I know it's basic

[ashdavid]

24/7 Hands down!!!

Btw 24/7!!!

 

[NatakuTseng]

In tanks with substrates, especially sand, you can get away with having the mechanical filtration shut down for the night. That being said though it is better to leave it running. The amount of biological filtration you have in the substrate greatly outnumbers the amount found in your filter cartridges, and that will not be impacted by having the mechanical system shut down. Tanks that are planted it is impacted even less. Through doing some expirimentation on my own I have found that it isn't nessecary to have a mechanical filter going at all. Currently I am running a 40gal breeder, bare bottom, and a peice of filter wool in the tank, and no kind of filter other than that. Stocking is 6 german blue rams, 3 dwarf albino ancistrus, and 6 pygmy cories. No ammonia, no nitrite whatso ever, and no health problems at all with any of the fish, weekly water changes are all I do on that tank. IT is better to have filtration all the time, but not necessary, the heater actually does provide some water movement within the tank, as the hot water rises in the tank, it causes a movement. Its very slight, but its there. I did vote for the 24/7 filtration, just because for most people its the smartest way to go. Turning the filters off at night though will not harm your fish, you still have plenty of a bacterial colony estabilished in your substrate, and it will become the main source, where the filter itself will just mechanically remove larger waterborne things to help keep the water clear. Its really up to you what you want to do.

 

[Tightdog1]

all finters 24/7 but lights 12/12 because the fish need some quiet/sleep time also, as in the real world (the sun).

 

[PumaWard]

I turn the filters off in my bedroom at night when I go to bed, so they are off 7.5-8.5 hrs every night. That being said, both my tanks have deep sand beds. In those tanks, the filters are not the mainstay for my bacterial colony.

I have been doing this for approximately a year, maybe slightly longer. I haven't encountered a problem yet, but I will not go as far as to say that someone else will have no problem either... nor will I say that I will have no problems in the future.

 

[cyberbeer65]

24\7

 

[rosita]

Twenty-four/seven :dive2:

 

[RTR]

I take with a large grain of salt comments concerning locations of bacteria in the tank versus in the filters. I can and have routinely shown that the large majority of my biofiltration is in the filters in FO tanks, but the majority is in the plants in heavily planted tanks although the filters are biologically active still. As neither plants nor fish nor snails nor shrimp cease respiration at night, I would not consider shutting down circulation or filtration at night.

I don't put a plastic bag over ny head while I sleep either.