cannister accidentally unplugged - BB die off?

**fishmommie** · 02-10-2013, 05:07 PM

I just discovered that my canister filter on my 90 was accidentally unplugged. The window of time it was off could be anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. I did a water change friday morning and know I plugged it back in then. Whether I didn't seat the prongs properly at that time or whether I accidentally bumped it when I was rooting around in the stand on Saturday, I don't know. I didn't notice the lack of flow because I have an additional HOB running on this tank and because I had the spray bar positioned downward.

So - the canister remained full of water but with no flow.
I figure all or at least a good portion of the BB in the canister died off.

What's the best course of action?
Simply let it run and build up BB again and hope the HOB can handle the bio load?
Or would you feed the tank a Bacterial booster or Stability or something else.
I also assume I'll most likely have a mini cycle so will watch my perimeters and do w/c accordingly
Can't believe I let this happen :o(
thanks

**Cermet** · 02-10-2013, 05:33 PM

Could be an issue, might not. Carefully check the ammonia and nitrite levels for the next week - every day. You'll know if the canister needs to cycle or not and if so, how bad it needs to recover. Not much else to do but watch and wait.

There is no such thing as a booster or any other additive that works to help the bacteria; thats not to say an ammonia 'lock' compond isn't a good idea to have on hand and be ready to use if ammonia levels climb above 0.25 ppm. The bacteria needs to grow/recover on its own. Best of luck.

**Strider199** · 02-10-2013, 05:39 PM

A filter coming unplugged is awful, sorry to hear about that. The BB did not dry out for the most part so the colony should be still alive. I would monitor for ammonia and nitrites for the next couple of days but I think you'll find every thing is good.

The bonus to having 2 separate filter systems on a tank is your HOB still has every thing you need so even if only 50% of the canisters BB survived your going to grow more quickly.
Water changes never hurt as you said, good idea to do and extra one half way through the week just because. Smile, you'll be ok.

**fishmommie** · 02-10-2013, 05:42 PM

thanks guys. I appreciate the support. Still can't believe it happened. I'm so careful about that - but clearly, not careful enough :o(.

**Cermet** · 02-10-2013, 05:50 PM

Don't get too upset - I've done it (I am sure many have!) and even after (a day, two? never sure how long) my filter recovered very fast. Never saw more then a minor spike and it passed - I was lucky I had the algae scrubber running at the time so that most likely carried part of the load (but hardly more than a small fraction.)

**Strider199** · 02-10-2013, 05:55 PM

As Cermet said, (I am sure many have!)

It happened to me also. I cleaned my cannister and thought I had it plugged in. It wasn't. I noticed it the next day and got it running right away. It was probably 22 hours. My HOB was running during this time and I never saw a glitch on the 55 gallon freshwater tank. I checked each evening for ammonia and nitrites but they always read 0ppms. The benifit of running 2 filters.

**Lady Hobbs** · 02-10-2013, 06:16 PM

Agree with Cermet that you may have no issue at all. No one knows how long the BB lives unless they have a microscope and know what you're looking for. Perhaps it will remain living for two days or four.......who knows? The media was in the water and in the dark so doubt anything will go wrong because of this. If you do have a mini-spike, it will be short term.

**CrunchyLeaf** · 02-10-2013, 09:12 PM

+1 to those who have said you most likely won't have a problem. I had the impeller go out on my hob filter once and I estimated that it could have been as long as 24 hours before I noticed it because my filter runs so quiet. I plugged it back in and tested every day for a week. No problems.

**fishmommie** · 02-10-2013, 09:46 PM

again, thanks everyone. Fingers crossed. I think it's closer to 24 than 48 hours but I guess time will tell. I'll keep on top of the water testing and do some extra W/C if necessary. Tank looks great and healthy and I want it to stay that way :o)