A Bit of Advice for the Masses

[Waterloo Kid]

I was cleaning my tank out the other day and, being a safety conscious guy, I turned off the electrics while I had my arm in the tank. I only unplugged the filter and heater, leaving the lights on. It took me 24 hours to notice that I hadn't put the plugs back in. Luckily the weather is warm at the moment and the tank has apretty large volume so I only lost 1.5 degrees centigrade in the 24 hours.

I am worried that I might have killed off the bacteria colonies in the filter so will probably have a mini-cycle in a few days.
The only reason I noticed that the electrics were off was that I have placed some Vallis in front of the filter outlet. When the filter is running the Vallis gets blown about and is a good indication of flow rates through the filter.

If you have live plants in your tank I would suggest that you place some plant in a fast flow region as an indicator to show if you have forgotten to turn the electrics back on (if you turn them off in the first place!). It's also a good indication of if your filter is block (ing) and needs cleaning. You could rig up some sort of electrical reminder if you have the know-how.

The fish seem OK, the Rams were starting to show signs of stress but they're fighting (literally) fit again now.

Anyone else done anything this daft? )

WK

 

[Mogo]

You're not alone Waterloo, I've forgotten to plug my heaters in on occasion. But I think the dumbest thing I ever did was this. My 72 gallon has a dual glass top, and I always feed from the right side. So, I decided to mix things up a bit one day and feed from the left. One of my cats likes to watch me feed the fish, and has gotten used to sitting on the left side of the tank. So I open the left side, realize the fish food is at the other tank, walk across the room to grab it, and all I hear is a big splash. Needless to say, I turn around, and theres the kitty, swimming back and forth trying to find something to grab on to to pull herself out. She never watches me feed the fish anymore, I wonder why?

Mogo

 

[dolphin]

Hi Waterloo Kid

It is most likely that you have killed the filter bacteria. The can only live for about 2-3 hours, without a supply of oxygen. The bacteria in the substrate should have survived.

You should start doing checks for ammonia.

Hope it all goes well.

 

[impur]

Mogo, that would have been great to see on video. LOL poor kitty, must have been terrifying.

 

[Mogo]

Impur,

There never seems to be a camera around when you need one! Luckily for kitty I was holding the fish food, and once those cichlids see that big blue container, they're oblivious to anything else. Otherwise they would have been nipping at her poor little paws. But come to think of it, that would have been even funnier.

Mogo

 

[Jamnog]

i can allmost hear the fish "the shoe is on the other foot now eh kitty" lol