Saltwater Tank Cycling ?

[Nat_a126]

Hi I recently set up my 65 gallon FOWLR tank three days ago, but the pump just makes too much noise. I'm going to switch it, and that would mean the water not being filtered for about 12 hours. Would that mess up the cycling in the tank? Kill the beneficial bacteria?

 

[Bectan01]

Do you have a heater in there? And a power head? If so that will be fine as long as there is movement. If you don't have a power head you probably need one anyway...

 

[Nat_a126]

No I don't have a heater and yes I have a power head, but it won't be shooting water out because we are switching the pumps.

 

[Sniperhank]

You are going to need to get yourself a heater to keep a saltwater tank in the temp range needed...you will also need to keep the water moving with a powerhead so there is oxygen in the water column.

 

[Nat_a126]

I live in the tropics so it's always hot and the temperature in my house is always 76-78 degrees. Even in the winter, the average temperature is 80 degrees outside. I have gotten away with out a heater before and my fishes have been fine, but thank you for your concern

 

[Nat_a126]

I do have a power head, but my question is is it okay to turn out the pump for 12 hrs to replace it with a quieter one? Meaning that there will be no water movement for only 12 hours during the cycling with live rock.

 

[Sniperhank]

If there is nothing alive in the tank due to trying to cycle, yes you can get away with it. If there is anything in there alive at all, don't even attempt. I've lost livestock to just having power outages for 3 hours before.

 

[Nat_a126]

No nothing alive in there! And I'm so sorry did they die because they had no oxygen in the water from no water movement?

 

[Nat_a126]

Except bacteria

 

[Sniperhank]

Yes, oxygen is important for all of us it turns out.

 

[Nat_a126]

So pretty much the longest you can not have water movement with things living in there before they die is around 2-3 hrs?

 

[Sniperhank]

It can vary depending on how much is in the tank consuming the oxygen and filling it full of CO2 to how sensitive the organism is. Corals will stress and die off first, which were my losses in that time frame. Inverts would be next and I am unsure of how large, if any, were lost during the outage. I have not lost any fish to short power outages, but I try to keep the water stirred manually and haven't gone over the 2-3 hour mark without getting my hands on my tank.

 

[Nat_a126]

This is kind of off topic, but how many water changes do you do per month and what percentage?

 

[Nat_a126]

And sorry to hear about that of your corals

 

[Sniperhank]

10% weekly. Water changes are you main nitrate export method, so if your nitrates are at 30 and you do a 10%, you are only removing 3. People that support only large monthly, say 20%, you are removing 6 in a month compared to 9 after 3 weekly changes.

 

[Nat_a126]

Okay would live rock help decrease the water changes, from let's say once a week to once every other week?

 

[mr_X]

Buy a second power head and then change out the noisy one. If you have live rock in the tank, there are definitely live critters here and there in it. they need oxygenated water.

 

[Sniperhank]

Live rock is a great help in terms of filtration, as it houses the beneficial bacteria that consumes ammonia and nitrite in the nitrate cycle. But this doesn't replace water changes to remove nitrates.

 

[mr_X]

BTW, what pump is this? In many cases the impeller isn't seated right and that's what makes the noise. Did you have it apart and inspected it?

 

[Nat_a126]

What is an impeller if you don't mind me asking?