Cycle problems!

[Jes 122]

Hi,

Oh my goodness I feel so stupid!! I never turned my filter back on when I did a water change on Monday. How did I not notice!!! I have never done that before. Will my cycle be ok??

Thanks guys

[FishyMandy 6,277]

I'd at least expect a bump, Hopefully some of your BBs survived! I'd keep a close eye on the water parameters to see what's going on with them. 

[DieselPlower 2,123]

I would also expect a bump but I doubt you lost the entire colony of bacteria. I would just test for ammonia and nitrite daily for a while

[fantailfan1 26,742]

If the media stayed wet, I would expect a minor bump as others said.  If the biomedia dried out, you've most likely lost the cycle.  

[blackmoors 359]

Even so ive found a filter that had died and the media was pretty dry etc. I gave it all a rinse in a bucket with some tank water and fired up a new filter (old media) and the cycle got going alot faster than originally.

Had to do more regular water changes still. But it didn't take weeks only a few days.

I guess that's the true blessing of ceramic media and its porus-ness (sp?) It may seem dry outside but just enough moisture inside for some bacteria to survive.

Its also the advantage of leaving some algae on the tank glass etc

[shakaho 6,312]

I've never had a cycle bump from a turned-off filter.

[koko 14,340]

I've never had a cycle bump from a turned-off filter.

 

Only time this happened to me is when we had Fires in CA... The power had turned off for 3 days... and the filters smelt like a sewer so did a water change and dumped the water in the canister and HOB... Did get alittle bit of a bump but not enough to cause me any issues

[Jes 122]

Ok I will keep a close eye on things. Thanks for your help guys!!