# Who turns a filter off at night, for any reason?



## Marconis (Feb 9, 2007)

I turn my AC110 off at night because I am picky about noise and mine is a bit noisy (yeah yeah, I know yours are quiet). I turn it back on when I wake up at around 6:30 to get ready for school. Is this bad for established bacteria? I don't think it is because the water doesn't go lower than the biomedia when turned off. So does anyone else do this with any filter for any reason? Oh, and it's in my room.

I should also note that I have an XP3 on this tank as well that is running 24/7


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> Is this bad for established bacteria?


I wouldn't recommend it, but as long as you have the other filter running 24/7, you can probably get away with it. Because of HOB filter design, there will still be oxygen in the water, so the bacteria won't die. As a test, I think I'd remove and test some of the water in the HOB in the morning. Check for ammonia and nitrite. As long as you're not seeing any of those, then you're ok.

Again, I'm just answering your question. I wouldn't recommend this as a good practice. I'd opt for a quieter filter, or just stop running it. Or possibly run it as a mechanical filter only. Meaning, use it to pull detritus out of the water column and clean the filter sponges frequently. Let the bulk of the bacteria build in the XP3.

One time I accidentally left a HOB filter unplugged for about 2 weeks.  Couldn't figure out why I was seeing nitrite spikes in the tank. Once I plugged it back in, next day nitrite 0. Bacteria had done just fine during that time. For what it's worth.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Your xp3 is probably more than capable of filtering the whole tank (what size?)

Either way, as long as the filter media remains moist, has access to some amount of food and naturally, to oxygen, then there is no reason for them not to survive (as prov has discovered!). I would expect the colonies to die back a little, simply because the amount of oxygen and food will not be as constant/high as when the filter was running, but over such a short period I can't see it being a major loss.

Not something I would advise, but you wanted to know.

I stand by prov's comments - either run it and have done with it, switch it for something quieter, or get rid - like I said, the xp3 is probably more than capable alone.

:thumb:


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## Marconis (Feb 9, 2007)

The tank is 72 gallons. If an XP3 is efficient at filtering that, with 11 2"-3" Mbuna in the tank, I'd gladly dump the noisy HOB.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

I believe the canister is enough to bio filter the tankâ€¦ but as the owner of the tank, watch the flow without the HOB running and decide if it will be enough mechanical filtration.

I personally like for my filters to collect the debris from the floor of my display tanks, so I use heavy filtration on themâ€¦

The tanks in my fishroom Iâ€™m less picky about the appearance of and I clean most of the debris from them by hand (frequent water changes).

It all depends on what you want out of your filtrationâ€¦

As far as unplugging at nightâ€¦ I could site a few experiences and state a handful of theoriesâ€¦ but Iâ€™ll just be reiterating the same points Blair and Prov have madeâ€¦ Itâ€™s not something I would recommend nor do personallyâ€¦ but chances are youâ€™ll be fineâ€¦


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## nick a (Apr 9, 2004)

> I wouldn't recommend this as a good practice. I'd opt for a quieter filter, or just stop running it.


That's excellent advice.

For every positive experience with on/offing you will find a negative. If you have inexpensive & easy-to-replace fish, fine. Otherwise, I personally wouldn't throw the dice.


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## renegade545 (Jul 4, 2008)

nick a said:


> > I wouldn't recommend this as a good practice. I'd opt for a quieter filter, or just stop running it.
> 
> 
> That's excellent advice.
> ...


I must ask, why should it matter what type of fish you keep. Regardless of price, they should all be treated the same. Thinking that you can treat them like **** because they are tough, and inexpensive is reckless, unethical, and just plain stupid.

Although I don't know what kind of build up you would experience, when a filter is sitting, the detritus that has built up in the filter will decompose and cause excess ammonia to gather in the filter, when the filter is switched back on this ammonia fill water will rush into your tank. And if you know anything about the effects of ammonia on fish, you know that this is anything but good.

I don't recommend doing turning off the filter at night.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

> the detritus that has built up in the filter will decompose and cause excess ammonia to gather in the filter


Which is what the colonies within the filter feed on.... As long as there is enough exposure and access to oxygen for them to metabolise then the ammonia will continue to be consumed, all be it at a slightly reduced rate - I too would be suspicious of a tiny excess, but it would be pretty negligible with the volumes of water concerned. Certainly not the primary concern I'd have VS losing the actual bacterial colonies. Either way it is a good point - it's just a bad idea, period.

You'll want to run something alongside your XP3 IME - I run the XP3 on my tank and it's great, was absolutely fine alone, but I prefer to have that little bit extra like Toby, so I run a Fluval 305 with it - the Fluval is my bacteria powerhouse and the Rena is predominantly polishing/mech with a little bio based media. Before I used the 305 I just used a little AC powerhead horizontally positioned at the top of the tank a little below the water line, creating a nice general current and extra circulation. That meant I didn't have to have the XP3s spraybar breaking surface water and could instead have it pointing down towards the substrate, so it pushes all detritus to one end of the tank (where filter inlets are). Much better use of the filter IMO.

:thumb:


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## nick a (Apr 9, 2004)

> Thinking that you can treat them like #%$& because they are tough, and inexpensive is reckless, unethical, and just plain stupid.


The point I was trying to make without being quite so bombastic. :thumb:


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