Filter Bacteria

[SchottayB]

I've read in some posts that if you turn your filter off you can kill the bacteria that's built up in the sponges.

Yet my filter in one of my tanks is built into the hood, so I have no choice to turn it off when I do a water change. My water has never been effected or had problems and i've done this for almost over a year on this tank.

Surley it doesn't kill the bacteria off if there is no water flowing thro it for half hour?

 

[mattlee]

as long as the media doesnt become dry then it wil be fine. although even if put in a bucket of tank water without an ammonia source it will die off eventually but the time it takes to do a water change wont harm it mate

 

[fluvial]

No, you're right, turning the filter off for upto an hour will not effect the bacteria
provided they are left in the tank water during the change.
I also turn my filter off every time I do a water change, and never had an issue with
the bacteria.
Obviously, if you left the filter media out of the water so that it dries, then you'll almost certainly
kill the bacteria.

 

[jacko32]

you can leave the filter turned off for a lot longer than that and it wont die some people have been known to send people mature media through the post for cycling so im sure you can turn your filter off for water changes

 

[Harlequins]

My hob filters tend to completely drain of water when i turn them off,so i try not to hang around doing w/c just in case...

 

[Bignose]

The die off rate of the cycling bacteria is like their growth rate -- pretty slow compared to most other bacteria. Cycling bacteria left without food will die off at around 10% or so a day. A half-hour while doing a water change is nothing.

As posted above, they won't survive complete dry-out however. Just so long as they remain wet, they can survive a long time.