are you supposed to leave the aquarium filter on 24 hours a day? or should you switch it off at night?
by Aquaboy on Sunday, March 28th, 2010 | 12 Comments
i mean, can the fish rest or sleep or whatever they do, with the water still circulating?
Other articles you might like;
- Is These Pellets Healthy + More Qs-?
- Would This Hurt The Guppy Fry?
- 90g Reef Aquarium Setup Day 5
- Ideas On Fish For Freshwater Community Aquarium?
- Work Experience Melbourne 2011?
You turn it off and the water stops oxygenating. Also, the good bacteria in the filter is Aerobic, which means it needs oxygen to live. You always leave the filter on.
You leave the filter on, but I switch it off for an hour or so to stop the filter from burning up. Yep, fish can do when water is moving.
HI Jay Dee, yes the filter need to be running 24/7 because it’s that which keeps the eco-system alive & well in your tank, think of it as a life-support system. The fish are fine with the noise, if you think about natural locations there’s plenty of examples where fish will sleep near rapids, water falls & other noisy places. The airstone & pump need to be running all the time as well-only during a water change or other tank maintenance should they be switched off. It’s just the lights which need to be turned out each night!
Run the filter 24/7
It’s removing ammonia and circulating the water for oxygen exchange all the time. Any time it’s off then ammonia is building up, and the filters cycle bacteria are suffering. An hour or so while you clean the tank is no problem, but leaving the filter off too long will affect the tanks cycle.
Fish dont really sleep like we do. They generally just go pale and rest in a quiet spot in the tank. They still swim and keep a look out for predators as they rest.
The dont turn rivers off at night.
Ian
yes!!! i accidentally unplugged my filter during the night and when i figured it out all my molly fish were at the bottom of the tank barely moving. I feed them and changed the water and slowly, they went back to themselves!!!
you always leave it on
The only time to ever unplug your filter is if it won’t function correctly while you are doing your partial water changes. They need the bacteria that grows in it, as well as the oxygen it produces by moving the water, and we can’t forget it’s true purpose… to help filter out the bad stuff.
NEVER turn filter off
thanx for the info guys. Should i turn the light off at night tho’
Yes, it is essential to turn off the lights at night. I observe that if you turn on the light and your aquarium is placed close to the door or any other gathering place, your fish will feel stress. Whenever I turn off the lights, I see that fish leaves the bottom or their resting place and move along the filter flow at the top of my tank. It is clear that, if you will turn off the lights your fish will become less stress and the next morning your will find them active.
Wow I am amazed at some of these answers lacking basic aquarium knowledge. You do not need to turn your filter off an hour to keep it from burning out. Actually the opposite would be a better statement. And you do not need to leave those silly air bubbles running at all. If your pump makes proper circulation (which it should) you do not need the bubble wands. All they do is help circulate the surface water for oxygen exchange, which was needed 20+ years ago with all of the cheap and worthless filters they sold back then. Feeding fish that were left without oxygen is the worst thing you can do. Excess food and the fish waste contribute to poor water quality and low oxygen levels. 90% of aquarium owners overfeed to begin with.
Leave the filter on all the time unless you have a full planted tank, then you can put the filter on a timer and turn it off for periods, and then only if it will restart on its own. Lights should be on for 10-14 hours a day and also on a timer. Your fish should have some light after hours, that is when most fish are active. If you leave them in complete dark they will sit motionless. Many good lighting systems come with LED moon lights these days, but a simple night-light located close to the tank will work just the same.
Prettyy interesting stuff here. Pretty cool if I dont say so myself.