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Filter off at night?


Smithjm5

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So I have a new 30 gallon set up and I'm running a ac70 on the back for filtration. It's in my bedroom and kind of noisy at night. Would it be ok to turn the filter off at night? I have a wave maker in the tank as well so it will still have water movement. Let me know your thoughts!

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I would not turn the filter off at night. When lights are off, Ph drops. So by basically taking some of the oxygenation offline by turning off the pump, you'll be further dropping the ph. Just my .02.

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That's good to know, I appreciate it! I might just switch the impeller for a smaller one. Hopefully that will quiet it down a little

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That's good to know, I appreciate it! I might just switch the impeller for a smaller one. Hopefully that will quiet it down a little

 

 

Or figure out why its making noise. Do you hear the motor or water splashing?

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What filter are you using? Some are quieter than others.

Aqua clear 70 it's a pretty quiet filter it's just because it's so close to me.

 

 

Or figure out why its making noise. Do you hear the motor or water splashing?

At first it was the water so I raised the water level and it fixed that. Now it's just the hum of the motor. Not much you can do about that.
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So I have a new 30 gallon set up and I'm running a ac70 on the back for filtration. It's in my bedroom and kind of noisy at night. Would it be ok to turn the filter off at night? I have a wave maker in the tank as well so it will still have water movement. Let me know your thoughts!

I know plenty of people that don't run any type of mechanical or chemical filters so I suppose you could. I'd get a quieter filter.

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Don't turn off the filter. A lot of chemistry can go wrong in stagnate water over 8hrs time. Also it'll get cold then you'll have temp swings.

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IMO if you have a circulation pump in the tank (like a koralia) that you leave on all the time you should be fine (assuming heater is in the tank)...

 

What do you use the filter for? Like do you use it for biological filtration with the ceramic media/sponge or for chemical filtration? If you don't use it as a biological filter and you're super diligent about cleaning out the sponge and making sure there isn't a bunch of crap accumulating at the bottom of the filter then I think you're fine to let it sit overnight. When it turns on again the stagnant water volume is pretty small considering the volume of the tank. If you use it as a biological filter though I would leave it on all the time or if there is a bunch of crap that will just sit there and rot I would also leave it running.

 

I will say that these filters aren't really designed to be started/stopped frequently. Usually when mine stops after a power outage or something I have to pour a little water into it to help it prime and start again. So you may experience shorter life assuming the motor is under more stress when it's priming the intake (I don't know for sure, it just sounds like it's working a lot more than normal operation).

 

My suggestion would be to either move the tank (not sure why people put tanks right next to their beds) to the other side of the room, or get a quieter filter, work on silencing the pump (install some rubber padding between the filter and the tank, use a strap to make the lid sit tight, reduce any vibrations, etc... Finally you could just get rid of it but it sounds like you don't want to do that since you're asking the question. Good luck.

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My aquaclear was really quiet same with Api superclean.

 

Have you cleaned the filter and impeller?

It's brand new, it was mostly the water level making the noise. Once I raised that i've gotten used to the sound.

 

IMO if you have a circulation pump in the tank (like a koralia) that you leave on all the time you should be fine (assuming heater is in the tank)...

 

What do you use the filter for? Like do you use it for biological filtration with the ceramic media/sponge or for chemical filtration? If you don't use it as a biological filter and you're super diligent about cleaning out the sponge and making sure there isn't a bunch of crap accumulating at the bottom of the filter then I think you're fine to let it sit overnight. When it turns on again the stagnant water volume is pretty small considering the volume of the tank. If you use it as a biological filter though I would leave it on all the time or if there is a bunch of crap that will just sit there and rot I would also leave it running.

 

I will say that these filters aren't really designed to be started/stopped frequently. Usually when mine stops after a power outage or something I have to pour a little water into it to help it prime and start again. So you may experience shorter life assuming the motor is under more stress when it's priming the intake (I don't know for sure, it just sounds like it's working a lot more than normal operation).

 

My suggestion would be to either move the tank (not sure why people put tanks right next to their beds) to the other side of the room, or get a quieter filter, work on silencing the pump (install some rubber padding between the filter and the tank, use a strap to make the lid sit tight, reduce any vibrations, etc... Finally you could just get rid of it but it sounds like you don't want to do that since you're asking the question. Good luck.

It's just for chemical filtration mostly and yes the heater is in the tank, but like I was saying above I've gotten used the noise once I raised the tank water level it's a lot quieter....but I was thinking about putting some type of rubber on the lid or around the tank to quiet it even more. Thanks for the suggestions though!

 

I'm just going to keep it running!

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