Filter Question

[GSD]

Just curious about this as ive seen alot of threads/opinions on this latley

Have you/ do you regulally turn your filters off at any point, say at night?

Have you ever noticed any bad effects of this?

Does anyone not run filters at all, how does this effect things like water quality etc? Since i always thought of a cycled tank being kept stable by filter bacteria.

Im not trying to start a huge debate here, just interested!

Laura

 

[OldMan47]

If you are running a conventional fish tank that uses a biofilter to control nitrogen build up, the bacteria needed to perform the ammonia and nitrite conversion must be kept with water flowing across them most of the time. Very short times shut down such as during tank cleaning can be tolerated. There are other ways to maintain a tank but they are not a very good idea for a beginner to try. If you choose to run without a biofilter, it is very easy to get things wrong and lose everything. I have only one tank that can be said to run without a filter as such but it has a set of other parameters set up to remove the nitrogen biologically through plant growth. It is a delicate balance best left to those who have first mastered the much easier conventional arrangement. There are as many ways to actually run a tank as there are fish keepers but the general good practice of cycling a mechanical device to become a biofilter is popular for a reason. It can be easily taught and will work rather well in all but extreme circumstances. My exploration into using plants as a filter is not done without due care and caution. For me it is an expansion of my knowledge about possibilities, but I only use the method on one of my 16 tanks. The rest of the tanks are safer for my fish but not as much a challenge to maintain.