Guest Stranger Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 A friend of mine was helping me set my new tank up over the weekend and he said that I should switch the filter off before I go to bed at night. Any thoughts??? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Quasi Posted July 17, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 17, 2008 I think that this is not a good idea, the filter needs to work constantly to allow the bacteria to devour the excretions of your fish, else the water can get poisonous pretty fast, like ammonia spikes, nitrite spikes 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Erinaceus Posted July 17, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 17, 2008 (edited) A friend of mine was helping me set my new tank up over the weekend and he said that I should switch the filter off before I go to bed at night. Any thoughts??? Definitely not! Your filter should keep running continuously. Otherwise you disturb the oxygen and nutrient flow for you filter's benificial bacteria (BB). This could lead to a (partial) BB die-off, which for one decreases your filter's filtration capacity and secondly the die-off could increase your bioload, which could potentially be harmful for your fish. -edit: Miki beat me to it - Edited July 17, 2008 by Erinaceus 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Chrissy_Bee Posted July 17, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 17, 2008 Switching the filter off is never a good idea, espeically for a stretch of hours. In a new tank in particular, you're going to be trying to establish a cycle...you need to keep water flowing over the filter media to keep it oxygenated and to keep removing things like ammonia from the tank. Otherwise, it will build and you're likely to get sick or even dead fish. If you're not familar with cycling, check this out http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/cycle.html 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stranger Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Thanks guys, you've confirmed what I was thinking. Will definitely not switch it off! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member TetraLover Posted July 17, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 17, 2008 What about during power outages? I've had a few already that I wasn't home for, so I don't know how long the power was out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member vickielm Posted July 17, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 17, 2008 Well, there's nothing you can do about power outages, but don't shut your filter off on purpose. If you know there's been an outage, I'd check your water params in case you need to do a water change, though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Fishmerised Posted July 19, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 19, 2008 Yes, if in doubt check your water params after a power outage. NitrItes can be a problem in extended cases of power loss. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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