Bio Bacteria ok for days?

[Captain Hook]

As many of you know, I ran into a problem with my new tank so my fish (pair of killies and about 6 endlers) are sitting in a bucket. They may be in there for up to a week now and I'm wondering if my biological bacteria will die in this time.

The AC filter is wet but not running, just using a sponge filter in the bucket. The gravel is wet but not in the bucket either. There will be tons of plants in the new tank. Think I will be fine?

 

[aquariumfishguy]

It depends, but in 7 (or more) days you can loose substantial amounts of bacteria. I would say you'd experience a mini cycle...at best. You might wind up with high amounts of ammonia after adding the fish and a new filter. Sorry, not sure how well this will work.

 

[Captain Hook]

I should clarify that the AC mini that was on the old tank is going on the new tank, it's just not running while the fish are temporarily holding in a bucket.

Basically what I'm wondering is how long bacteria will be able to survive without a source of ammonia. I am hoping to have the new tank running by early next week but at this point I don't know when.

 

[Richer]

The bacteria won't last very long. If you want to keep the bacteria in your AC biomedia alive (which I highly suggest you do), throw the media into another bucket, put a powerhead into that bucket, and dose it with a small amount of ammonia... (maybe somewhere around 1-2ppm). That will keep the bacteria on the media alive and ready to go once you get the new tank.

HTH
-Richer

 

[TKOS]

Worse come to worse at least try adding some fish food to the bucket. At least it will rot and form soem ammonia but you will still loose a lot of bacteria without a quick amonia source like Richer mentioned.

 

[Captain Hook]

To be honest I was kind of lazy and didn't add any ammonia or anything. I was planning on moving one of the mini sponges into another filter on my other tank but didn't even do that.

If everything goes right I will be setting up the new tank in about 5 hours tho. The small tank was taken down Thursday night, so it will be about 4 days with no source of ammonia.

There are tons of plants in the tank though so I'm not too worried. The fish load is quite small too.

 

[aquariumfishguy]

In any case, do lots of water changes and you will manage ok...or I should say, your fish will manage O.K.

 

[HungryGoldfish]

The idea above was right on. Add a little bit of ammonia every day to the tank. That way you know the bacteria is there and thriving.

However, starving the bacteria would not result is a huge amount of bacteria loss over several days. When bacteria is starved, the metabolism changes and the cells enter a starved protective state.

Now there is a huge difference between the nitrogen-reducing bacteria and E. coli (which lives in our gut), but the underlying biochemistry is the same. In E. coli, you can starve it for 3 days before you begin to have cells die. After 2 weeks, you still have around 5% of the bacteria alive.

5% doesn't sound like much, but remember bacteria grow fast. 4.5 doublings and you are back at full strength, and those doublings in an aquarium take place in about (and I'm guessing here) less than 1 day.

So for what it's worth, starving your tank for 14 days will result in needing about 4 days to bring the tank back to normal.

Of course actual practice always trumps theory, so if anyone has any real world experience please step up.

 

[got_nailed]

It sounded like he’s going to a planted tank? But if so the plants will help with the Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. I would try to get some Water Sprite or any “steam plant.” You should be just fine as long as you don’t feed a lot the first week and you might need to do a few water changes.

 

[Richer]

Ah... ok, in your case, pack the tank with as many fast growing plants as you can get your hands on. That will minimize (if not eliminate) any ammonia or nitrite spikes. There are bacterial colonies on the plants themselves, which will greatly help your cycle along, not to mention that fact that fast growing plants consume ammonia and nitrates at a very high rate, which will eliminate ammonia/nitrite spikes in a lightly stocked tank.

Quite a few people actually go through this route when they're cycling a planted tank:

1.) Setup plant tank (ie. substrate, filtration, CO2 injection, etc.)
2.) Pack tank with as many fast growing plants as possible, then 1-2 days.
3.) Stock tank _very_ lightly with herbivores (ie. you're algae clean up crew), then leave the tank alone for a 1-2 months (all the while checking ammonia/nitrite levels, and fertillizing the plants if needed).
4.) After the waiting period, slowly add fish (ie. 2-3 fish a week, depending on species).
5.) After tank is stocked, wait another a few more weeks.
6.) Slowly replace fast growing plants with slower, more managable plants (A few plants every week or so). Sell clippings, etc. to recoup the initial plant investment. My plant clippings from my 70 gallon tank actually gave me enough credits to give me a permanent discount at the store I go to.

HTH
-Richer