do you turn your pumps/power heads off at night?

[jastonataquapro]

OK, so lights are on cycles, I know some people cycle power heads for various wave/current generation. But what about, turning off your main pump or filter at night to simulate lower night currents (oh, and to assist in sleeping, cause it's loud and you live in a very small house in Toronto)?

I have:
48"x18"x18"=67G + 18G sump = 85G
Mag 950 pump at 4' head (800 Gph)
A Hagen Powerhead 201 (100Gph) and an 802 (400Gph). Plus an Emporer 400 filter (400Gph, very nice btw but the thing is so big, it doesn't fit in the sump, but that's ok, adds extra current/flow to the main tank).

So Total Gph flow is
pump @ 800
filter @ 400
P.H. @ 400
P.H. @ 100
Total = 1700 Gph which is 20+ tank rotations an hour! Assuming I believe vendor specs :)

I was thinking of turning on and off the small powerhead every hour throughout the entire day. And then the big powerhead on a couple times during the day, but on all night while the main pump is off, which would be from 11PM to 7AM. Should I do anything with the

Oh, and the protien skimmer, on all the time right?

I plan on going with a fish/invert/soft coral system. But right now I'm still planning the final setup and waiting for my water to cycle.

[Michael_Lambert]

Hey Jason, Its looking GREAT!.. the powerhead rotations are great idea.. as for turning off the main pumps at night? you could but i would not recommend it. most will run a sump and have microalgaes in it and will run lights on them.. to help stablize the PH in the tank.. so thats why we would not shut down the pumps. If im making any sence.

as for the skimmer.. depending on how waste production you have in the tank you could leave the skimmer off from time to time.. but once you start getting the bioload up then you will need to leave it on 24/7.

Also the Empoer filter? Are you running the media in there? and if so how ofter are you cleaning it?

[jastonataquapro]

I'm just running a carbon filter in the emporer right now. I'm not cleaning it at all, but that's cause nothing is in the system.

I'm not running any lights in the sump, I am going to get an extra heater for it so the temps match up, I will add some acrylic and lights and make it a refugium eventually, but not until it's too late and I've learned the hard way :) So for right now, it's just an overflow return with not much in there. Any additional comments?

[Michael_Lambert]

Sounds like you are doing well.. I mean like i said.. yo could just pick up a cheap light.. 14$ at homedepo for a shoplite.. just keeping some light on the sump helps keep the tanks PH regular.. and thats why most dont turn off the sump pumps.. becouse we all keep all our heaters and stuff in them..