Can I Turn Off a Fish Tank Filter at Night?

Basically, it is not a good idea to turn off your aquarium filter every night, because the aquarium filter plays a main key role in the health of your tank, and shutting it down for hours at a time can eventually lead to problems, so it's totally a bad idea to switch off the aquarium filter at night.

If you make it a habit to shut off your filter every night, you are putting both your fish and your microbe colonies in a bad situation. Filters not only remove waste from your tank, but they also provide important aeration.

If you turn off your filter each night, the following problems you may notice in your fish aquarium-

• Algae blooms.
• Cloudy water.
• Snail Outbreaks.
• Affecting the quality of your water.
• Beneficial bacteria that live in the filter will soon start dying, without these bacteria, the amount of ammonia will increase, which is one of the most harmful elements to the aquarium and your fish.

Your fish probably will not die as a result of turning off your filter for one night. If they do, you've got something else going on that has them in a weakened, unhealthy state. 

Aquarium filters are designed to run 24 hours per day, seven days a week and in most instances, that is the amount of time you should aim to run your aquarium filter to avoid problems.

The reason why people turn off the filter

The reason to turn off the filter is because of the noise. Due to this, normally people turn off filters and put fish at risk. It is better to resolve the issue of what is causing the filter to be noisy, as they agitate the water the splashing noise can irritate some people.

Can Fish Live Without Filter

Filter plays the main role in aquarium fish health, if you don't need filters, you should increase the care and maintenance associated with these types of fish. The following fish can be kept in large jars or bowls rather than a full-sized aquarium. The fish are also in cold water and don't need the help of a heater. The most significant thing for care is you may need to change the water every day to remove toxins and waste from aquarium fish.

Following are fish that can survive without an aquarium filter-

• Betta Fish.
• Ember Tetras Fish.
• Guppy Fish.
• Pea puffer Fish.
• Scarlet Fish.
• Zebra Fish.

If you want to switch off the filter-

It totally depends on your tank set-up, if you have an air stone or other form of aeration then as long as you want quality to be fair, it shouldn't make much difference to switch off overnight. I would do a water test. Before you switch it off and check it in the morning for the first couple of days to ensure there are no spikes in quality.