Filter stopped or flow collapsed
This is an emergency: circulation stopped — treat it like one
Why this happens
Without turnover, oxygen vanishes and ammonia begins climbing from the biofilter stalling. Minutes matter in warm water.
How sure are we? Very high — restore flow first, diagnose cause second.
What to do right now
- Unplug, prime, and restart the filter; listen for hum — if silent, crack the impeller housing per manual.
- Splash surface manually while offline — jug pour to break film.
- If canister leaked: temporary sponge filter with air pump from another tank's seasoned sponge if available.
- Test ammonia within hours of prolonged outage — schedule extra partial changes if needed.
- After fix, keep observation hourly tonight — not tomorrow morning only.
What not to do
- Don’t leave it “until the weekend.”
If that doesn’t fix it
Invest in backup battery air if outages are common.
Catch this earlier next time — log your water parameters in App-aquatic. Free forever.