How Long The Filter Bacteria Survive?

[xohaibshahzad]

I have purchased a filter and asked the shopkeeper to use it in his tank (keeping his fish in) for a few day, will that serve the purpose? How long can bacteria in filter can survive if its taken out of the tank?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Kept damp, for months if they are in good shape when the food stops. Keep them out of bright light is about it.
 
You may get some bacteria that way. Two weeks is better. Bear in mind filters do not make bacteria- ammonia does. To make more bacteria, you must add more ammonia. Otherwise all you do is spread them out.

 

[xohaibshahzad]

You mean if we take out filter from a cycled tank, the bacteria can survive for long period like a month if kept in a dark place?

 

[Gruntle]

If the filter media is kept damp, yes.

 

[xohaibshahzad]

If the filter media is kept damp, yes.

 
Thanks,...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The bacteria can survive much longer than a month. This is a well researched topic which basically boils down to this. the bacteria can sense when the food and other things they need (inorganic carbon and oxygen) and they will go dormant. they stay this way for quite some time waiting for better conditions. How long they can stay dormant and how fast they can recover depends on their condition at the time. Bacteria which are well fed and most healthy last the longest and recover the fastest. Storing them refrigerated (not frozen which kills them) extends the time they can be kept useful.
 
The bacteria can even survive longer but the time it then takes for them to recover can be so long as not to be helpful in a tank right away. They need to "wake up," resume their activity and reproduce to get back to the level they were in when they went dormant. If this takes a few weeks it wont appreciably accelerate a cycle. it will only be of minimal help.
 
 

 

[xohaibshahzad]

The shopkeeper is using my newly purchased filter in his cyxled tank, i will get it when my tank is ready the distence is around 45 mins, hopefully it will do some good. Thanks for the info.

 

[xohaibshahzad]

its been about 4 days since keeping the filter in a cycled aquarium, is this time enough for bacteria from a cycled tank to get into the new filter?

 

[the_lock_man]

What you've got to remember is that the aquarium already has a cycled filter - therefore the existng filter will be processing the majority of the ammonia produced by the fish. The bacteria in that filter will not be saying to themselves "ooh, look, a nice new filter, let's go and live there", they will stay where they are.
 
Over time, you will get a certain degree of bacterial growth in the new filter, however, the bacteria in the existing filter will have died back by a similar amount. When I say "over time", I mean a period of weeks, not days. The amount of bacteria that you will currently have in your new filter is very small, almost nothing. What there is will be very immature, and liable to die off very quickly.
 
What would help is if you can persuade the shopkeeper to swap some (maximum of a third) of the existing filter media in the existing filter, for the new media in your new filter. Whilst both filters are still in the aquarium, there will be no difference. Once you take your new filter out, obviously, the remaining bacteria will have to deal with all the ammonia, but they will have plenty of new media to expand the colony into - they will do this very quickly, typically within 24 hours, so the existing aquarium should suffer no ill effects.
 
You, on the other hand,  will have a filter that has some nice, good, healthy bacteria in it, look after that as per the advice above, and it will kick start your aquarium cycling process. Ensuring that you have also filled your filter up using a mixture of the mature media, and the new, you will also have plenty of space for the bacteria to expand into, and so completing the cycle should not take too long.

 

[xohaibshahzad]

lol,... thanks. got it now.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Bacteria isn't immature or mature. When the term mature filter is used it is intended to mean it is fully cycled for that tank. If you move media with established bacteria in/on it, the bacteria is just fine and ready to work. It may not be enough to handle the ammonia load, but this doesn't meant that bacteria will die. If there is no ammonia load offered, the bacteria will not die either, it will go dormant.
 
But yes it will take more than a few days for bacteria to colonize your filter. It happens pretty much as t_l_m described. Bits of sheared off bio-film and some of the very few bacteria that are actually free swimming will end up in the new filter media. Because a new filter has better flow through the media than an established one, the new media is an inviting home. So as soon as any bacteria arrives, it will start to multiply and the numbers in the established filter will decline some. The result is basically the same capacity before and after the new filter is added.

 

[the_lock_man]

What I was trying to get across there is this
 
 

Bacteria which are well fed and most healthy last the longest and recover the fastest.
 

 
The "new" bacteria in the new filter will generally be less well fed and less healthy than the established bacteria in the existing filter. I was trying to phrase that in a simple way for xohaibshahzad, a newcomer to our hobby, to understand easier.

 

 

[TwoTankAmin]

But it would still be incorrect. Well fed basically means enough to be just short of reproducing. Any more and they divide. In an established tank the bacteria are all well fed. When natural processes cause some to die, other reproduce due to the excess food available. This keeps the colony stable in terms of capacity but not of individuals.
 
The bacteria divide, they do not have babies that have to grow up. Because the nitrifiers are such inefficient users of their nutrients, they need excess to be able to divide. When they do, both halves are pretty much in the same condition. They will continue to divide until there is no longer excess ammonia (or nitrite). Basically, they are all reaonably well fed and in good shape or they are not. Here is a quick read on this in relation to bottled bacteria:
 

 
How can bacteria live in a bottle and not die for 6 months or a year?
 
A common misconception about bacteria in general is that they die if they are not fed. From a human being point of view this sounds perfectly reasonable: if you don’t eat, you die. However, bacteria are not human beings. Bacteria operate much differently than people and have a variety of ways to deal with those times when resources are not available for them to grow and reproduce. Some bacteria when stressed (from say lack of nutrients) form spores and go into a resting stage, waiting for conditions to improve. Nitrifiers do not form spores but have other mechanisms to deal with nutrient deficient periods. For nitrifiers, one way to deal with stressful conditions is to form a protective “shield” called EPS. EPS stands for extracellular polymeric substances and is, in simplistic terms, an organic protective shield that research shows inhibits various organisms from attacking and breaking open the cell wall of nitrifiers. Nitrifiers belong to a very old line of bacteria (millions of years) and they have developed ways to cope with very long periods of “drought.” Because the nitrifiers in DrTim’s One & Only are grown on a substrate, they can form EPS when needed and last 6 to 12 months in a bottle.

from http/www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/helpful-hints/one-and-only-nitrifying-bacteria-faqs
 
There is tons of research on this subject. Most is not specific to tank strains but it applies to the autotrophs in general. Once the bacterial community begins colonizing it forms the bio-film. Bear in mind that in an established tank there are a lot more microorganisms than the nitrifiers. Getting them all established and in the proper proportions takes time. However, the nitrifiers must be established there in full strength first or a tank would never process all the ammonia available.

 

[xohaibshahzad]

5th day of the filter in a cycled Tank, hoping for the good. btw the tank i kept my filter in is a big tank around 6X1.5X1.5Ft.