Soundproofing a stand?

[captexas]

From what I have heard, it seems the larger Iwakis tend to be alittle noisy. I think you should just go ahead and try using the material you have around the front and sides of the stand. As long as air can ventilate out the back you should be fine. And of course if it doesn't work, you can always remove it later.

[Richard]

I used 1' X 1' cork board squares that you can get at Arts & Crafts stores and a hot glue gun. It helped alot but my iwaki 100rlt was still a little annoying.

[Ram_Puppy]

Richard, when you say a little annoying, how are we talking you walk in and the hum assaulted you still? The 100 is a little bigger than the 70, so I am wondering if it is really overcomeable, plus, ther will be 2... the Stand design is not finished, I have been scared to start buliding it without the actual tank for reference...

[JimD]

If you want to soundproof something, you need mass mass mass,,,,, foam, cork, fiberglass insulation do very little to stop soundwaves from traveling through a wall, they do make fair sound absorbers or diffusers though, also known as acoustic treatment. Density (mass, did I mention mass?) is whats needed. If youre serious about "soundproofing" your stand, there are proven techniques that I have used personaly in my studio with tremendous success and Id be glad to share them if youre interested.

[Richard]

Well, I can still hear the hum from the pump. The tank is 4 feet behind my couch and it doesn't bother my wife but still annoys me. Before the corkboard it was intolerable. The stand was like a big echo chamber. But as JimD says the corkboard didn't make it soundproof. The iwaki 70 is much, much less noisy than the 100. We have the 70's running at the store and they are not too bad. I think with the 70 it would be easy to overcome any noise problems.

[Richard]

Oh, I have an iwaki 70 running my skimmer. When I turn off the the 100 I really haven't noticed any sound from the 70. Also I screwed the pumps onto a small board with foam padding glued on the underside. That seemed to help alot as well.

[MikeyBoy]

Where would you get the rubber mat used to put under the pumps and between the boards?

I need some of this stuff.

[Ram_Puppy]

I was thinking about using that neoprene pond liner they sell at home depot as a rubber mat, but I read on wetwebmedia that neoprene mousepads (the really spongy thick ones) work great. I think I have about 40 thousand of them laying around the house somewhere. (Tragic side effect of being in IT, and I don't even use a mouse pad with my optical mouse! )

Richard, thanks, Jim, the stuff I am thinking of lining the stands with is a studio quality sound absorber that a friend used to create an in-home stufio. I may line the inside of the stand with cork like richard did, and then lay the sound absorbinb material ontop of it. Denisty matters for sure, but I think it also matters WHAT material your using, obviously water is incredibly dense, and it translates sound across hundreds of miles (such as whale song). I would, and I think others, would DEFINATELY want to hear what you have to say aobut your techniqes, every little bit will help!!!!

[JimD]

The mouse pads will work ok as isolation devices separating the vibration source from the transmission source but thats abut it. I wouldnt bother with the foam and cork, the only time youd notice their effect would be if you were inside the stand, it would actually sound pretty good in there depending on the type of foam and how it was arranged. A sound "absorber" will do nothing to stop soundwaves. Although some procedures can be quite complicated, my suggestion is, since the transmission source will most likely not be tremendously intrusive, wrap the entire structures exterior with a good grade poly sheeting to serve as a moisture protectant, then apply a layer of 5/8" sheetrock for mass and weatherstrip all doors and openings. Do this and I can almost guarantee youll sleep like a baby. You could take it one step farther and isolate the sheetrock from the stand using rezilliant channel separating the rock from the actual stud allowing for much less sound transfer to the outside. Really depends on how far you wanna take it.

[Ram_Puppy]

Thanks Jim, I am modifying my plans as we speak.