Uh Oh.

[Fintastic!]

I switch the filter off for a couple of minutes when I'm feeding the fish as it sucks a lot of the food in so today I switched it off at half 9, fed the fish and left the house. I got home at half 7 this evening and noticed I hadn't switched it back on! All inhabitants seemed fine though they were just hanging around and when I turned it back on there was a flurry of activity. Do you think my good bacs are ok? Oh dear... :stupid:

 

[Aqua Tom]

They should be fine, just to be on the safe side I would test the water for a couple of days.


Tom

 

[Fintastic!]

Will do. Thanks!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

They die back at a rate somewhere around 12% per 12 or 24 hours. So, you should be fine. Doing a PWC just to be safe (20-30%) is not a bad idea, to quickly lower any ammonia that might have built up in the tank while you had the filter off. (Ironically, that would require turning the filter back off! )

They also are said to double every 24 hours under the right conditions, so they should bounce back nicely. The next day or two will be the biggest concern... hence the recommendation for a PWC to lower the ammonia right now, so that the bacs don't have to play catch up as much.

 

[micko]

Any update? I'd imagine all was fine but would like to know.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

+1

 

[Fintastic!]

Thanks for your replies guys! I checked the parameters last night and they were Ammonia-0, nitrite-0, nitrate-.10 and ph 8.4.I also did a 25 percent water change which was a right pain as I don't have a hose gadget in place yet. I checked the params again this morning and they were the same. Phew! Thankfully all seems well.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'm glad it all worked out for you. This sort of thing has happened to everyone at one time or another (and if it hasn't yet, it will eventually).

 

[splshylittleraindrops]

i did that once i said acxactly `what you said uh oh . my fish are fine aswell. thx