What do you think is the quietest large HOB?

I am running an Aquaclear 70 now on my 29 gallon aquarium that has several large angels that will be moving to a 55 gallon in about a month. The 70 is somewhat noisy. I replaced the impeller shaft and lubricated the impeller with food safe silicon oil. It was nice and quiet for about 3 days and then got noisy again.

I'm looking for a 70 gallon or larger HOB that's super quiet. Here is my experience so far:

Aquaclear 70. Noisier than I would like it to be. I re-lubricated with silicone grease instead of oil. We'll see how that goes.
Aquaclear 110. Quieter than the 70. I have 2 of these. One I put a ceramic shaft into and it's pretty quiet. The other uses the stock Fluval shaft and is pretty noisy.
Seachem Tidal 75. Could wake the dead. Also has serious bypass issues at maximum flow. Not a fan at all. Lubricated impeller shaft. Made no difference.
Seachem Tidal 110. Same as the 75. Super loud. Lots of bypass. Just not cool. We through 3 of these from Amazon and every one was just as loud.
Tetra Whisper. I tried 2 different models of these filters. Whisper is definitely not the word for this filter. Very disappointed
Willinger Brothers Second Nature Whisper. These are incredibly quiet. Tetra really cheaped out on these filters when they bought Willinger Brothers.
Aquaclear 50 and lower. Very quiet filters. But I want a higher flow rate.
Aqueon Quietflow 50. I just set one of these up tonight and they're pretty quiet. I was going to lubricate the impeller shaft, but when I took it apart I got grease all over my fingers, which tells me it's lubricated at the factory. These filers don't really have a lot of capacity. They'r every narrow.

Am I missing anything here?

 

All my tanks run on sponge filters only these days. Pretty quiet, if you have a decently quiet air pump.

 

I have an AC50 and AC70. They both run silently unless the lid starts rattling. When that happens I tap it to make it stop.

 

I use the tidals and luv them. Guess my hearing isn’t to good .

 

I have 2 Marineland 200s (200gph) running on my 40g breeder tank. They're absolutely silent and inexpensive, $25ea. and free shipping/returns on Amazon. Can't beat that!

 

I have an AC50 and AC70. They both run silently unless the lid starts rattling. When that happens I tap it to make it stop.

I'm not sure why this AC70 is so noisy, I have a second one in the garage. Maybe I'll swap them out.

 

I have a Marineland Emperor Pro 450 on each of my 75's - all I hear is the biowheel turning and water coming out of the outlet. On two my 55's I have a Marineland Penguin Pro 375's, the other 55 runs a combination of a Penguin Pro 275 and a Penguin 200. All have Marineland prefilter sponges. All are dead quiet.

Very little maintenance other than cleaning the intake sponges and changing media as needed.

 

I have a Marineland Emperor Pro 450 on each of my 75's - all I hear is the biowheel turning and water coming out of the outlet. On two my 55's I have a Marineland Penguin Pro 375's, the other 55 runs a combination of a Penguin Pro 275 and a Penguin 200. All have Marineland prefilter sponges. All are dead quiet.

Very little maintenance other than cleaning the intake sponges and changing media as needed.

My experience with all those biowheel filters is that the wheels cause an insane amount of "splashing" noise until the wheels get good and saturated with water and bacteria. Then they get nice and quiet.

 

Nothing says you can't take them out if the sound is too much. Just sayin...

 

I had an Emperor 450 for a while. I got rid of it and I don't remember why I did.

 

I’ve had Marinelands before and was pleased overall w the quietness, Topfins we’re ok too, but the media area for both of these is too small for my liking and not very customizable. I switched to AquaClears of various sizes and currently use them on all my tanks.
1. they do need, as mentioned, periodic maintenance, but that’s no problem in that replacement parts are readily available.
2. It is paramount that sand/gravel not get into the shaft/motor area. There has to be a pre-filter sponge at the intake tube.
3. Oftentimes the noise heard is from the lid which is a bit awkward to fit on easily. I will put small weights on them to minimize vibrations or a rubberband.
4. The curved tube piece has to fit all the way down correctly or it will rattle and not draw water well.
I tried canister filters which are indeed quiet, but quickly returned to hobs. HOBs are so very serviceable and pretty darn reliable. With proper regular care, mine have remained pretty quiet through the years.

 

3. Oftentimes the noise heard is from the lid which is a bit awkward to fit on easily. I will put small weights on them to minimize vibrations or a rubberband.

On my AC 70 I notice a substantial increase in noise with the lid on. But this is not due to rattling. It seems to contain and channel the pump noise forward and towards the listener. It is much quieter with the lid off because then the sound goes up towards the ceiling instead. The difference is profound when I stand there and install / remove the lid, so it stays off. My AC20's are darn near silent regardless if the cover is on or off, so I keep 'em on.

I still run a Marineland Penguin 170 with bio wheel that is over 25 years old. It is silent except for the lovely / dreadful babbling brook sound. (depending on ones outlook )

 

Nothing says you can't take them out if the sound is too much. Just sayin...

I have no issue leaving them in. They quiet down over time.

I once bought a box full of about 8 Emperor 400 filters. They were all very loud. I bought new impellers for them all. About half of them became super quiet. The others stayed loud no matter what I did. The next step would have been to replace the motors, but those are integrated into the filter case, so that was not an option.

 

My experience with all those biowheel filters is that the wheels cause an insane amount of "splashing" noise until the wheels get good and saturated with water and bacteria. Then they get nice and quiet.

I don't use the biowheels on my Marinelands. I did buy generic sponge prefilters to put over the intake tube after removing the big, boxy strainers. Had to stretch them a bit as the intake tube is square vs round, but it works! Also, toss the carbon cartridge and fill with extra sponges, batting, lava rock, etc. to increase the mechanical/bio filtration. They have nice, wide boxes to outfit as you like.

 

Well, the re-lube on the Aquaclear 70 is starting to wear out. It's gone from quiet to a "low rumble." If the pattern continues, it will be back to the "I can hear it over the TV playing" noise level by the weekend.

 

I'm not sure why this AC70 is so noisy, I have a second one in the garage. Maybe I'll swap them out.

I set up a new AC70 last night and it's definitely noisier than my AC110.

 

I set up a new AC70 last night and it's definitely noisier than my AC110.

All the AC filters except the 110 all use the same motor. They just use different impellers to force more water through them. I think the AC70 is probably pushing it with that size motor.

I think I may swap the 70 out for a 110 and just reduce the flow rate. That would also give me a very large basket for media.

 

The AC 110 will do nicely in your 55g layer on.

 

Something happened with the Aqueon 50 overnight. Woke up this morning and it was super loud. I could hear it from 2 rooms away. Took the filter off and cleaned it out as best a could a reassembled it, and it's still pretty **** loud. I may need to take it back to the store and exchange it for another one.