Filter Emergency

[toonfan]

Hi All,

I woke up this morning to my girlfriends shouts of the F****** water everywhere, when I got up it appears that the pipe on my fluval 104 has a hole in it (caused we think by the Cat) and water is squirting everywhere.

What I need to know is how long can I leave the filter off?

Will I need to clean the filter materal, before it's switched back on?

It's been of for 4 Hours now and will possibly be of for another 4 until I can get a replacement, I've done a small water change, about 5% and will do another one before I switch the filter back on.

It's a 15 gallon with one 2" plec, 3 black platys, 3 red platys, 2 red tailed sharks (1.5") and 3 white clouds.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Steve...........

 

[Phase2]

Just seen this post and am sure your sorted by now....filters can be off a while so dont panic....

 

[Whisper Odinsky]

during the big ol' blackout, my filter was off for about 2 days., and things are ok. the gouramis didnt really like it, but they will all survive. good luck!

 

[freshmike]

Hopefully by now you have everything sorted out........I am sure all will be fine!

 

[toonfan]

Hi All,

Just about sorted out, I couldn't get a replacement hose, for love nor money. I had to order one from www.aquatics-online.co.uk (great online store, by the way), should have it by Tuesday.
I've had to use my old internal filter for now. Everything seem's fine.

Should I clean the filter material before switching the external back on?

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what Icould use to protect the hoses from a cat attack?

Thanks for the replys.

Steve.........

 

[Alien Anna]

I would strongly recommend having a roll of Duck tape on standby for future problems. I am severely allergic to cats so I have no recommendations there, but perhaps you could cover the pipe in something un-cat friendly? How about those prickly plastic hair rollers? You could thread them over the pipe.

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Try using a dog!

 

[Lithril]

If all else fails I'm sure you can find someone with a large gun or if that fails a nice big hammer. Personally I use the dog tactics

I think the main problem with having the filter off for a long period of time (apart from the obvious ammonia build up) is that if the bacteria are starved of oxygen for too long they will die and you may have to mini cycle the filter. Any chance of taking the media out of the fluvel and putting it into the old one, until you can get a replacement pipe???