filter down. Part ordered. I week wait. Now what? HELP

[dana307]

My propeller assembly on one of my fluval 304s is broke. Part can take up to a week for order. No LFS have it in stock. So...... with a power head and air pump can my 50 gallon be okay without a filter?

Should I switch off the filter from the other tank on alternate days or something?

I might have a fluval 3 tiny little thing hanging around - have to check but would have to disturb all my plants to lay that in there as the whole thing goes in the water.

Just did a 30% water change. Should I do it more often this week? Water parameters all check out okay. Any advice?

 

[spikekillifish]

You can make a temporary filter with your powerhead, a small glad/tupperware type container, and your filter media. On one side of the container you will need make several 1/8" dia. holes. This will serve as your filter intake. Place your filter media inside this half of the container. On the other half place your powerhead and make a large enough hole for the outake.

I always place airstones in my tanks so the bubbles wrap around some porous rock as they ascend to the top. This serves as a stable "back-up" bilogical filter.

 

[catfishmike]

gosh i didn't even think of this till spikes post,you can wrap the sponges around and air stone and use it like a old school sponge filter,but spikes idea was much better

 

[wayne at home]

Annoying, not the end of the world. There are plenty of filter bacteria in your tank outside the filter, so just keep the water moving, and do an extra water change somewhere midweek.. If you have plants as well, I think you're ok. This is probably not the week to overfeed tho'

 

[dana307]

Thanks for the great advice all!!!! You guys are so good to me.
Will try some of the advice, will underfeed of course and will let you know if I run into any trouble. Wish me luck.