Make it stop!

To keep the bio balls from going into the hole cut some egg crate to go between the hole and the bio balls.

 

If you just have a hole that is sucking water down like a toilet, then that is a problem! Get a durso standpipe, it will also prevent snails, fish and hermits from getting sucked down. It will allow the air to come out of the top and make it much quieter too. If you can fix the problem instead of masking it (using bio-balls as a silencer), thats the way to go. Reasearch standpipes, they are very simple to make and you can probably buy them for cheap.

 

Durso is not an option folks.

 

I went that way when I had my 150g up but you have to make sure that you go with a vinyl and not an asphalt solution. Asphalt can cause a whole host of issues not the least of which is major outgassing of some nasty chemicals. It also has long-term issues staying put in humid/hot environments although the failures I have personally seen were in cars which get much hotter.
If you do choose to go that route a layer of mat with a top layer of a closed-cell foam should do the trick nicely. Also make sure to seal the doors to the stand with weatherstripping, the goal is to contain/absorb as much of the sound as possible.

 

I don't think he needs to sound proof his stand if thats what everyone is suggesting. That sounds ridiculous. Fix the problem, don't mask it. Whats vibrating if that is even the case? My understanding is that you have a toilet flushing every second down the overflow, then the water is spraying the sump, the skimmer is probably gargling air and probably spraying water into the sump too, right? Make sure all outlets are below the waters surface and you have to do something about your overflow....might need to replace it if there is no standpipe. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to make one?

 

Don't knock it until you try it.

 

Yup, in the case of the 150 it was in my living room. No real gurgling or toilet flushing issues but just the sound of running water was enough to drive you batty while trying to watch tv or relax. I agree that the underlying cause needs to be fixed but a little soundproofing can go a LONG way to reduce the unavoidable background noise.

 

Here is how I deadened the gurgling sound from my overflow, I don't have a picture of my overflow so I will try to explain it the best i can.


1. From the top of your pvc inlet\standpipe you put a t connector on


2 cap the top of the T connector.


3. Drill a hole in the top of the cap and put a foot long piece of air line tub into the hole that was drilled into the cap. This is the most important part, it will deaden the gurgling

4. Add an elbow (facing down) to the uncapped part of the T

 

can't make one because i don't have a bulkhead. in the diy directions on the website it constantly talks about the "bulkhead." So without one it doesn't seem like i can do much. I'm at work now but when i get home i'll put up some pictures of my overflow so you guys can see what it looks like.

 

here are the pictures. The tank looks gross cause the flash did some funky things with the algae but it doesn't look anything like that! i promise! haha