Filter impeller died; How long do I have?

[Triton]

Impeller on my 29g tank died on Saturday. Ordered a new one but hasn’t arrived. Have a protein skimmer and powerhead still going. No loss yet. Wondering how long I can safely go before new filter arrives and how to safely transfer over biomedia? Any suggestions are helpful.

 

[Adam]

Has the water been stagnant in the filter and return chambers since Saturday?

 

[Triton]

I have been trying to pour water in every few hours but yes for the most part

 

[Triton]

Nevermind. Just checked. It’s stagnant. Terribly smell and not putting any more of it into the tank.

 

[Adam]

Yeah, water that sits unmoving in our systems for any length of time starts producing hydrogen sulfide. That's the rotten egg smell and it's not good for the living things in the display side of the tank.

Even a cheap pump from Petco or Petsmart will get you back up and running while you wait for the new impeller. Suck as much of the stagnant water out and dump it in the toilet or up wind of someone you don't like
Then add new water to the display to replace what you removed and get the pump working. You should be good from there.

 

[Triton]

Just put some Biomax and some charcoal mesh filter in a plastic jar and drilled holes to allow flow and dropped that in so I can start getting good bacteria on media.

 

[reef_life]

Been testing your water? If it's in line I wouldn't stress and then follow @Adam recommendation

 

[Triton]

Readings are all great. Normal parameters.

None of the stagnant water made it into the tank.

 

[reef_life]

That's great news!

 

[gill]

All good news, also would suspect that you have enough bacterial slime on your rock that you did not need to worry too much about brand new media in the filter.