Tank noise influence on animals

[CiXeL]

Ever wonder if the noise in our tanks caused by powerheads and hang on skimmers creates unnecessary stress for our animals?

 

[kleinfreak]

I often wonder this myself. Press your ear on the side of your tank...doesn't sound like music to me.
In fact, that is one of the reasons I am trying to relocate all of my powerheads, and create an external closed loop system.

 

[salt creepette]

yeah ive wondered that myself. i would guess that its annoying to the animals, just like excess noise without the ability to escape to a 'happy quiet place' would stress us out.

 

[CiXeL]

Sometimes I wonder if this is the reason some animals don't survive or spawn in our tanks. Can you really get in the mood to the sound of constant jackhammers? Wouldnt this be incredibly stressful for fish? We also have to consider the vibrations from the fans in the canopy and how that tunnels into the tank because its resting on the glass.

I would agree with kleinfreak in regards to keeping motorized equipment away from the tank as much as possible. I wonder if aquariums that use lots of circulation provided by the sump return with no motorized powerheads and use pendant style metal halide lighting fare better with the organisms in the tank. Are these systems healthier than tanks with tons of motors and vibrations?

 

[Desolas]

I've noticed the same thing. One thing I do to attempt to silence the noise is isolate my pumps with rubber. I hard plumb a lot of my stuff, but I connect the pumps to the hard line with rubber hose, and I keep all submerged pumps on neoprene mats. I actually helps cut down the noise some, but even with doing those things and making baffles to drop the sound of the water I still end up with an audible hum in the water column.

The ocean isn't exactly quiet, but it is nothing compared to our tanks I think.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't know guys. Diving on a reef is anything but quiet, so I don't know if the rythmic sounds of aquarium equipment is detrimential to our critters.

But we are all just guessin!

:mrgreen:

 

[Ralphyhp]

My propagation tank was located at my family room and i have a Kenwood Home Cinema on this room. I never see my corals unhappy. IMO, the corals use to acclimate to this behavior. Ralphyhp :wink: .

 

[NaCl-H2O]

I would have to agree with Righty, the shallow under water ocean is not really a quite place. I think most of our creatures are fine and become accustom to the new sounds once acclimated.

 

[danmhippo]

I play loud music with "wumphs" all the time near the tank. I don't see much difference to how the fish behaves.

What's audible to human ears may not be what's audible for fish..........

 

[danmhippo]

Hmmmm, maybe I should try classical? :mrgreen:

 

[Anonymous]

I don't know how the critters react, but my wife does not like a loud tank.

 

[MelanieF]

I agree that the ocean is anything but quiet however hasn't it been found that electricity and machinery affect sharks. I used to watch those sharks shows on the Discovery channel all the time and without fail the Great Whites were always biting the motors and metal pieces of the boats. Obviously our little fishies are different than a Great White but I'm sure they can sense they're not in Kansas anymore...

I currently have 3 Yellow-tail Damsels and when the tank heater kicks on it sputters a bit every time and even I can hear that noise. They don't particularly seem to mind it but I'm sure they "hear" it. I know us humans are different but haven't you ever been underwater in a pool and heard weird clicking noises from the filters etc.?

IMO, as long as we're being responsible in the care of our "kids" and they show no signs of stress about the technology we use then I guess it's no different than us living in cities compare to the countryside.

Happy reefing!