ok to turn off filter at night?

D

dank104

AC Members
Nov 17, 2005
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is it ok to turn off the water filter at night? sometimes the filter sound bothers me when i'm trying to sleep. heard it could be bad b/c all the bacteria on the filters could dry up?
 
In short, yes, it's fine. I do it every night.
 
What type of filter do you have? some you may possibly be able to turn off, but it depends on the type. There are to main problems when you turn a filter off a night, the bacteria will die and also unless you have another air pump runing an airstone you will runn out of oxygen. not reccomended, prehaps you should buy a cannister as they are normally quiet.
 
Good point, mysis, I didn't think of that... I assumed HOB :rolleyes: , which I shouldn't have.

I have HOB's on my tanks and can't sleep with them running at night. HOB's allow oxygen to dissolve into the water even when they're off, so the bacteria don't suffocate.
 
I know that my filter make less noise if the water level is just a little higher an dthe water has a shorter distance to fall. I can only speak for a hanging filter though.
 
i have two hanging eheim filters for my tank. i also have an air pump that i leave on overnight. yeah i have noticed that if the water level is higher there is less sound, but the problem is that on one of my filters, the motor or the fan is kind of loud. i guess i could always look into replacing the motor but i figured it's easier to just turn off. so it's ok to turn off my filter if i have an air pump running?
 
There are many filent filters on the market if you have the budget for them. I have an Eheim Pro II which I bought because it was said to be queit. I have it running in my bedroom and I have no probs with it.
 
No one has really asked, but, ....how large is your tank and what is your stock of fish? If you have a large bio-load, you could have ammonia spiking overnight with filters off. ...in which case, you should leave the quiet filter on overnight. You might be able to quiet the noisy filter down by regular maintenance...ie, cleaning the impeller. Any waste created by the fish while the filters are off will settle into the substrate instead of being sucked up as usual.
 
i have a 46 gallon tank and it's stocked with mostly tetras (2 neon, 3 albino, and 2 bleeding heart), 2 fancy guppies, 2 snails and 2 plecos. planning to get more of the tetras as i've been told they are schooling fish :)
 
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