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How long will bacteria live when filter stops?
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Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
How long will bacteria live when filter stops?
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09 Feb 2008 16:30 #1
by dclifford (Derek Clifford)
Not sure if its in the correct section, but here goes.
I am not sure if you have read my posts in the filter section, but after a failed attempt to place a UV sterilizer onto the return line of my external filter I cannot use my filter. I have had to turn it off and use an temporary internal filter instead.
My question is, with the external not working how long will the bacteria in the filter media last? Would there be any affects of just turning it back on when I get the replacement hose?
I have taken some of the filter media out of the filter and just placed it in the tank. Will this make a difference (good or bad)?
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Anthony (Anthony)
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09 Feb 2008 16:42 #2
by Anthony (Anthony)
Leaving it in the tank should lengthen its life span.
I have a filter turned of for over twelve hours and I never got an Ammonia/Nitrite spike.
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09 Feb 2008 16:52 #3
by derek (Derek Doyle)
hi namesake without oxygen the beneficial aerobic bacteria starts to die off almost immediately on a gradual basis.
so a couple of hours might be ok, but any longer you should rinse media in tank water to rid it of mulm and dead bacteria before you re connect.(if only a few hours, some bacteria will survive and will soon recolinise) if you re-connect a filter with too much dead or dying bacteria in the media it will push toxins etc. into your water. dead or dying bacteria will smell.
hope this helps.
derek
30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish
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09 Feb 2008 16:54 #4
by derek (Derek Doyle)
when i say rinse the media in tank water, i mean in a bucket not in the actual tank.
30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish
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09 Feb 2008 17:11 #5
by dclifford (Derek Clifford)
Thanks guys, this confirmed my suspicions. It looks like it could be out of order for up to a week. So I will clean the media in fresh tank water (in a bucket) when I will be turning it back on.
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10 Feb 2008 21:05 #6
by Coler (Coler)
I had a bit of an incident over christmas; left the tank alone for a few days while I went home. Did large water change and cleaned filter, changing polyfilter prior to going.
Got back to a power out - something tripped the mcb on the downstairs socket. Fish were barely hanging on (everything was off - heat, filtration, lights). Near as I could tell it had been out for 2 days.
I got the power sorted, warmed the tank back up slowly (advise - doing a large water change with warm water could I think have been fatal) and over the next couple of hours they flickered back into life - lovely to see.
Parameters on returning home - 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, nitrate up by about 5 I would say. No spike in parameters over the next few days. I am guessing that the slow freeze just shut all organic activity in the tank down, including normal respiratory/excretive function. I was however surprised not to be fighting an ammonia spike over the couple of days after fixing it as I presumed that the temp and lack of oxygen would decimate the bacterial colonies.
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Anthony (Anthony)
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11 Feb 2008 00:17 #7
by Anthony (Anthony)
If you leave the sponges in the tank and there is plenty of oxygen then the bacteria should be fine.
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11 Feb 2008 17:57 #8
by Coler (Coler)
just thinking about this again, you need not only oxygen but a food source I would think (not sure how long they survive without food but a week sounds a bit long)
Few flakes of fish food every day should do the trick, to be safe.
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Anthony (Anthony)
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11 Feb 2008 20:43 #9
by Anthony (Anthony)
Coler wrote:
just thinking about this again, you need not only oxygen but a food source I would think (not sure how long they survive without food but a week sounds a bit long)
Few flakes of fish food every day should do the trick, to be safe.
I am on about leaving the sponges in a tank with fish.
Derek knows this.
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How long will bacteria live when filter stops?
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