# Help! Canister impeller broke! How long will media last?



## DrTenochtitlan2 (Feb 13, 2020)

I have an Aquatop CF500 UV canister filter. Unfortunately, the impeller snapped in half tonight. I've ordered a replacement online as fast as I can, but it won't get here until Friday morning. Will my media survive that long? I cleaned the canister about 3 weeks ago, so it's relatively clean inside. Can I use the primer on the canister to occasionally move some water across the media and keep it alive without removing it? I would guess I'm looking at 36 hours without it running.


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## Ichthys (Apr 21, 2016)

All depends on how much bacteria you have. On a heavily stocked tank (large cichlids) I've known canisters be so packed with bacteria that they've died completely in an hour. They'll go without food for days, but they also need to breathe. Best bet is to remove the media and dump it in the tank so it gets enough oxygen.


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## damerf (Feb 5, 2020)

I would crack the canister open and put an air stone inside if you can. At least open it up. Just like Ichthys said the bacteria needs oxygen most of all. If your tank has a sand or gravel substrate bed there should be plenty of bacteria there so the tank will not even skip a beat in my opinion, even if you completely lost all the bacteria on the filter media.


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