Can I turn off my filter at night?

[madmark285]

I broke a cardinal rule, I offered advice before I googled it. So this situation is:

With COVID, no job, no money and no sleep ie: my noisy HOB filter is keeping me awake.

For a short term solution , can I turn off my filter at night? What popped up for me when I googled it, the lack of oxygen inside your filter will kill the bacteria. At first that makes sense but that would really depend on the type of filter you are using.

I have a sump filter, the surface area in the filter sections is 120 sq inches (~800 cm^2), I doubt the bacteria would die in my filter.

On the opposite end, sealed canister filter may be a problem. But if this person had a quiet canister filter, she could run it all night.

So what about hang on back (HOB) filters? They are not a sealed filter and gas exchange could still be happening while turn off.

EDIT: This situation came from another thread, I don't have a problem. She has tried all options with her HOB filter, nothing has worked to reduce the noise.

Mark

 

[seangee]

Do I understand correctly that the HOB is the only filter?
I would not recommend turning it off overnight as the bacteria requires constant flow of water so some would die off every single night and you could easily reach the stage where more dies off than is created during a day.
Is your main concern the noise or the cost of running the filter. For noise there are a couple of things you can try

1. Increase the water level in the tank. Much of the noise from my HOBs is the water falling out of the filter into the tank. Raising the level of the tank so that it flows in rather than falls in reduces this a lot (and there are no downsides)
2. If the pump / motor sounds noisy try cleaning the impeller and shaft

 

[PheonixKingZ]

That depends... the media needs to stay moist.

What sort of media do you have in there?

 

[Essjay]

The HOB in madmark's post is the one in this thread

I am almost about to quit the hobby

Hi, as you read the title I am thinking about quiting fish keeping, I am exhausted of sleeping with a very noisy filter wich is the fluval c4 (do not ever buy that) and I would need to buy a new one to sleep in peace. This leads me to another problem, money, this hobby is very pricy and I just...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Slaphppy7]

Do I understand correctly that the HOB is the only filter?
I would not recommend turning it off overnight as the bacteria requires constant flow of water so some would die off every single night and you could easily reach the stage where more dies off than is created during a day.
Is your main concern the noise or the cost of running the filter. For noise there are a couple of things you can try

1. Increase the water level in the tank. Much of the noise from my HOBs is the water falling out of the filter into the tank. Raising the level of the tank so that it flows in rather than falls in reduces this a lot (and there are no downsides)
2. If the pump / motor sounds noisy try cleaning the impeller and shaft

Excellent advice, I would not turn off any filters on any of my tanks, just because of noise...I would find a way to lessen/eliminate as much of the noise as possible

 

[Colin_T]

The main drawback to hang on back (HOB) style filters is the water level in them drops to the same level as the tank when the power goes off. This could leave the filter dry overnight and that would kill the filter bacteria and cause the tank to cycle.

 

[nik_n]

I had a similar problem. My HOB filter made some noise but by slowing down the rate at witch it sucks in the water the noise lessened and almost stoped. I adjust it every night and morning and have been doing so for the past month and I haven't had any problems with the tank. Maybe your filter has something similar that can lessen the noise.

 

[AbbeysDad]

The nitrosomonas and nitrospira are aerobic bacteria we rely on to oxidize ammonia and nitrites into far less toxic nitrates. Without a constant flow of water through the filter, these bacteria may perish without enough oxygen. Which is why we want to move any bio-media into the tank if/when there's a power failure.
Now, having written the above, in the established tank there is far more beneficial biology in the tank, especially the substrate, then in any filter (see The Very Best Aquarium Filter). With the exception of internal sponge filters all my HOB's and canister filter(s) are just for mechanical filtration.

 

[Slaphppy7]

The main drawback to hang on back (HOB) style filters is the water level in them drops to the same level as the tank when the power goes off. This could leave the filter dry overnight and that would kill the filter bacteria and cause the tank to cycle.

If the water level in the tank is to the waterfall lip of the HOB, the entire HOB won't drain, and depending on how much/what kind of media is in the filter, most if not all of it will remain submerged.

But, I still would not turn off filters at night, for the reasons AbbeysDad stated above. If noise is an issue, I would resolve that problem instead. Personally, I like white noise in the background when I'm going to sleep at night.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

If the water level in the tank is to the waterfall lip of the HOB, the entire HOB won't drain, and depending on how much/what kind of media is in the filter, most if not all of it will remain submerged.

But, I still would not turn off filters at night, for the reasons AbbeysDad stated above. If noise is an issue, I would resolve that problem instead. Personally, I like white noise in the background when I'm going to sleep at night.

Same with me. I have 4 filters running and 2 fans for white noise.

 

[663]

Same with me. I have 4 filters running and 2 fans for white noise.

White noise? Aren't we supposed to get used to that after a while?

 

[YewBush]

I use earplugs when my filter gets too loud.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

White noise? Aren't we supposed to get used to that after a while?

Huh?

 

[Slaphppy7]

I share your reaction.

 

[663]

Huh?

Can I assume that you understand the structure and properties of "white noise", PK? It's really quite fascinating.