Fish filter is loud, I want to turn it off for a few hours, is that okay?

Question

I work at home doing transcription and my fish tank is in my office and my filter is really loud and the speakers on my transcription file are very quiet, and I can hardly hear them with the filter on, so I turned it off. Will my fish be okay for a couple of hours without the filter? I don't have anything to create air bubbles or anything, it's just sitting water, not moving. Will my fish be okay? It might help to mention that my fish is a small mouth bass that we got from the river. Thank you!

Answer 1

The filter should be left on at all times. A short period with it off should not be significantly harmful but can cause undo stress which will weaken your fish. Filters should not be overly loud and this excessive noise is probably an indicator that there is a problem. Thoroughly clean and check your filter for starters.Also check into your local laws...in most states it is illegal to take fish from the wild and keep them as pets without specific permits.

Answer 2

It would be bad to turn it off. The aerobic bacteria living inside of it will die within a few hours and then heterotrophic bacteria will eat the good bacteria & make things unhealthy for the fish.

You might get lucky doing it, but its a really bad practice.

Unless its a really cheap, junky filter then it shouldn't make too much noise. You should figure out what's making the noise in the filter. If the rubber wheel on the impeller is all chewed up, then I'd just get a new one for like $2.

I would also look into setting up your computer & speakers properly so you can hear or getting earplug style headphones (like the Koss - The Plug earphones) You shouldn't have to do transcription at such a low volume. Straining to hear will lead to stress which is not healthy for you or the quality of your work.

Answer 3

the tank should be fine for a couple of hours without the filter running, but it will depend on how large the tank and how big the fish; wastes won't build up that quickly but the dissolved oxygen will be the limiting factor so you might want to get a kit to test the DO and see how fast it goes down. there are other ways you can add dissolved oxygen to the water during the times when your filter is turned off such as a quiet air pump or bottled/pressurized air/oxygen, depending on how important the sound of quiet is to you, is that an oxymoron? the sound of quiet? Ha! good luck!

Answer 4

Never, ever turn off your filter. Ever. Anyone who says they've been okay doing that has just been pure lucky. Filters aren't just about filtering, that is, removing waste and other materials from the water. It is also about oxygenation. Without oxygen, some fish can die within a few hours. Personally, I’m not willing to risk being “lucky”. I want to be sure. You filter should remain on 24/7. Filters shouldn’t be noisy. If they are, you don’t have the seated correctly or primed correctly. Take a look at it and re-prime it and check its seating.

Answer 5

Yes, of course it is, i have to fish and i have turned off my filter plenty of times. you're fish won't die as long as you don't keep it off for a lengthy amount of time e.g.(more than 3/4 hours). If you have to keep it out for a while though, you can buy oxygen tablets for fish from your local pet shop. Hope this helps you.

Answer 6

Our filter and pump broke and we due to a string of misfortune we did not fix it for a nearly a year. We had six gold fish and we worried about it, of course, but they survived. I don't know if a bass is different in that respect but I don't think it would hurt for a little while.

Answer 7

No, I wouldn't advice you turning the water off the filter. You shoudl get a queiter one.

Answer 8

i hav a 10 gallon aquarium and a loud filter i put on a timer so it turns on at serten times

Answer 9

Yes, he will be ok. Before turning it back on the filter should be cleaned first or some poisons will be released in the water. Filters usually get loud when they are dirty anyways.