Here are good *Quiet* fans for RSM tanks

kyley

kyley

Active Member
Reefmack said:
Anyone know the CFM on the stock 250 and 130 hood fans? With some fans quieter because of lower RPM (and lower CFM) those may not be good for sufficiently cooling the hood if the cubic feet/minute is too low (shorter bulb life).
Click to expand...

Hey Terry,
I missed this post earlier, sorry. Yes, the lower CFM fans may indeed provide a bit of risk with shortening the life of our bulbs. I edited the original post with a note to warn about this.

I don't know the original CFM of the RSM fans, but the official JBJ Biocube tank fans run at 18 CFM and are a much louder 31 dBA; 3,800 rpm. If the Red Sea ones are close to that (just a hunch), then dropping to 12-14 CFM may not be a large enough difference to impact the life of our bulbs. I'd err on the side of quiet myself. After all, how peaceful and relaxing is a nice aquarium with annoyingly loud fans! :)

Anyway, the most important thing here is that you can find fans of similar CFM flow that will be much quieter due to better bearings, more aerodynamic fan blades, better balance, and just better quality construction in general (a lot of the noise comes from vibration as well - so putting some foam around the fan edges may help quiet things down further). More efficient design and slower RPMs can actually deliver more air at lower volumes. Papst and SilenX fans are perfect examples of this. The SilenX fan I listed is also 18 CFM, but only 2,000 rpm and 16 dBA - half the dBA of the JBJ fan!

yycguy, thanks for sharing your mod! Pretty slick! However, wouldn't using two quieter fans at lower CFM (12) provide more air movement than one loud fan at higher CFM (18)? Take care,
--Kyle
 
kyley

kyley

Active Member
Hmm... I just found a couple threads on fans here (should have searched first) that gave two different numbers for the CFM of the RSM hood fans:
Rating of 6.84 CFM / 19.43 dBA - neither number sounds right - seems like more airflow and a lot more noise!

Rating of 9.9 CFM / 20 dBA - same thing here!

Interesting... Well, I'll update with the actual experience of the 3 different fans I've ordered now! :) If it turns out the flow is actually that low (which I doubt), and that I can fit 60mm x 25mm fans in the hood, I might end up getting the SilenX IXP-34-12 (12 dBA, 14 CFM) or SilenX IXP-34-08 (8 dBA, 10 CFM). Take care,
--Kyle
 
Y

yycguy

Member
kyley said:
yycguy, thanks for sharing your mod! Pretty slick! However, wouldn't using two quieter fans at lower CFM (12) provide more air movement than one loud fan at higher CFM (18)? Take care,
--Kyle
Click to expand...

Certainly would, in fact I have been checking out your links to fans as I would like to have two quieter fans in there.....I just had to do some asap at the time one of my RS fans went and I needed the cooling....... I think what I would really like is the lights hooked up to the fans, i.e. when the lights are off only one fans runs then when the lights come on both fans run......
 
kyley

kyley

Active Member
Yeah, that would make sense. At any rate, with two quieter fans and your switch, then you're even better off! :) Take care,
--Kyle
 
kyley

kyley

Active Member
Hi All,
I received my fans and tested them in my computer (may install tonight or later in the week):

  1. For the hood (but oversized and plastic needs to be cut) - Papst 612 N/2ML 60x25mm fans - these are quiet and move a good amount of air, but still louder than I expected.
  2. For the hood - Scythe Mini Kaze 60mm x 20mm Silent Mini Fan - these are essentially silent! They still move a decent amount of air too! Better than expected! I think these will be perfect for the hood :) They probably move close to, if not the same amount of air as the stock fans, yet run are miles ahead in the noise difference. I'll let you know how they perform once in the hood.
  3. For the back panel - Evercool EC-EGF-6 60mm Silence Case Fan - these are also essentially silent! :) They don't move a lot of air, but with these just meant to cool the water, I don't think a lot of air movement is necessary.

The only issue with the Scythe fans is they have a short cable, so I might have to splice with the stock fan cable. Take care,
--Kyle
 
lethal

lethal

Has been struck by the ban stick
Nice one Kyle, looking forward to the report when you have them installed.
 
kyley

kyley

Active Member
Thanks, I'll do it right by measuring with an SPL meter before / after I replace the fans ;) Then we'll have a *measurable* impact on fan noise reduction. Take care,
--Kyle
 
kyley

kyley

Active Member
Hi all,
I got the back panel water cooling fans installed last night. Definitely a big difference in noise (none now really). There is less airflow, but I'm not too concerned for the water fans. Anyway, using my SPL meter (and it starts at 50 dBA so I had to be close to the fans to get readings), I measured 73-76 dBA with the stock fans (depending how close I was). With the Evercool Green fans installed, I measured 62-66 (in the same distance range). As a basis for comparison, my Vortech MP20 measured at 70 - so I went from substantially louder to substantially quieter :) I didn't have time to install the hood fans yet. I'll report on them soon. Take care,
--Kyle
 
U

ukoldschool

Member
hmmm going the wrong way with this in my opinion...

the fans in the hood are only noisy because they sit too close to the grill. theya re actually very good fans - I bougth 4x pabst fans that were supposed to have a higher cfm than the standard fans to replace them but the airflow from them was so appalingly low I left the stock ones in place but cleaned them which helped a lot wih the noise (I added 2 15mm pabst fans in to the spare places in the hood)

Also, the rear water cooling fans are also only noisy because of the housing, Ive replaced mine with 2x 80mm nocturas, they really sort the hot running probs out a treat and are very quiet as they arent mounted inside the housing.

I think youve gone the wrong way here by concentrating on noise rather than fan efficiency.
 
kyley

kyley

Active Member
Hi ukoldschool, I understand. Everyone is interested in different things from their tank. Personally I can't stand a lot of noise coming from the tank. I'm the same way with my computers (though I used to want more powerful fans for overclocking, hah hah). I've found essentially silent fans for my PCs and now can never hear them. Trying to get close to that on the aquarium fans.

Anyway, I haven't had time to do the hood replacement yet and will share my results when I get there (with a sound meter before/after, an estimate of the airflow difference, etc.). At any rate, the Pabst fans are louder than I'd expected, but the Scythe fans move a good amount of air and are very quiet.

Oh, did you see my SPL Meter numbers for the water cooling fans? Despite the housing, they are much quieter. I can't notice them when the lights are out (I hear the skimmer pump more). For sure, mounting a good, larger fan (like a 120mm) inside the tank would make a big difference in noise and could provide more airflow - just requires more of a mod than this fan replacement. Take care,
--Kyle
 
kyley

kyley

Active Member
Hi All,
I finally installed the hood fans last night. It was a big pain to do, but the results are great. I took measurements with my SPL meter before and after the fan installations and on each side of the hood. But first, my subjective measurement is that these fans made a great difference. There's slightly less airflow from the Scythe fans, but there's a substantial difference in noise. My tank no longer sounds like a jet engine :) These fans seem no louder than a couple of my pumps (I can hear them about equally). I don't think the reduced airflow is enough (it's not that much) to make a difference in the lifetime of the bulbs - but I could be wrong of course!

Anyway, here are the dBA measurements before and after the new fans (including the water cooling fans):

fan_comparisons.gif


This was not a very easy upgrade to do (but I'm glad I did it). It took me nearly 3 hours; largely because some of the screw covers refused to come off - I had to drill a screw into them and then pull the cover off with the screw! I also had to splice wires together (easy) to connect the Scythe fans. They have two-pin connectors, but I was shocked to find the RSM fans had a male connector and the Scythe (like most computer fans and such) had female connectors... I was able to do the mod (carefully) without removing the hood from the tank (though it may have been easier / safer if I had just taken it off).

Again, the fans I used were these - 4 hood fans:
Scythe Mini Kaze Silent 60x20mm Fans - Model SY602012L
2 water cooling fans:
Evercool 60x15mm Silence Case Fan - Model EC-EGF-6

Also, fitting the larger 25mm fans would have been possible, but difficult. Would need to cut out pieces of plastic.

To sum it up - the tank is now much quieter and peaceful to me. It's still far from silent of course, but I can hear water now as much as I can the fans and pumps :) Take care,
--Kyle
 
Reefmack

Reefmack

NaClH2O Addicted
PREMIUM
Scientific and very thorough study Kyle! If you want them, I think you can get replacement screw covers from Red Sea. Getting those out has often been a problem even with the 130 hoods. Breaking them out, or drilling them out like you did, has often been the only way.
 
lethal

lethal

Has been struck by the ban stick
Great report Kyle. Looks like it was well worth it. Now if you can just fix my buzzing skimmer pump i'll be happy lol.
 
kyley

kyley

Active Member
Thanks guys - hope it's helpful to some of you - want to give back any way I can! Take care,
--Kyle
 
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