is the _cause_ of the problem. It's high time that filter manufacturers addressed this. Not that it's an easy one to solve with vibrations at 50Hz* and multiples of this frequency. I wonder if we'll ever see aquarium filters being driven by DC motors. Ah, I can almost hear the silence!
> 
> ...


An alternative is getting a pre-filter without pump/motor, or remove the impeller from the canister filter, and then use an in-line DC return pump. Potentially more flow and less noise…


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## ian_m (18 Jan 2022)

One alternative I have seen done is replace the cannister filter pump with a magnetically coupled pump. 
173903 | Xylem, 240 V Magnetic Coupling Centrifugal Water Pump, 23L/min | RS Components

Whilst not cheap are apparently very quiet as the vibration/noise making motor shaft is not directly coupled to the pumping impellor. If you mount the motor body on something suitable noise deadening, the rush and flow of water is reported to the the next noise generation source. This is the type of pump ADA use on their rather expensive, but apparently quite quiet external filters.

Other people have reported quite good filter quietening by inserting a section of silicone tubing in their filter pipes. I have contemplated this but the pipe joiners will reduce the pipe diameter quite significantly thus reducing flow.


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## Matti (12 Feb 2022)

I have the same problem, the Oase filter itself is quiet. The problem is that the cabinet is resonating at the same frequency as the filter. The cabinet acts like a body of a quitar.
The noise itself is not that loud, but if I would have more cabinets it could become an issue.


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