Turned Filter Off By Mistake.

[Verdifer]

Hi Folks.

As the Topic Title says I turned my filter off overnight by mistake, I read on the forums that the bacteria can live for a while, I have an air stone in my tank so there would have been some oxygen going in, the filter was off for about 16 hours maybe a bit more Im not to sure.

I plugged the filter back in ASAP when I noticed but now my water is a bit cloudy I have live plants so bits fall off and the filter picks them up so with it being off it has missed bits, or bits it had already have got back into the general tank. as I look at the tank I can see small parts of plants (they are that small it prob take hours of chasing with a net to get) and what looks like small white dust particles.

To fix it will my best option be water changes every day and maybe going easy on the feeding a bit so the water doesn't get anything else in it.



thx....................................

 

[Katty]

Just test for ammonia and nitrites, water change if anything shows up on the tests, and don't overfeed. I'd imagine there'd still be enough bacteria left in the filter to keep things from crashing too badly.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Verdifer.
You may well see your filter get right back to work for you. Although, the tank may have had a build of ammonia while it was off, it should now be processing back to zero ammonia. As long as the filter stayed wet, the bacteria, most of them, will recover quickly.

 

[Gilli]

Dont panick - I turned off my external filter for 24 hours before I realised my mistake and didnt even get a blip in water stats! Just test daily for a few days and if there are any spikes do plenty of gravel vacs, water changes and cut back on feeding until stats return to normal.

 

[Nick16]

you will be fine mate. as long as your stocking isnt insane you have nothing to worry about. fish are fairly inactive at night and dont stir the substrate as much. (unless you have nocturnal catfish)

 

[Verdifer]

I did a big but not massive water change, I have a few fish but they are mostly small, I have a fish thats about 4 to 5 inch long and a Bristlenose Catfish but outside them 2 all my other fish measure about 2 inch on average, the filter kicked back in and cleaned the tank up and they seem to look OK.

I can't do water tests at present as the LFS has been telling me he is getting his master test kits in but they never come on delivery, the guy at the fish shop seems OK he has other test kits which he said he can sell me but I been going to his shop for a while and he said they were not that great and a master test kit would be better, the other test kits he has is the tablet and the 1s on strips.