What is a good quiet powerhead???

fish-n-chips

AC Members
Oct 29, 2008
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N.E. WI
Real Name
C.J.
The title says it all.I currently have a Top Fin powerhead on my 20long for my DIY CO2 and this thing is noisy as heck. I've removed it and ran it in the sink tipping it upside down and every other way in case there was air in the unit making the noise, all to no avail. It drives me nuts. I have the CO2 line running in the adapter on top of the unit to aid in CO2 diffusion. Any help would be greatly appreciated and aid in restoring my sanity.
 
I have a Marineland Maxi-Jet 400 on my 10g shrimp tank sponge filter, and it is absolutely silent. As in, I have to look at the water surface to see ripples if I want to make sure it's running. (note: I don't use the venturi feature, so I don't know if that makes it noisier.)

If your CO2 tube is putting bubbles through the impeller, that may be the cause of the noise. When I clean the sponge and first put it back in the tank, the powerhead makes some noise until all the air is out of the sponge, since bubbles rattle when they go through the impeller.

The Maxi-Jet is a great powerhead, and I highly recommend it.
 
Thanks for the responses. I was thinking the same thing about co2 in the impeller, that is why I took the powerhead out of the tank and ran it in the sink w/o co2 tube attached. Even after running it in the sink for 15 minutes and turning the powerhead upside down and every other way without exposing it to air it still made a ton of noise. I will look into both options mentioned and try to pick up a new one this weekend.
If anyone has any other input, I would be happy to hear it.
 
I have a Penguin 550 and with the CO2/Air inlet closed it is pretty quiet, but as soon as you introduce air or CO2 into that inlet it becomes noisy as heck... idk if it can be quiet with co2 getting in there.
 
I have a Koralia 1 and 4 in my 125 and both are dead silent.
 
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