Disaster

[Larissa]

I'm having a tank meltdown! This morning I woke up and my filter (external hang-on) wasn't working - no flow or anything! I did a stat test and everthing was off the charts. I assume the filter bacteria died because there was no water flowing through it to oxygenate it. I have no idea why my filter broke, but I mannaged to bag my fish and snail and get them to a LFS before anything happened to them. Luckily there were no losses. So now I'm sitting here looking at a completely empty tank, a broken filter and no bacteria! I'm back to square one - and everything was going so well too.
-Larissa

 

[luque]

sorry to hear that, hopefully uou can get it back up and running on no time

 

[DarkEntity]

I'm having a tank meltdown! This morning I woke up and my filter (external hang-on) wasn't working - no flow or anything! I did a stat test and everthing was off the charts. I assume the filter bacteria died because there was no water flowing through it to oxygenate it. I have no idea why my filter broke, but I mannaged to bag my fish and snail and get them to a LFS before anything happened to them. Luckily there were no losses. So now I'm sitting here looking at a completely empty tank, a broken filter and no bacteria! I'm back to square one - and everything was going so well too.
-Larissa

How long was the filter stopped for? If its less than 12-16hours its likely that your bacteria would have been fine as long as the filter had stuff in it to feed the bacteria on.

I think the spikes will be from the filter being stopped not from bacteria being dead. If you had done a 50% water change and got the filter going again it would possibly have been ok.

 

[Larissa]

I would not have been able to get another filter up and running until tonight and did not want to leave it till that long. I was able to get the fish to the LFS this morning before school but it would be about 22 hours of no flow. Really, I was kind of panicked and did the first thing that came to my mind which was "Save the fish!"

 

[MermaidMel]

Ohhh hugs xx

 

[nukeonekitty]

I'm sorry. That's no fun.

 

[Larissa]

Thanks for your support everyone! I just wish I knew what went wrong with my filter. I guess it serves me right for using the one that came with my tank. I need to do some market research now...does anyone know of a good, small hang on filter?

 

[scouse_andy]

Sorry to hear this, Larissa.

You did the responsible thing I reckon.

Hope you can find a decent internal filter.

I have a Rena Filstar on my shellies tank and it does a good job but I'm no expert on internals.

At least you can look forward to getting some nice new fish once it's cycled.

Cheers, Andy.

 

[Faythee]

For a small hang on I would recommend the Hagen Aquaclear Power Filter. I replaced mine that came with the tank and it was a huge difference. Clearer, healthier water.

 

[Larissa]

Thanks Andy. It looks like I might be starting my shellies tank sooner that I expected. I guess with every disaster there is light at the end of the tunnel. It wasn't really that bad of an experience and everybody made it out alive, but it took me by surprise - the tank had been running so smoothly up till this morning.
Faythee, thanks for the filter info. I will do some more research into it - sounds good so far though.
-Larissa

 

[nukeonekitty]

I'll put another vote in for the AquaClear filter. I have an AC70 on my 20 gal. planted tank and it does a great job. I know it's a little overkill, but I took it off my 55 gal. and didn't see any reason why I shouldn't.