Cycle Question

[sic0198]

If I took out the filter cartridges and put them in a bucket with tankwater in it, would it keep the bacteria alcive lonk enough for me to empty the tank out and refill it and put the cartridges back in and the tank would be cycled.

What I wanna do is empty my tank and refill it with new water. I wanna do this because there is a no algae chemical in my water, I use it to control any algae but I wanna use live plants now, I think this will negatively affect live plants.

 

[Axleuk]

If I took out the filter cartridges and put them in a bucket with tankwater in it, would it keep the bacteria alcive lonk enough for me to empty the tank out and refill it and put the cartridges back in and the tank would be cycled.

What I wanna do is empty my tank and refill it with new water. I wanna do this because there is a no algae chemical in my water, I use it to control any algae but I wanna use live plants now, I think this will negatively affect live plants.

I believe that as long as you keep the mature media wet the bacteria should be ok, at least for the timeframe you are talking about. Do you have fish in the tank you are reffering to? If so, where are you going to keep them while you do the change?

I will leave one of the more expreienced members to confirm if your tank will be cycled. You should not have a problem as long as you test you water and the results are in your favour, but again, i will leave someone with a bit more experience to confirm the cycle issue before proceeding.

 

[minxfishy]

I see no problem with your idea as long as you keep the media wet and dont leave it too long before replacing back into the tank. Although to be honest, I wouldnt go to all those lengths, I would just do a 50% water change and put the plants in, I doubt that the algae control will bother them - unless the instructions on the algae control say they would???

You could even do up to a 75% water change with the fish in if you wanted to, just temp match the water going back into the tank so as not to shock them Save your self a lot of trouble.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, agree with minx, you are probably worrying too much and a 75% would work.

re your question about keeping bacteria alive - in my experience you can easily go 5 hours (maybe more but this is as long as I know from direct experience) with bacteria sitting in still tank water and hardly see any change in their population from a testing standpoint.l

Also, (not sure, but) it sounds like you are asking whether a cycled tank would remain cycled if the bacteria were kept alive but all the water was changed. If that's what you are asking then the answer is yes, its the *filter* that's cycled, not the water. The water of a cycled tank does not harbor a significant amount of the good bacteria.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[sic0198]

Thanks, I might do a 75% change. I didn;t know this would work.

 

[waterdrop]

Well, remember, its not a guarantee. We're not saying we know for sure that the anti-algae chem you are using is not toxic enough to cause harm after the 75%, but it sure seems unlikely, so I think its a good bet that all would be ok.

good luck,
~~waterdrop~~