Do you turn off the filter during a water change

[ErrorS]

I turn mine down.. but for other reasons. The spraybar creates huge waves that almost kill my Needlefish when on high when the tank is half full.

And when removing water it helps to turn it down to save on filters. There is always some floating debris (when vacuuming heavily) and I would much rather it go down my drain than into my filter.

I would most definitely shut the filter completely off if it's sucking dry air. That will wear an impeller in seconds, not minutes.. and this happens with a lot of HOB filters, you lose siphon when the water level gets too low even when the intake is below the water line. Any more than a 25% and I had to shut my Emp400s off.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

maybe if i did low amount of water changes but doing 50% water changes the out flow gets exposed.

 

[lovemybarbs]

The noise started getting louder and louder since the power went off for 18 hours in late November due to the ice storm. The power kept turning it on and off for a few hours before it finally went out for good. It hasn't been the same since. :sad:

 

[icecubez189]

i leave mine on, its a real headache sometimes to get it started back up. makes a ton of racket as it tries to get rid of the trapped air bubbles when it stops. since the penguins come with a middle intake strainer, i close it when im doing water changes. i only do 30-40% so I leave my filters on.

 

[Dixon]

i turn all 4 of mine off along with my heaters

 

[L046]

I turn mine off.

 

[lovemybarbs]

I gave it a try. As the water went down, the water coming out of the filter did slow up. That had me worried, so I took out three buckets and that is all.

I rinsed the media and yes, it did shoot some stuff out, but no more than when I fired it back up when I turned it off.

The beauty of it, the filter is silent. :clap:

I almost forgot to turn my heater back on. :duh:

Maybe next time I'll take an extra bucket out and see what happens.

Thanks for your help!! :dance:

 

[dawn64856]

i use a python and i can quickly add as fast as i take it out i leave my filters and heater on but when adding water back in i put the end of the pyhon into the filter when the water gets up over the end of the tubeand let em fill up and they start filtering againl

 

[Marinemom]

I tend to turn the filters off during water changes especially if they are going to be large water changes. If it is a small water change, I can leave it on but say in my discus tank that gets at lesast a 60 percent water change, I shut the filters down and proceed to work fast so the benificial bacteria inside the canister on the media does not start to die.

Marinemom

 

[Tcian]

I use a sump on my coldwater tank. What a pleasure to work on. I use a wet dry trickle tower in the sump, along with the canister from a Magnum 350 with the micron filter installed powered by a small submersible pump with the intake and outlet all in the sump. The heater and return pump are also in the sump. All maintanence chores are done in the sump and the water paramaters and clarity are perfect. Will never again consider any other type of filter for any tank. All of us freshwater people can learn a lot from our saltwater friends and their filter setups.