CPR BakPak Dual Pak (REALLY LOUD!)

[howser]

Hi Everyone,

I have a CPR BakPak Dual Pak skimmer on my 90G with two MJ 1200's powering it. It's really loud and I think that most of the noise is from the MJ's pulling in the air. Wondering if anyone has one and/or knows of a way to quiet it down.

 

The tank is very quiet except for the skimmer and it's driving me NUTS!

 

Thanks!

[madmax7774]

The best way i can think of for you to stop the noise is to buy my euroreef RS80 and replace it!

Actually, when my Dantec is ready, I will be selling the ER so if you are interested....

let me know

John

[Grav]

The best way to quite those down is to simply unplug them.

 

 

Seriously, you can make a "mufler" out of nearly anything. I'd take a small plastic bottle and drill 3 holes in the cap, 2 large enough for an air line, the 3rd a bit bigger. Then run the air line from each powerhead into the 2 holes and snake enough line in so that the end sits at the bottom of the bottle. Put the cap back on the bottle and you should see a notable difference.

 

A word of caution: being that one end of this airline will be under water it is POSSIBLE that if the power cuts out you will get a syphon. The line should always be full of air not water so it shouldn't happen.... but it could.

 

Good luck

[zoozilla]

I use to own a CPR BakPak. The MJs themselves should be pretty quiet. The culprit is the Venturi action with air getting sucked through a small diameter airtube at a very fast rate (especially with MJ1200). The only thing that worked for me was getting a longer air tube approximately 8 feet long. Also, I added an airvalve to the end of the hose so that I could fine adjust the amount air being introduced into the skimmer.

 

Make sure to keep the end of the airline above the waterline level in your tank to avoid back-siphoning....

 

Hopefully this helps

Edited January 22, 2007 by zoozilla

[howser]

I use to own a CPR BakPak. The MJs themselves should be pretty quiet. The culprit is the Venturi action with air getting sucked through a small diameter airtube at a very fast rate (especially with MJ1200). The only thing that worked for me was getting a longer air tube approximately 8 feet long. Also, I added an airvalve to the end of the hose so that I could fine adjust the amount air being introduced into the skimmer.

 

Make sure to keep the end of the airline above the waterline level in your tank to avoid back-siphoning....

 

Hopefully this helps

 

 

Interesting idea, I have the valve to regulate airflow. When I turn the airflow off -- so there's no air, it gets very quiet. So I'll try the 8' long hose to see if that quiet's it down.

 

Grav, that's a pretty intersting idea -- I'll try my good old Gatorade bottle and see if that helps!

[zoozilla]

I have the valve to regulate airflow. When I turn the airflow off -- so there's no air, it gets very quiet.

 

LOL...Don't shut the airvalve totally off. You'll need some airflow to get that skimmer to produce the much needed micro-bubbles.

Edited January 22, 2007 by zoozilla

[howser]

LOL...Don't shut the airvalve totally off. You'll need some airflow to get that skimmer to produce the much needed micro-bubbles.

 

 

Yea -- much to my dismay. I just went and played with them a little, I can turn the valve and produce a little less airflow and still get some bubbles. I'll have to see if that amount of bubbles still provides enough to skim. If not, then I'm all for trying new ideas. It's past the point of annoying, the fish even have earplugs...

[zoozilla]

It's past the point of annoying, the fish even have earplugs...

 

[unninair]

Try using airstones instead of the plastic air adjuster. Worked for me in the past.

 

Unni

[jason the filter freak]

Use a check valve in that air line with a built in "air cleaner" you don't really want to restrict the flow tooo much. They're about 1.79 at petsmart

[howser]

Use a check valve in that air line with a built in "air cleaner" you don't really want to restrict the flow tooo much. They're about 1.79 at petsmart

 

I'll have to check that out --thanks!