Help, I came home to find that i'd had a power cut, my neighbour in forms me it was off for 6 hours. Will this affect my filter at all. Its a Juwel Compact filter, 80 tank and has been up and running for 3 months.
Hi Nelly!
Firstly, you should really post questions like this in the emergency section or chit chat.
Secondly, I'm afraid it will affect your filter. I think the bacteria in your filter starts to die off after about 1 hour without the power. Is your power back on now?
If I were you, I'd take the filter media out and rinse it in tank water to remove any crud that's gotten trapped in there whilst the filter was off. Chuck out the water I'd rinsed it in and then check my water stats and do an immediate water change if necessary.
If the power was on, I'd then turn it all back on.
If your power isn't on, you could run to your local pet store and see if they have any battery operated air pumps. If they do, you could take the power head off your filter and insert the air stone in there until the power comes back. This will get the circulation going and might be able to prevent any more die off.
In either case, I'd keep checking the water every couple of days and doing water changes as required, because of the risk of cycling, until everything stabilises.
Some people have luck with BioSpira or Cycle, which are meant to help seed the filter with new bacteria, so you could give that a go.
Fortunately, I've never had a power cut that lasted longer than a few minutes, so I've never had to deal with this problem. You might want to post in the Emergency section for further help.
Ami
