Noisy Ziss Bubble Filter? How to Quiet It Down?

[Dice]

Hey folks. I've been running the Ziss bubble filter in my 60 gallon for 6 months or so. Mostly I'm pleased with it. I have some larger fancy goldfish in the tank so bio-load is always a bit of concern. Needless to say, I've never had a problem with any water parameters so I'm assuming this filter is running well (I also had a sponge filter but just switched to a Marineland internal canister to polish the water up). 

Anyway, the bubble filter is SO noisy! The bubbles that come out of the filter are huge so they are so loud when they pop at the surface. I can seriously hear this filter all the way across the house. Has anyone had any luck modifying this to decrease the bubble size? I would be fine if it spit out bubbles similar to a sponge filter with an air stone inside, but this is just getting on my nerves. 

Honestly, now that I'm running the Marineland internal canister, I'm not sure if the Ziss is necessary anymore. I do like the idea of the stronger bacteria caused by the motion of the filter beads in the Ziss though.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be great. 

[Colu]

I found that having the ziss bubble filter just  under surface lesions the noise

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

same here I haven't found a better way than that 

[KatFish]

I don't have a Ziss air stone, but just some ones off of amazon, and I found that taking a chip clip or a bread tie (I didn't use the twist tie, but the plastic clip thing- but I think the tie could work too) , or sometimes even my hair ties- and would just loop the airline tubing and cinching it to make the bubbles go to the flow I want. 
It definitely helps for the days I'm overstimulated with noise.  

[Dice]

Thanks everyone. I've got it right at the surface right now and that definitely lessens the loud popping-bubble sounds, it's still quite noisy. I tried stuffing a filter sponge inside the top of the filter tube (where the filter media is house), hoping that would defuse the bubbles into smaller bubbles, but it didn't really work. It really messed up the movement of the filter media, and it didn't really diffuse the bubbles. It was worth a try, lol. I will keep you posted if anything else works!

 

[OnlyGenusCaps]

I'll qualify my response by saying that I do not have the Ziss bubble filter, and that I have not tried the idea(s) I am about to present.  It's just me thinking through this.

Seems the issue is that the large bubbles are making a lot of sound when the surface tension collapses after the air's escape from the water.  Smaller bubbles do not have this issue at the same volume.  Breaking larger bubbles into smaller ones at the scale we are talking about in FW is challenging without air pressure (SW has the opposite problem, but I digress). 

This means, if there is a way to lessen the collapse aspect, it should be quieter (there may be more to this, and full disclosure @dasaltemelosguy is likely to be better equipped to handle the physics of water noise than I).  But, I wonder if it might be possible to invert and partly submerge a very small net pot, like the ones that are often stuffed with rockwool when you but an aquatic plant from a LFS, immediately over where the bubbles hit the surface.  I'm thinking if you capture them, and keep the bottom of the pot close to the surface, you might disrupt the snapping collapse of the water and lessen the noise.  You'd likely have to play with the depth of the pot to see if that impacts the noise.  And there is a chance you might need to try adding a bit of fiberglass window screening inside the pot to further disrupt things.  But, I think it would be worth a try if it were me.

Again, I don't know if this will work, but it should be easy to give it a go with supplies that are easily available to an aquarist.  Just a thought.  Good luck! 

[Dice]

On 1/28/2022 at 8:07 AM, OnlyGenusCaps said:

I'll qualify my response by saying that I do not have the Ziss bubble filter, and that I have not tried the idea(s) I am about to present.  It's just me thinking through this.

Seems the issue is that the large bubbles are making a lot of sound when the surface tension collapses after the air's escape from the water.  Smaller bubbles do not have this issue at the same volume.  Breaking larger bubbles into smaller ones at the scale we are talking about in FW is challenging without air pressure (SW has the opposite problem, but I digress). 

This means, if there is a way to lessen the collapse aspect, it should be quieter (there may be more to this, and full disclosure @dasaltemelosguy is likely to be better equipped to handle the physics of water noise than I).  But, I wonder if it might be possible to invert and partly submerge a very small net pot, like the ones that are often stuffed with rockwool when you but an aquatic plant from a LFS, immediately over where the bubbles hit the surface.  I'm thinking if you capture them, and keep the bottom of the pot close to the surface, you might disrupt the snapping collapse of the water and lessen the noise.  You'd likely have to play with the depth of the pot to see if that impacts the noise.  And there is a chance you might need to try adding a bit of fiberglass window screening inside the pot to further disrupt things.  But, I think it would be worth a try if it were me.

Again, I don't know if this will work, but it should be easy to give it a go with supplies that are easily available to an aquarist.  Just a thought.  Good luck! 

Hmm, this is a great idea. You are correct, it’s definitely the collapsing sound of the large diameter bubbles that is making the noise. I tried diffusing the bubbles right at the source, but didn’t think of trying to diffuse the bubbles (or the noise) at the surface. Thanks for the suggestion! 

[OnlyGenusCaps]

On 1/31/2022 at 7:57 PM, Dice said:

Hmm, this is a great idea. You are correct, it’s definitely the collapsing sound of the large diameter bubbles that is making the noise. I tried diffusing the bubbles right at the source, but didn’t think of trying to diffuse the bubbles (or the noise) at the surface. Thanks for the suggestion! 

I'm glad if the idea was useful.  I'll be curious how my hair-brained idea works if you try it out - or anything that end sup working for you really.  Good luck, and if you can let us know how it goes. 

[BuzzDaddy21]

On 1/26/2022 at 6:35 PM, Dice said:

Ziss bubble filter

I`ve had one of these for a couple months now seems like the more air the louder the noise I just dialed back the air a little but yes there is still some noise, however since I`m becoming an old man it actually helps me fall asleep😜   

[sarabades]

I do not have the same bubbler as you here I what I did to solve the noise issue I had.

I went the opposite route of most of the suggestion, I submerged the bubblep exit deeper in the water, but what really solved the issue was reducing the bubble size to as small as possible. I get a fizzing sound from the aquarium know instead of a loud gargling of giant bubbles. Much less irritating.