Cycle Crash - filter turned off overnight

[HeathC]

Hi all, I accidentally left my canister filter off overnight on a 180l 4ft tank.

Luckily I have 2 sponge filters and some airstones already in the tank.

As the filter is practically dead (and the shrimp in it) I’m thinking of cleaning it and restarting it.

I’ve brought some seachem stability and am thinking of dosing it quite heavily as Ihave lots of bristoenose and guppies in the tank.

Any thoughts

 

[GlennO]

Having the canister filter turned off overnight shouldn’t have any ill effects. Did you do a water test?

 

[HeathC]

Having the canister filter turned off overnight shouldn’t have any ill effects. Did you do a water test?

I have levels are relatively normal. However I had a lot of shrimp living in the canister which have died. I’ve just cleaned the canister to get rid of the shrimp and added some extra prime + stability.

 

[GlennO]

Ok great. I think it will be fine.

 

[CryoraptorA303]

Cycle bacteria don't die in a matter of hours. It takes a few days of starvation for them to start deactivating. They have other methods of getting energy (pretty sure almost every organism on earth is capable of fermentation) that can last them through a period of low ammonia levels.

If anything, the dead shrimp may have given them a source of ammonia while the filter was off.

 

[Fishfur]

If anything, the dead shrimp may have given them a source of ammonia while the filter was off.

Not if it was only overnight - takes longer than that for ammonia to be produced from the breakdown process.