Filter On or Off

[Dr_Shakalu]

Hi everyone. I vaguely remember someone posting about this but I can't find it. Anyways, how many of you turn off your filter and air when you feed your fish? I used to leave every thing on while feeding but now I shut off everything except the lights because food kept swirling around and it's especially bad when I feed my goldfish flakes. Can someone give me the pros and cons?

Sent from my SPH-L710 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[spiff44]

I used to do that, but not any longer. Its pretty much bad for everything... pumps, UV's and even the filter packs don't handle it well. The life expectancy will be reduced on your pumps and lamps. A constant flow will settle things in a filter, but once stopped and restarted there will always be a certain ratio of crap that will get kicked loose too.

So I think that leaving everything on and maybe wasting a bit of food that gets sucked in is better than turning stuff off. The exception might be if you're dealing with border line parameter issues and that extra bioload of the uneaten food being an issue for you.

 

[Chicxulub]

I normally don't feed anything that can get sucked into my filter, so I leave it on.

Moved to setup and filtration.

 

[Dan F]

I use a timer (built in to my Tsunami wavemaker/controller) to shut off my pumps for about 30 minutes wh en I feed. I push the feeding timer button about five minutes before feeding, which allows the overflows to quit overflowing. I feed floating pellets to my Chalceus, so if I didn't use the timer there would be tons of pellets going into the sump.

 

[koltsixx]

I do the same as Dan, I use a timer to turn off the filters.

1. It helps the fish get on a consistent schedule and I find that consistency helps in many respects including breaking fish off live.
2. It helps keep me on a schedule, a reminder that won't allow me to say meh, I'll feed them later I'm busy now.
3. It gives the Menarambo and Geo's in my tank a chance to sift through the sand and stir up dirt without it constantly blowing through the tank.
4. I also use another timer on my lights as it helps reduce the algae growth in my tank by limiting light exposure as like with feedings I sometimes procrastinate turning them off.

 

[Daonni]

Find a place in the tank with the least surface turbulence. I use to turn filters on and off during feeding, but it became a PITA for 4 tanks, and I forgot to turn a couple back on a few times. So now they stay on.

Sent from my LG-L38C using MonsterAquariaNetwork App