Quietest filter for a 10 gallon tank?

[HoosierJeff]

Greetings, folks. Have a 10 gallon tank in my room. It is dirted, deep sand substrate, and fairly heavily planted.

I've had an Oase BioCompact 50 (with a pre-filter sponge on the output) on it and that has worked well for my Betta. 

I'm considering moving him to a different tank and stocking this one differently, and the BioCompact is pretty small, so a larger filter is on my mind. 

But, I hate mechanical noises in my bedroom. Don't mind water movement noises, but can't stand mechanical ones (and I have sensitive ears.) Sponge filters are out because of the racket air pumps make; I've tried a lot, including the nano-USB ones, and none have passed muster for me. I have Sicce Shark ADV's in a couple other tanks and love how quiet they are, but they're too tall for this tank. 

If I switch to a HOB, I prefer one that has the pump in the water. I've tried a couple Tidal 35's, but both were noisy. The Marina Slim has been recommended to me.

What other suggestions do you have for a truly quiet filter for a 10 gallon?

Thanks for your input!

[bryanisag]

Are you able to put the air pump in another room and run airline tubing to your tank? Might be quitest option. You could look into in tank filters like the fluval u3 or something like that. 

[HoosierJeff]

On 2/19/2024 at 12:28 PM, bryanisag said:

Are you able to put the air pump in another room and run airline tubing to your tank? Might be quitest option. You could look into in tank filters like the fluval u3 or something like that. 

Thanks for the idea, but, no, I can't do that.

[Gannon]

Any kind of electrical internal filter will likely be your best bet! I haven't used any in a long time so idk what is the best choice now, but back in the day I really liked it, and all my all-in-one tanks have run really well and function similarly with a submerged pump. 

HOB filters often have rattling lids and can vibrate against the tank and be noisy. There surely are nice quiet ones, but it wouldn't be the first choice I make. 

Edited February 19 by Gannon

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I have a tiny internal filter with a tiny little spraybar in my 20 long. I keep it pointed up towards the water surface so as to not disturb my botanicals all over the bottom of the tank. In my opinion, it’s quiet. I think I paid like 8 bucks for it on Amazon. I’d try something like that. Easy on the wallet, might fit your needs, and if it doesn’t it’s easy to return. 
 

Here’s the link:

https://www.amazon.com/NICREW-Aquarium-Submersible-Adjustable-Waterflow/dp/B08TLK2XXD/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_maf_2?crid=3QNPZI9UJP5JF&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.JtDUXDzyeDWtH1qmKmfndqYtmsuibbTPYTC4kN5yYSAyjejABDZOVASWLAg_m5JTDJP_L4VAkRy35UQePz77V537hU0YeU8_xXftbkR7EZCfHP-kl9VXUIXPfbevlvJnd0hPAYtqgnnKZQi2wiciMd-sGIhRZ1Z8Qs8ZMKjofOUlibcrFJv2mWkzrrRxgZLcWKNiRkRbZG0WbEiwByYCWA.MhpYK8zlHBCBGpvRqwSXaD-JRYze7TqCYQ_rmgNXqug&dib_tag=se&keywords=tiny+internal+aquarium+filter&qid=1708371752&sprefix=tiny+internal+%2Caps%2C119&sr=8-2

Edited February 19 by AllFishNoBrakes

[IanB]

For a heavily planted 10 gallon, unless you are really heavily stocked, you don't need much filtration if you have a sand/gravel/soil substrate. You just need to move some water, get some oxygenation, and polish the water a bit. If I were looking to have a quiet option, I would consider using a small surface skimmer (UNS and Oase both have affordable ones). It will move the water, keep the surface clean, get some gas exchange, and have a small sponge to remove particles from the water a little. Only real downside is you may have to clean it out every few days, but it takes seconds to do so and doesn't make a mess.

Edited February 19 by IanB
Clarification

[Lennie]

I have 4 HOBs in my bedroom, 3 of them are Aquaclears (30,50 and 70). Pretty quiet in general, only AC70 has a tiny bit of rattling sound but it is almost impossible to hear if you arent very close to it. If you can level the water equal to the outflow part of the HOB, then they are extremely quiet in general. If not, then waterfall sound can be as annoying as sponge filter/airstone bubbles and spraybar. 

However, please note that if you betta is a long fin one, basically very low flow is your best bet. And in the past, I found my plakat male jumped into the HOB 3 times before so if you willl use a HOB with water line levelled up, then you may want to consider something to block the potential jumping.

Edited February 19 by Lennie

[Tony s]

Sicce tidal series are supposed to be extremely quiet. the pump is in the tank. so the water deadens the sound. it has the added benefit of priming itself as needed. Tidal 35 is their smallest, but is more than enough for a 10

[Flipper]

On 2/19/2024 at 11:21 AM, HoosierJeff said:

If I switch to a HOB, I prefer one that has the pump in the water. I've tried a couple Tidal 35's, but both were noisy. The Marina Slim has been recommended to me.

I've used the Marina Slims before and I liked them.  Occasionally they would rattle and I sat a rock on the lid and that helped.  The problem I found with the Marinas is the baskets are small and even my tiny hands had trouble getting into the baskets to clean and not enough room to add a bag of biomedia.

So, I changed to Tidal 35s and I love them.  When any noise starts, I clean the impellers and scrub inside area where the motor attaches.  I do that every 2 or 3 months.  I can only hear the waterfall noise.

BTW, the green colored nano pump from the Co-op is silent, so you could use that for a sponge filter.  I hope you get your problem resolved.

 

[HoosierJeff]

On 2/19/2024 at 3:49 PM, Flipper said:

I've used the Marina Slims before and I liked them.  Occasionally they would rattle and I sat a rock on the lid and that helped.  The problem I found with the Marinas is the baskets are small and even my tiny hands had trouble getting into the baskets to clean and not enough room to add a bag of biomedia.

So, I changed to Tidal 35s and I love them.  When any noise starts, I clean the impellers and scrub inside area where the motor attaches.  I do that every 2 or 3 months.  I can only hear the waterfall noise.

BTW, the green colored nano pump from the Co-op is silent, so you could use that for a sponge filter.  I hope you get your problem resolved.

 

Thank you! Great input on the Marina Slim. I like using biomedia, so this is really helpful information.

On 2/19/2024 at 3:45 PM, Tony s said:

Sicce tidal series are supposed to be extremely quiet. the pump is in the tank. so the water deadens the sound. it has the added benefit of priming itself as needed. Tidal 35 is their smallest, but is more than enough for a 10

Thank you. I had a couple noisy ones before, but found a separate post that talked about using silicon lube on the impeller when it was new to silence it. Might go that route.

[Flipper]

On 2/19/2024 at 3:15 PM, HoosierJeff said:

Thank you. I had a couple noisy ones before, but found a separate post that talked about using silicon lube on the impeller when it was new to silence it. Might go that route.

Lubing it isn't necessary and would just allow chemicals to seep into the water, in my humble opinion.   Plus, silicon would attract dirt.  Cleaning the propeller has always worked for me.  If this isn't satisfactory, I'd go with a small sponge filter as no hob is completely silent without maintenance. 

[Stef]

Dymax SlimFlo’s hobs are silent. I had one that made a buzz sound for a few days but is now completely silent. The slim design is nice though can be hard to clean. Flow is gentle for a betta and is adjustable. 

[HoosierJeff]

On 2/19/2024 at 5:04 PM, Flipper said:

Lubing it isn't necessary and would just allow chemicals to seep into the water, in my humble opinion.   Plus, silicon would attract dirt.  Cleaning the propeller has always worked for me.  If this isn't satisfactory, I'd go with a small sponge filter as no hob is completely silent without maintenance. 

Thanks! I have three of Aquarium Co-op's tiny USB pumps, and they do do a great job powering sponge filters. Unfortunately, they are neither as quiet as I'd like, nor have I found them to last very long. (AC replaced the ones that went bad, but it still doesn't seem like a sustainable long-term solution, plus the noise still being more than I care for.)

Good point on the lube, though.

On 2/19/2024 at 11:53 PM, Stef said:

Dymax SlimFlo’s hobs are silent. I had one that made a buzz sound for a few days but is now completely silent. The slim design is nice though can be hard to clean. Flow is gentle for a betta and is adjustable. 

I will take a look. Thanks for the tip!

[TeeJay]

Yeah for a hob with the pump inside the tank you are pretty limited to the tidal or a marineland penguin pro 125. The 125 may be a bit of overkill but does have a fairly good flow adjustment to it. I use those on my 20 longs. And are pretty dang quite and 30 bucks on Amazon.

Now if your willing to go pump out of the tank the aquatop Forza series is very quiet as well and they come in like 3-4 sizes. I believe they are around 20-25 for the size you want for a 10 gallon. But if it's heavy planted you could most likely get away with the 5 gallon size. I run coop pre filter sponges on both all of them.

[HoosierJeff]

On 2/20/2024 at 3:55 PM, TeeJay said:

Yeah for a hob with the pump inside the tank you are pretty limited to the tidal or a marineland penguin pro 125. The 125 may be a bit of overkill but does have a fairly good flow adjustment to it. I use those on my 20 longs. And are pretty dang quite and 30 bucks on Amazon.

Now if your willing to go pump out of the tank the aquatop Forza series is very quiet as well and they come in like 3-4 sizes. I believe they are around 20-25 for the size you want for a 10 gallon. But if it's heavy planted you could most likely get away with the 5 gallon size. I run coop pre filter sponges on both all of them.

Thank you, @TeeJay! I appreciate your input and the suggestions.

Do you have any experience with the Forza series and restarting after power outages? We have fairly frequent power blips.

[HoosierJeff]

On 2/20/2024 at 4:36 PM, Flipper said:

Why did you ask for advise from the forum and then reject every idea we gave? 

@Flipper I understand the question. My intent isn’t to reject every idea that comes in; I’m hoping to find a solution I haven’t yet explored. Coming to ask here wasn’t my first step in researching options; I’ve gone down all sorts of rabbit holes and was trying to find new ones. In my initial post I tried to provide enough information about what I had tried and ruled out (including sponge filters and nano-USB pumps) and then I specifically request ideas I might not yet have tried. 

Input on this thread has put some new options on the table I hadn’t yet considered, which was my hope with asking the question in the first place. In fact, your comments about the Marina S10 ruled that one out for me since I want the option of biomedia. I also appreciated hearing your experiences with the Tidal 35’s, and I have to decide how to square that with my experience that was different.

Not sure what else to say. Research leads to lots of dead ends, but that’s part of the process. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[TeeJay]

On 2/20/2024 at 4:22 PM, HoosierJeff said:

Thank you, @TeeJay! I appreciate your input and the suggestions.

Do you have any experience with the Forza series and restarting after power outages? We have fairly frequent power blips.

It's about a 50/50 on solid restarts after a outrage. If you have more outages that "usual" maybe go with the penguin pro 125. I usually don't run them with the included bio wheel.. you can turn the flow down as low as you can. And if that is still not enough you can stuff a piece of filter sponge into the outlet and that will dampen it all the way down.

[Flipper]

On 2/20/2024 at 4:14 PM, HoosierJeff said:

I’ve gone down all sorts of rabbit holes and was trying to find new ones.

Your reply to me was more than gracious!  Thank you, really.

I'm sorry for what I said.  My bad!  That's the first time (and last time) I've acted ugly here.  😔 

[HoosierJeff]

On 2/20/2024 at 5:19 PM, TeeJay said:

It's about a 50/50 on solid restarts after an outrage. If you have more outages that "usual" maybe go with the penguin pro 125. I usually don't run them with the included bio wheel.. you can turn the flow down as low as you can. And if that is still not enough you can stuff a piece of filter sponge into the outlet and that will dampen it all the way down.

Very helpful! Thank you!

On 2/20/2024 at 6:22 PM, Flipper said:

Your reply to me was more than gracious!  Thank you, really.

I'm sorry for what I said.  My bad!  That's the first time (and last time) I've acted ugly here.  😔 

Apology totally accepted! Keep sharing the wealth…I know you help lots of folks with your contributions to conversations around here. Keep it up!

[reefhugger]

@HoosierJeff  did you settle on a filter?   This is an interesting exchange of ideas.  I'm curious on your decision. 

[HoosierJeff]

On 3/13/2024 at 6:11 AM, reefhugger said:

@HoosierJeff  did you settle on a filter?   This is an interesting exchange of ideas.  I'm curious on your decision. 

@reefhugger, I did. I appreciate the prompt to come back and share the update.

Silence is what I wanted above all, so I chose a Sicce Shark Pro 700. Even on the lowest setting with the spray bar it was creating more flow than I wanted, so I put a pre-filter sponge on the output scoop (used zip ties on the scoop to create little tabs the sponge grabs onto). Now I have the filter on high and the sponge diffuses the water, leaving just enough flow to move things around a bit, without blowing my future fish around.

I'm 100% satisfied with this as the solution! The filter made a bit of noise for about the first 24 hours, but I have yet to hear it since then (and it is on my desk in my bedroom, so I spend a lot of hours right next to my tank.)

The internal filter is kind of large for the 10 gallon, but I have a black background and the black filter sits in the back corner behind some plants, so I don't see it.

Since the water surface is fairly undisturbed, I had to add a surface skimmer that runs for 30 minutes twice per day and keeps the surface nice and clean. 

Not the simplest solution, for sure, but the absolute silence is wonderful. And I really like the leak-proofness and power-outage friendliness of internal filters, plus their silence, so I have them in almost all my tanks now (different models---Sicce Shark ADV 400/600's in a couple 20 talls, Oase BioCompact 50 in a couple 5 gallons, and this Sicce Shark Pro 700 in this 10 gallon.)

Let me know if you have any other questions.

[HelplessNewbie]

Noise was also a factor for us in our 3 bedroom tanks. In my son's bedroom, we use a nano water pump (Sicce Syncra Nano, very quiet) with an ACO sponge filter, as well as an air pump driven ACO sponge filter. The air pump itself is entombed in a glass vase/jar and sound is cut down by a lot (no buzzing or ticking noise).

I posted about them somewhere. Let me know if you want me to link to it, and I will get to it later.

Edited March 13 by HelplessNewbie

[HoosierJeff]

On 3/13/2024 at 8:34 AM, HelplessNewbie said:

Noise was also a factor for us in our 3 bedroom tanks. In my son's bedroom, we use a nano water pump (Sicce Syncra Nano, very quiet) with an ACO sponge filter, as well as an air pump driven ACO sponge filter. The air pump itself is entombed in a glass vase/jar and sound is cut down by a lot (no buzzing or ticking noise).

I posted about them somewhere. Let me know if you want me to link to it, and I will get to it later.

Thank you! I've solved the problem for now, but like your idea about the pump with the sponge filter. Good trick to keep up my sleeve. I've seen a video about the air pump in a glass bottle idea, and tried it, but it was still a bit more than I cared for. You've been happy with it, though, clearly, so perhaps I did something wrong. Thanks for chiming in!