8 hours a day without a filter?

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.

Had a Whisper brand hang-on filter that worked OK, although needed some
'wiggling' to start up again if the power got shut off, and the 'biobag'
filters were becoming harder and harder to find, thus I decided to replace
it.

Having no idea of the capacity of the Whisper filter (my whole tank is
second hand), I asked the folks at the shop what I would need and they
recommended Aqua One that looked to be about the same size - 500L per hour.
Now that its up and running, the flow is much stringer than the old Whisper
filter, and it really disrupts the java moss.

If I turn the flow meter down, it makes a horrible rattle. My main
complaint, however, is the noise this new filter makes. The tank is in the
bedroom and the loud buzz the motor makes compared to the old pump makes
sleep difficult. I've tried to return it, but a) it works and b) I've used
it, so they won't take it back. I'm really not happy with it, but at $75 I
am in no hurry to rush out for another.

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?

Thanks,

Yowie