How Long Till Bacteria Colonies Get Established?

[skiltrip]

My Whisper 60 had "died" the other day. So I took one of the filter sponges and stuck it in my Whisper 20 and ran that as a backup. The carbon cartridge was new, but the sponge hasn't been cleaned (only rinsed ever couple months in tank water). So I spent some time getting my Whisper 60 to work again... and i did... so i put it back on... but of course all new filter media and sponges void of any bacteria.

How long would you say it will take for bacteria colonies to establish themselves back on the Whisper 60?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

So basically you have transferred one of the sponges from a mature and healthy filter to your dead filter sponge catridge, yes? Are there any fish in the tank you are running it in?

 

[skiltrip]

So basically you have transferred one of the sponges from a mature and healthy filter to your dead filter sponge catridge, yes? Are there any fish in the tank you are running it in?

yes, that's basically the gist. the whisper 60 has two cartridges and two sponges, i moved one of the sponges to the backup filter.

and yes, fish are in there. 2" yellow lab, 2" redtail shark, 2" pleco, 2.4" synocat.

tank has been running for approx 3 years.

how long ya think till the whisper 60 builds up enough bacteria and re-establishes itself?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

So basically you have transferred one of the sponges from a mature and healthy filter to your dead filter sponge catridge, yes? Are there any fish in the tank you are running it in?

yes, that's basically the gist. the whisper 60 has two cartridges and two sponges, i moved one of the sponges to the backup filter.

and yes, fish are in there. 2" yellow lab, 2" redtail shark, 2" pleco, 2.4" synocat.

tank has been running for approx 3 years.

how long ya think till the whisper 60 builds up enough bacteria and re-establishes itself?

I would give it 2 weeks to be on the safe side, it should be absolutely fine after that although i'd test the water quality just to make sure .

 

[skiltrip]

Thanks for the advice. I'll probably leave both filters running for a while anyway. I'm in no rush to get the Whisper 20 out of there. 8)