HELP: Is it safe to turn the filter off at night?

Hi all, I apologise for adding another post but this is a really important question.

My tank is in my room and it keeps me awake at night, and my parents are next door and the humming disturbs them, so I have to turn it off.

I added the tap safe yesterday and let the filter run for around six hours before I turned it off. I was worried that doing so would disturb the cycle and kill the bacteria, but I had to do it anyway. I turned it back on immediately when I got up this morning. It had been off for roughly 4 hours.

I read before if I could turn it off and the answers are mixed. I do not have an Axolotl housing in the tank or any fish at the moment.

I know some people do not use filters at all, so when he is housing it won't be too much of a problem. But i'm just worried turning it off last night has 'expired' the tap safe and ruined my cycle! :errr:

Please note, this is my first ever time keeping an Axi or a 'tropical' animal. So I am very worried about messing this up!

Generally turning of the filter will mean the good bacteria start to die off - they need a constant current bringing them oxygen and nutrients. Certainly turning it off every night is going to affect your cycle.

But different filters make different amounts of noise - my big cannister is just about silent, the HOB I had originally sounded like a diesel train. I currently have 6 tanks with 2 big cannisters, 4 internal filters and 2 aquarium fans running in my living room, and the only thing you can hear is the fans and an occasional trickly of water.

'filterless tanks' is an advanced aquarium subject, and although it is possible it's not something a beginner should attempt.

So you have several options - move the tank, get a quieter filter or put up with the noise.

It's more the water trickle I can hear. The filter is ok but it just hums quite a bit, my walls are paper thin and it's on a wooden table which is against my parents wall. I might just put more water in to stop so much of the trickle.

The thing I found that works is taking a large piece of filter floss and cutting it to the width of the output on the filter. Then having it hang from the filter into the water and it will stop the trickle


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Fill the water to the top of the tank to keep water flow quiet. Is the filter up against the wall? If so stuff a piece of rubber in between. Wear earbuds to bed? lol

I had a problem with roomies complaining about noises so I took blankets and nailed it to the walls you can get blankets with nice pictures or whatever I have horses and a big Mickey mouse lol but solved my problem had friends with a band that had people2 houses down complaining and they used carpet no his wife in the same house is happy maby just a blanket between the tank and their wall will help good luck

Similar to Boomsloth's suggestion, I use pieces of filter sponge to silence water trickling noise. If you have water trickling into other water it will be loud but if it hits a piece of sponge first it can completely silence it. I've used this technique on all my tanks with great success.

I just fill the tank right up to the brim to minimize noise (I don't mind the trickling sound, but my husband finds it annoying). As for the humming of the filter, if it's constant most people will get used to it, but you can always fiddle around with some foam or rubber to dampen the sound - can you move the tank to the opposite wall so it's not bothering your parents?