"Yowie" wrote in message
...
A 100 litre fresh water tropical tank. Has 10 neons, 6 rosy barbs, a black
neon, a rummy nose tetra and a small bristlenose. Has some rocks, a large
peice of driftwood. My set-up is 2 years old, so its 'nitrogen cycle' is
stable.

snip

So, my question is: can I turn the thing off whilst asleep? I have tried
to
block the noise with a towel wrapped around the outside of the filter, but
it still makes too much noise for my liking. The only other option seems
to
be to turn the thing off whilst I'm trying to sleep. Would 8 hours per day
without filtering cause harm to the tank or am I just going to have to get
used to the racket?


As a fish breeder, I can safely say that having no filter for part (or even
all) of the day won't have a noticeable impact on your tank in the
slightest. As one poster mentioned, there's quite a few fish in that tank
so there may be a problem with sufficient oxygen levels overnight. If you
leave the filter off for several hours, or have a power outage do your fish
start "gasping" for air at the surface? If not, don't worry about them.

As far as the bacteria goes, they'll be fine overnight as long as the filter
doesn't dry out completely. Even if it does you still won't wipe out your
cycle entirely due to the bacteria living on the substrate and the plants.

I raise fry in containers with absolutely no filtration or water movement
for the first couple weeks of their lives (water changes every other day),
the only thing I put in their containers besides water is java moss. After
the first few weeks, I move them to a 5.5 or 2 gallon tank with only an air
stone. They'll sit in this setup until they're large enough to go into a
tank with other adults or get sold, but the water gets changed with the rest
of the fish - once a week.

As far as different filters go, I prefer canister filters. My Eheim 2213
doesn't make any noticeable noise unless you press your ear up against it.
I'm also liking the "new" design of the Tetra Whisper hang-on-back filters
with the motor or whatever it is under the water on top of the intake. Much
better than the Aqua Clear filters I used to swear by, and no noise unless
it's rattling against the tank (which it does occasionally).