life span bio/filter w/o fish

R

rly

AC Members
Oct 10, 2004
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Good morning all,well i finally got a 135gal, tank up and running that a buddy gave me a year ago.So this comming weekend we are going to a fish auction in Cincinati area. So my question is

i put an xp1 in my eastablished 55 for 3 weeks to get bio going then got ahead of myself and put it in new tank without fish,does anyone have any thoughts on how long bio colony will live without fish.If i wait till auction it will be a week without living fish.
tia
Ron
p.s. sorry not so good at posting (sentences,paragraphs,soforth)
 
So you already have an established tank? Put the filter in your established tank until the fish auction. Then of course just do regular testing on your 125 once you add fish.

I'm not sure how long, but it can't be too long considering if your doing a fishless, and your already cycled you have to add ammonia if your not getting fish within 24 hours.
 
Without a source of ammonia your bio media will typically start to die off in a matter of hours. The total process will take several days though. Generally speaking when using another aquarium to seed your filter you should move both the filter and your new fish to the aquarium at the same time.
 
rly said:
Good morning all,well i finally got a 135gal, tank up and running that a buddy gave me a year ago.So this comming weekend we are going to a fish auction in Cincinati area. So my question is

i put an xp1 in my eastablished 55 for 3 weeks to get bio going then got ahead of myself and put it in new tank without fish,does anyone have any thoughts on how long bio colony will live without fish.If i wait till auction it will be a week without living fish.
tia
Ron
p.s. sorry not so good at posting (sentences,paragraphs,soforth)
Click to expand...

It would probably be a good idea to provide the biofilter with an Ammonia source while you wait. Either use non-sudsy ammonia (about 1 drop / 2 gal) or toss in an uncooked shrimp or two and let it rot.

Stop adding Ammonia about 24hrs before adding the fish.

SirWired
 
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