FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I was just given a fluval 404 from a family member - I guess it was only used for a few months before she set up a sump system for her saltwater aquarium. I had heard that they were really good filters: quiet and efficient... so I was looking forward to putting it onto my 55G n my bedroom. Unfortunately, it's rattling pretty loudly. I had to add all new filter media, so I'm hoping the noise is just from the air escaping from the media. Has anyone else had any experience with noisy fluvals? and if so is there anything I can do to quiet it down (aside from wrapping it in the blanket it's in now )

Let it run a couple days to see if it quiets up. Leave the other filter running since there's good bacteria in there.

The Amazon Nut...

first, i think a 404 is overkill for a 55g. but since you've got it running now, i guess it's too late for that

anyway, most of the time a 404 gets really noisy because it's got air bubbles trapped inside it. a good way to get them out of there is to turn the filter off and prime it using the pump slider next to the hose connections on the motor. give it a few pumps and see if you don't get lots of bubbles coming out of the output. if you don't, then your impellor might need a good cleaning, or just need to be reseated. if it's still noisy after that, then maybe something is trapped in the filter somewhere that's *not* air

---

"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

I've got the flow turned down pretty low so it's not causing too much disturbance in the tank... I'm an advocate of 'overfiltering' but eventually want to get a larger tank anyway. I tried turning the filter off and priming it again - it didn't seem to release many bubbles so I don't think that's the problem... oh well - I'm pretty much used to the noise by now!! thanks!

careful about turning down the flow in a 404, that's a good way to burn out the motor very quickly. i found that out the hard way and luckily i just needed a new impellor and not a whole new filter try cleaning the impellor and see if that doesn't help with the noise. otherwise you might just have a noisy filter

---

"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman