Pulled the Seachem Tidal 75 out of storage

I watched a video yesterday about someone switching from a Seachem Tidal 75 to a Penguin Pro 375 because of the noise level of the Tidal.

I left a comment on the video that I had similar noise levels with my Tidal 75 and it's been sitting in my garage unused. I got a reply from someone claiming there was a known bad batch of impellers at one point. So, I called Seachem to ask about this. The guy told there was recall on these and there was no batch of bad impellers. He'd be happy to troubleshoot the filter with me, if I could set it back up.

So, taking a break from work, I pulled it out of the garage and dropped it on my 29 gallon tank for testing.

And it was loud. Way louder than I would like. Within 3 feet of my head are two Aquaclear 110s and an Aquaclear 50. One of the 110s is so old the lid says Aquaclear 500. And the Tidal drowned out the noise of all the other filters. A half hour into this thing running, it started to make noises like it was sucking in a bunch of air. I looked and my the filter had sucked in a bunch of loose algae that was in the tank.

I took the whole thing apart and found algae in the motor. Since I had the motor apart, I lubricated it with some synthetic grease and popped it back in.

The thing is running now, and it's a LOT quieter than it was before. Still not as quiet as the Aquaclear 110. But a pretty HUGE difference.

The big question now is. how long will it stay this quiet.

 

Andy, I would probably use it for a back up. keep it in case your Aquaclear fails, at least yo have a back up filter. I’ve been using Aquaclears since the early 80’s and personally like them, but you never know if a filter fails, don’t matter what brand. So if your spare works, keep it as a back up. A noisy filter is better than no filter till you gets replacement.

 

I am running a tidal 75 in one of the tanks at about 20% output. It's inaudible. Even when cranked up all the way, the splashing of the water output is louder than the device. The only issue I had was that the output regulator dial was not working correctly which was due to the blue plastic piece that was bent a little which was resolved by bending it back straight. Since mine is pretty quiet, I get surprised when people report noise issues especially since the motor is inside the tank.

 

I find it odd too. I'll watch a YouTube video where someone will show you his Tidal running silent, and then you find another video where someone is running a Tidal that is noisy.

My experience with both Tidal 110s I tried were that they were loud enough to wake the dead. I made a warranty claim with Seachem and they sent me a new motor. It made no difference.

 

I find it odd too. I'll watch a YouTube video where someone will show you his Tidal running silent, and then you find another video where someone is running a Tidal that is noisy.

My experience with both Tidal 110s I tried were that they were loud enough to wake the dead. I made a warranty claim with Seachem and they sent me a new motor. It made no difference.

What happens when you turn the surface skimmer all the way down? Any difference in noise?

 

I have 5 Tidal 75s on 4 of my tanks. All have been running over a year. These are very quiet. And relatively maintenance free. I run them all full force. No problems so far.

 

What happens when you turn the surface skimmer all the way down? Any difference in noise?

I have it running for maximum flow from the intake tube. There in no way to completely turn the surface skimmer off. Doesn't make a difference in the noise level.