Are you supposed to shut off pumps when doing a water change?

[jfingers088]

When i do a water change ive never shut off the pumps but then the fish start hearing the noises from the pumps just sucking in air and then when i start to fill it alot of air bubbles start to come out of the return pipe. Should i shut it off when i do a water change or does it not matter? (my fish start to panic)

 

[ridomart]

I just shut down my skimmer & return pump, leave my circulation pumps run. Just don't let the pumps run dry.

 

[the clock meis]

Bear in mind that I'm not an expert by any means, but what I do is leave them running unless they will be exposed due to lower levels. I've always refrained from running any of my pumps/PH dry as it certainly will not do them any good.
Chris

 

[jfingers088]

Can that ruin the pumps if you let them run dry?

 

[michaeltx]

Can that ruin the pumps if you let them run dry?
yes they are not designed to run dry and will damage the shafts in the pump.
I also shut off the skimmer and return pump when doing a water change but leave the circulation pumps running.
Mike

 

[renogaw]

i have all my pumps on a single power switch. turn off the switch, and all my pumps are off.

 

[scubaguy]

Since your asking about the pumps I thought I might aslo add that the heater if your water level gets to low should also be turned off.

 

[1journeyman]

I unplug everything.

 

[kmc]

I shut off the pump but I am only changing out between 3 and 5 gallons in a 29 gal biocube.

 

[zman1]

You didn't say for sure either way if you're changing water from the sump or tank directly. I do mine from the sump and shut the main return pump off. Then pump the water out and pump the change water in and turn the return pump back on. The reason is the main return starts pulling air, if I don't. When I didn't have a sump on my oldest tank I would shutdown everything, lights, PH and filters during the change.

 

[acrylic51]

I do at times shut the main pump down depends where I'm pulling water from.....If I'm pulling from the sump I will, but if I pull from my spigot off the tank main pump stays running.....The only time I shut down the skimmer pump is when the main pump goes down and the AquaController senses no power to the main pump and shuts it off and I never turn the CL pumps off.

 

[cgrant]

when i do water changes i just shutdown the main return pump, i usually keep everything else running. Unless your doing a massive water change for something.