Messed up pouring in the water. Should filter be on or off?

[Johny.Lebedeiv]

Picture below of how it looks right now. Awful, I know. When pouring in the water I forgot to put a plate or something so it doesn't kick the substrate. Substrate used is controsoil.




Question: Do I leave it still for the night and turn on filter in the morning, or do I not turn it on at all for 2-3 days. Or do I leave it on but take out the filter? I turned it on for a minute but turned it off so I am unsure if taking out the filter packet itself is unhealthy due to the contents.

 

[rlederer]

Leave it sit unfiltered for at least a few days. Most of the particulate matter will settle. You can use the filter but all you will be doing is filtering out some particles and cleaning or changing the filter every day. Let everything settle and then turn on the filter.

 

[Enchantress]

Turning the filter off will kill some of the beneficial bacteria living in the media. They will not survive that long with no water flow. And once the filter is turned back on, it can regurgitate unpleasant gunk back into the water, including toxic hydrogen sulphide which tends to form in filters that have been turned off for a long period of time. I'd leave it on and simply clean the media as needed. Unless the tank isn't cycled yet, in which case it's probably not that big of a problem if you leave the filter off.