Sound proofing

[mark]

Looking to line the area under my tank with some sort of acoustic panel and come across Soundstop fibreboard. Anyone know if this is available in Canada (haven't heard back fr their rep) or something similar?

http://www.knightcelotex.com/productline/soundstop/ss_overview.asp

[Joe Reefer]

Hey Mark, I put this (http://www.owenscorning.com/quietzone/products/products.asp) in the wall where my new tank is going, not sure how well it works because the tank is not going:mrgreen: , but I'll let you know.

[GMGQ]

I would advise against putting any fibrous, insulation type stuff inside your cabinet. It will get humid and damp in there, and the material may degrade and fall into your sump, etc. I originally had some sound proofing foam around the back of my CL pump, and after a while it got encrusted with salt creep and it was just a mess, for very little gain.

I dont think lining your cabinet is the way to insulate sound. You want to leave the cabinet breathable, so that the humidity isnt enclosed inside.

Just take a step back and see what is actually causing the noise. Is it the trickle of water? The return pump humming against the bottom of the sump? (tip: get a mouse pad from the dollar store and put it under the pump). Etc.

For me, my main noise-maker is my closed loop pump, which is inside the cabinet. The noise is from the the pump whirring against the cabinet, which acts like an amplifier for the sound. If I held the pump in my hand (basically suspending it), then there's virtually no sound. So I screwed in a couple of hooks and I took some larger/longer zap straps and looped them around the pump and hung it off the hooks. The next problem was the spa-flex tubing that was touching the back of the cabinet where I had drilled holes for it to go through. Again, the vibrations from the tubing were being amplified by the back of the cabinet. I lessened the sound by putting some foam around the spa-flex, so that it doesnt directly touch the wood of the cabinet. I used that grey insulation tubing you can get at home depot (to wrap around hot water lines).

A friend of mine is always amazed at how quiet my tank is compared to his.

[Reefer Rob]

I was thinking about hanging something on the wall behind my cabinet that wouldn't reflect sound. Has anyone tried this?

[dockrat]

The best stuff to use is rubber coated lead but this stuf is real $$$... it dosent corode or fall into the tank its used for sound dampining in boats with diesel engines...a trick to makeing pumps silent is to isolate them with a small piece of soft hose between pump and the monting surface... you can also buy rubber isolating washers for this as well

[mark]

Tank sits on a wide pony wall, sumps in the basement and the only thing below is the CL pump and 4 way so humidity isn't a problem. Pump (Dart) and plumbing is isolated but still getting a little noise.

It's fairly quiet now just want to go the extra bit and thought the panels would probably be the way to go since don't have a lot of clearance for batting. Had been thinking acoustic ceiling tiles until I seen the Soundstop.

And Lando, get working on that tank, looks like you have some great waiting.