# Filter noisier in larger tank



## Manthalynn (Aug 23, 2008)

Hi all. I just set up a 10 gallon tank and the cheapola filter that came with it (gotta love Walmart...hey, I'm a poor college student) makes a really loud crackling noise. I have made sure the water lever is high and that there's plenty of water in the filter. It's something like an Aqua-Tech 5-15 filter.

Thinking perhaps it was just a noisy, cheap filter, I pulled the Tetra Whisper 10 from my 5 gallon tank and put it in the 10 gallon. (The 10g is in my bedroom so I'd prefer a quieter tank in there...) It crackles in the larger tank, too! It's actually fairly quiet in my 5 gallon tank.

The sound is like a cross between a crackle and a sort-of sucking noise. More crackle than suck, though.

What's the deal? Is this just an inherant risk in using a filter that only barely works for the size of tank it's in? If I buy a 30g rated filter will it be better? I've looked through most of the threads in this section and haven't seen anything like this so hopefully I'm not being redundant.

(Because I've got some cycled water in the new 10g, I don't want to turn off the filter for any length of time so I'm really looking forward to syphoning off 10 g of water, moving the tank to my living room, and refilling the sucker...)

Any advice or anecdotes are appreciated. Thanks!

Sam


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Odd. Are you sure it's running properly? Mine makes that noise when it needs priming.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Make sure the impeller is all the way down and the siphon is seated.


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## Manthalynn (Aug 23, 2008)

Thanks both for the suggestion! I'll try rechecking the components and make sure they're locked in correctly.

Have a great week!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

If it working right, i'd guess the thicker rim of the bigger tank is holding the filter up higher, which makes more waterfall noises and makes it harder for it get started when it stops.


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