Jaide Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 I'm considering getting a couple of small fish to put in a 40 litre tank to have in my room. The filter is noisy so will need to turn it off at night so I can sleep - to turn on again in the morning. Will there be enough oxygen in the tank for the fish while the filter is off overnight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 things like killis should be fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Depends on how well you want the filter to work. If you only want the filter to remove suspended muck it is ok. If you want the filter to actually do what it is supposed to and do the whole bacterial thing, all the bacteria will die rendering it useless for that. If you have low stocking levels and do seriously regular waterchanges you can have a healthy tank with no filtration. But we are talking at least 50% per week here. The filter does not add oxygen to the water, but move the water around which improves the amount of oxygen exchange at the surface. If you have too many fish there will not be enough oxygen in any tank. Plenty of people overstock and reply on the extra oxygen gained from having the water movement, but if there is ever a powercut they can face deaths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 So are you saying it will be ok or not? :-? I'm using a sponge filter and there will be only 2 small fish in a 40 litre tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 A filter should run 24/7. If it does not, you might as well not use one at all. 2 small fish in a 40L tank should be fine without a filter as long as you do regular water changes. Better to do lots of small ones rather than fewer larger ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imsweet Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Any chance you can get a quieter filter and leave it on? What fish are you looking at getting cause i house a few WCMM in a 30ltr tank over winter with a noisy filter (more so the water dripping back into the tank). i turn it off at night and on again in the morning. do a water change every now and then, syphon the muck every other now and then. They have been fine and even spawned when i did the big water changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Id say 2 fish in a 40L (assuming small fish) not overfed with regular maintenance etc will be fine if you turn the filter off overnight... I have transported fish upto 24 hours with filters etc switched off that long turned them on and not had a single loss, the filter will still be immersed in the tank water so bacteria should live, obviously running 24/7 is the most ideal but I think it would be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 what fish are you planing on... I based my coment on Killis that I belive you have just aquired and killis need little or no filtration Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ianab Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Best option is to keep the filter running 24/7. It's not just about the oxygen, it's about the cycle bacteria that live in the filter and process the waste ammonia. If the filter isn't running most of the time the cycle bacteria start to die off and you can get ammonia problems in the tank. I guess the problem with your air powered sponge is the noise of the air pump and bubbles? A little internal power filter may be a better option, being totally underwater there are no bubbles and hardly any noise. Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 I guess the problem with your air powered sponge is the noise of the air pump and bubbles? A little internal power filter may be a better option, being totally underwater there are no bubbles and hardly any noise. Ian Yes, it's the noise that bothers me - can't sleep with constant bubbling :roll: What internal filter do you recommend? @ Barrie, could be killies - but was thinking of something else Although killies may not need filtration, they would require oxygen still, which needs something to power it - or how would that work? I've never set up a tank without filtration before so wouldn't know where to start.... :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 a lot of people just do the 10 to 20 % water change each week so (although I have small sponge filters in my larger tanks) most killis dont need it When you think about where peat spawners live, they go for 3 to 9 months with no running water and rely on rain water to freshen it up... and often there isnt much of that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefish Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Is the filter run by an air pump? I've got 4 tanks in my bedroom and it was good until i got a sponge filter that has a tube where the bubbles come up at the top. My air pump has 2 settings so during the day i have it on high and during the night i have it on low. Perhaps you could do the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Yes, the filter is run by an air pump but there's no high/low settings that I can see for it - bugger! What's more, I would still hear it - I'm one of those that needs dead silence to sleep. Maybe I should just move the tank out and be done with it, but not sure where to put it, I'm limited for spaces in my place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danilada Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 What fish are you planning to have? Then we can give a deffiante answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 I don't think it really matters what type of fish I have because even without a filter, I need some sort of air flow - so there's always going to be an apparatus that will be noisy in the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 I have a number of tanks with no air stone or filter and the tanks are smaller than yours and a couple of fish are perfectly healthy. Go the killies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 ear plugs rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 I have a number of tanks with no air stone or filter and the tanks are smaller than yours and a couple of fish are perfectly healthy. Go the killies. OK, I understand to do small water changes each week to clean out muck, but what about oxygen? Isn't some sort of air flow required to keep the water oxygenated? :lol: @ Stella Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 :lol: @ Stella yes well, everyone does :roll: I am like you, don't sleep well with noise. Oxygen exchange happens at the surface of water, moving or not. If the water is moving it means more exchange happens. The waterchanges are only partly to clean out muck. Even if there is no muck the waterchanges are needed to dilute the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate (or just nitrate in a cycled tank). I have an unfiltered 3ft tank. It gets 50% waterchanges weekly, and the water quality is great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 yes well, everyone does :roll: Sorry, should have said: " :lol: @ Stella's comment" ....or were you serious about that? Oxygen exchange happens at the surface of water, moving or not. If the water is moving it means more exchange happens. The waterchanges are only partly to clean out muck. Even if there is no muck the waterchanges are needed to dilute the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate (or just nitrate in a cycled tank). I have an unfiltered 3ft tank. It gets 50% waterchanges weekly, and the water quality is great. OK, I'll give this a go but I'm not sure how to cycle the tank properly - the substrate is new, the filter (now no longer needed) is new, I have used mostly water from another tank so not sure how to cycle it properly before introducing fish anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaNs Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 On my 300L tank id turn my FX5 off each night from 10-8am......sucks when its turns on and you have a bad hangover. Never had any problems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 2 small fish in a 40 litre tank without filter or surface agitation would think they had won lotto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Sorry, should have said: " :lol: @ Stella's comment" ....or were you serious about that? hehe, nah, just chucking here So what fish ARE you thinking of having? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 When I was young and living at home I used to have a 5'x2'x2' with a big noisy sump in my bedroom and got used to it very quickly. So did my girlfriend when she started staying over... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted January 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 hehe, nah, just chucking here So what fish ARE you thinking of having? Probably some killies - but I'm not sure about cycling when everything is new - how should I do it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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