Upon receiving I had it up and running in about 5-10 minutes. It's very quiet and all my animals started drinking from it with no problem(old cat, old dog blind in one eye, and water obsessed Jack Russell). I was worried the JR that loves water would find it to be a new play toy but she did not. She was intrigued by the water rolling over the ceramic ball but never tried to play in it and started drinking from it calmly. Great product for animals who prefer running water. Only downfall is having to purchase replacement filters and such but all running fountains have that issue. All in all,very nice and classy looking pet fountain.