How Long Do I Have

[Binge]

Just curious how long I have the impellar in the filter on my 29 gallon started grinding so loud last night it actually woke me so the tank is without a filter till I can replace the impellar. The tank has 2 adult blue lobsters and 2 snails in it so it is far from being over stocked. They have been without a filter about 6 hours now and the petshops will not open for aroun2 more..

 

[-FighterFishh]

Just curious how long I have the impellar in the filter on my 29 gallon started grinding so loud last night it actually woke me so the tank is without a filter till I can replace the impellar. The tank has 2 adult blue lobsters and 2 snails in it so it is far from being over stocked. They have been without a filter about 6 hours now and the petshops will not open for aroun2 more..

If you get the same model of filter or one that takes the same media, then you should be fine so long as the media is still in water. Then the bacteria should be preserved somewhat, and you won't need to cycle again

 

[Binge]

I am just gonna replace the impellar. for the moment I am floating the bio wheel in the aquarium so they do not loose all the bio filtration. The tank already has an air stone so they should be good on o2. Only thing I cant see a good way to make use of is the carbon cartridge I do not want to let it just sit in the aquarium as the lobsters may tear it open cus it will sink. For now it is chilling in a bucket of aquarium water. What sucks is I may hafto wait for an impellar to get here becausem none of my local stores seem to have one.

 

[-FighterFishh]

I am just gonna replace the impellar. for the moment I am floating the bio wheel in the aquarium so they do not loose all the bio filtration. The tank already has an air stone so they should be good on o2. Only thing I cant see a good way to make use of is the carbon cartridge I do not want to let it just sit in the aquarium as the lobsters may tear it open cus it will sink. For now it is chilling in a bucket of aquarium water. What sucks is I may hafto wait for an impellar to get here becausem none of my local stores seem to have one.

If they don't have one, you may have to just struggle on through with the one you've got unless you think it may cause damage to the tank, fish, or anything around it until you can get hold of a new one.

 

[raptorrex]

Just curious how long I have the impellar in the filter on my 29 gallon started grinding so loud last night it actually woke me so the tank is without a filter till I can replace the impellar. The tank has 2 adult blue lobsters and 2 snails in it so it is far from being over stocked. They have been without a filter about 6 hours now and the petshops will not open for aroun2 more..

you get, around 12 hours, before the bio mass is badly effected. but, if you can, by placing an air stone inside the filter (lid off of course) under the bio media, will keep it healthy for a while longer.

 

[fluttermoth]

Can you hang the biowheel and the carbon cartridge so the bubbles from the airstone go over them? That might give enough current to keep the bacteria alive? If you're worried about the lobsters tearing at the cartridge, could you put it in a net? Or breeding trap?

 

[Tolak]

As long as the media is wet it will only lose 10% to 12% of the nitrifying bacteria every 24 hours.

 

[Binge]

The bio wheel is floating in the tank at this point I will try to place it and the carbon filter directly over the airstone bubbles though I can probably do it via zip ties. I have an extra air stone and pump ill clean the limpng heck out of and ziptie it to the cartridge BWAHAHAHA love zip ties. Non of my local stores have the impeller I need so I will hafto order one. If i get desperate I can borrow the 200 off of my 55 gallon and use it to run the media in the 29 gallon. Then put the 300 I need new bio wheels for in the 55 with the 2 carbon filters from the 200since they use the same size and the 200 is a back up filter there anyway. ( realy do not want to as the 55 is way over stocked right now with my baby lobsters and alll the babys from the live bearers...)

That may or may not make sense lol

 

[Binge]

Okay I zip tied my bio wheel to the air hose directly in the stream of the airstone in the tank so it has a constant flow over it.

Then I ziptied a second air stone to the cabon filter and used my heater to pin it to the wall so that the air bubble hafto roll over its surface to reache the surface of the water.

If I do water changes every day or so do ya think this will hold for 5 or so days till a new impeller comes in? 2 lobsters (4 and 5 inches) and 2 snails are not a heavy bio load for a 29 gallon tank and they are not over fed it has crystal clear water and a clean substrate(half sand half gravel) as welll as like 5 big rocks that will have some good bacteria on them. Any other thaughts or comments would be appreciated. Thank you for the advice so far also.

 

[fluttermoth]

I think you might be ok; are you able to test for ammonia? If you can, every day would be good; just to keep an eye on things

 

[Binge]

Yeah I did a test late last night my ammonia and nitrites were great but nitrate was through the roof so I did an 80 % water change. I am going to check it again tonight. The water appears to have plenty of 02 though since niether snail has been climbing up and using its air tube to breathe . Part should be here by thur I hope, so I will just hafto keep testing the water and changing as neccesary. I cannot feed them less to keep it clean if the breed I have gets hungry cannabalism is just fine by them.

 

[Binge]

Okay so I tested the tank again my ammonia and nitrite are non existant but my nitrate is again through the roof like the realy dark shade of red on the bottom of the API card. So I am going to do another big water change. Just cant figure out what is making teh nitrates spike so high in a single day. There si no live plants in the tank because the lobsters shred them but I have never had the nitrates do this before. Could it be because the water is not being forced through the carbon on the carbon filter? Dunno if carbon effects the nitrates or not...

 

[Binge]

So I did a retest and it showing up as 40 ppm which that tank normaly is never been able to get it lower ( gonna get some duckweed for it for in the future) So I will do a 3rd test just to be sure maybe I mixed one wrong...

 

[Binge]

Impellar is in and tank stats are fine weee no losses!

 

[CrazyAirborne]

good to hear. well done!