We started touching on a good subject a few days ago and haven't been able to find serious data on this. How long does it take for the bacteria to die off in a bio filter with the flow stopped? 
Bio-bacteria
- Thread starter travelinman1969
- Start date
That depends on the residual oxygen in the filter, the temperature, how clean the filter is at the time of the stoppage, etc. Another of those annoying "It all depends" items.
Ok, let's say a 150 gallon, at 80 degree F, after 1 week of running. The tank has 2 five inch oscars, a 17 inch pleco, a 14 inch pleco, a 5 inch bala and a 23 inch arowana. Big bio-load. 4 trays in a Fluval 404. I clean one tray per week. The others I leave alone. But have been told that 15 minutes of killing the flow will destroy the beneficial bacteria. I have 3 trays of bio stuff and 1 of floss. I change the floss weekly, and stagger the cleaning of the trays.
I certainly don't think you'd lose the biofilter in 15 minutes. I'd guess you'd be pretty safe for up to a day, at least. I once left a bio-only canister, relatively clean, off for a weekend (accidentally), and it seemed to work fine when I turned it on Monday morning. I had some ammonia when I discovered the error, but it cleared soon after turning the filter back on. I wouldn't do that a regular basis, of course...
Did you say the filter had been running one week, meaning that a week ago it was not on a tank? If that's correct, I'd think there weren't many bacteria in there to start with.
Jim
Did you say the filter had been running one week, meaning that a week ago it was not on a tank? If that's correct, I'd think there weren't many bacteria in there to start with.
Jim
I wouldn't expect that it would have a terribly robust colony of bacteria after only a week on the tank... I usually run a new filter on an existing tank for at least 3 weeks (or 4) before pulling it off to put on a different tank.
Jim
Jim
Which brings me to my next question. How often should a filter be cleaned? I have a TetraTec PF 500 with the integrated heating system that I'm having to change 2 of the 4 floss only filters every 5 days, staggering them. They basically just polish the water, if I put carbon in they don't last but 3 days. I have quite the bio-load, plus the fish are a little messy when they eat. My plecos do a lot of cleaning but they have a lot of waist. The other 404 is mechanical, bio, chemial, floss. I have actually ordered a penguin 330 to repace the 404 bacteria filter. I heard it was a better way to go with the bio-wheel. I've never had a bio-wheel so I'm intrested to see it.
