Anyone sound proof their tank cabinet?

[bigtoga]

Got my new tank setup today (will do a thread later on that!) and it's not that it's loud; rather it's just in a common area. If I could knock down the gurgling 10db, let's say, I think it would be perfect. I found some ideas but thought I'd ask if anyone here has done that before? It's a six foot cabinet w/ a 150g on top. It has a canopy, protein skimmer, refugium, and no chiller. It's going to eventually be a reef setup.

[kleankord]

tell me more about the ideas you've found. I'm interested.

[BadBrad8500]

That's a great idea, what would you insulate it with?

[robert1]

solar panel foam on the inside of the stand. or undercoating. like rhinoliner ... coating it would be best but would weight a ton.

[Sigmar]

they have blue 4x8 sheets of insulation board at HD and Lowes
cut to fit glue it on the inside

[Venom SS]

Try dynamat. The stuff they put inside cars with very high end sound systems. http://www.dynamat.com/

[satyra]

id love to insulate it, the pump we use on our bigger tank is very loud!

[kleankord]

Try dynamat. The stuff they put inside cars with very high end sound systems. http://www.dynamat.com/

correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't that mostly to prevent the rattling of metal (the car) from the speaker vibrations?

[bigtoga]

Dynamat is a good idea and one I'm looking at. I have a recording studio in the house (project/home studio) and I use the Soundaway Mat 2" thick mass cell foam as a "window plug" to keep sound in/out. I had an extra 4'x2' section of it and, when I put it behind my tank, it made a pretty decent difference. That's what led me to thinking about sound proofing it. The problem is the Soundaway stuff would cost $500 to use for my cabinet (6+ feet). Forget that!!!!

Yesterday I talked with the guys at SPI (a local insulation/HVAC shop) and they have this stuff called Armaflex made by Armacell that's relatively cheap - $25 for a 3'x4' 1" thick slab. I spoke to the guy at Armacell and he said it will definitely help knock down some of the sound.

I think I'll run get two sheets of it today and just try it. I'll cut it so that I glue sections to the front cabinet doors, to the inside sides, and then place two sheets just hanging along the back. It doesn't have to be that great to really knock the sound down 10db. If I go get it, I'll post pics + results!

[bigtoga]

I didn't get a chance to go yesterday and get the materials. I'll try today and will post pics!

[bigtoga]

Okay - I did it. This is for a 150g tank w/ a 6' stand so my costs are a bit more than something like a 55g. I spent about $75 on materials - I bought three Armacell Armaflex 1" thick foam mats (4'x3') and cut to fit. They were about $25 ea. from a company called SPI in Dallas (Harry Hines/Royal Ln area). Check it out:

The before:

http://i.imgur.com/TUEUyl.jpg

The materials:

http://i.imgur.com/1Ndq6l.jpg

The helper:

http://i.imgur.com/3waLOl.jpg

The work:

http://i.imgur.com/OQsbXl.jpg

bigtoga added 1 Minutes and 41 Seconds later...

The finished product:

http://i.imgur.com/XcIf6l.jpg

The protein skimmer was the loudest part so I gave it the most attention:

http://i.imgur.com/YZSTRl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/bmrr8l.jpg

I also put some loose pieces around the ends/corners:

http://i.imgur.com/7LZWbl.jpg

And I put two big 2'x4' sheets in the back against the wall:

http://i.imgur.com/Q4myDl.jpg

[Venom SS]

How did it work out? Ide like to do something about mine as well. My tank roars.

[bigtoga]

Bottom line: it does exactly what I hoped it would - knock about 10db down. You no longer hear the individual gurgles of the water; you now just hear the whir of a motor. My wife enjoyed the gurgles though but I didn't - they were just too loud to me. This knocks those down and it's just a little bit of sound that you hear now. It didn't completely stop the sound, but I'm okay with that because that's not what I was expecting.

Was it worth it? Kind of - $75 is a lot of money for soundproofing. I'm not unhappy with the purchase though - this is a big tank and, TBH, $75 for soundproofing is just not that big of a purchase when it will last 5+ years. I'm happy saying that it went beyond my expectations of how much it would knock down.

Anyway, just wanted to share - hope this helps someone!

[bigtoga]

So it's been a few weeks with the soundproofing and I'm 100% happy. It's such an easy thing to do - you just buy the 3'x4' mats, cut them to fit, and adhere them to the doors. I opted to just place the cut strips in other places (rather than glue). I highly recommend it for anyone with a loud tank or for someone who has a tank in a primary room!

[pope]

Nice write up. All my noise is from my canopy.