Will Cold Water Kill Bacteria

[Bill1976]

Just had a bit of a panic, my tanks just recently cycled ( fish less ) so I have just done a big water change to get rid of the nitrate so,I can get some fish tomorrow, so I refilled the tank up with cold water only through a hose pipe for convenience, as I had no fish in there I didn't see any problem. I figured the heater would warm the water.

I'm now beginning to wonder if the cold water will kill my bacteria? I have put an extra heater in to warm things up a little quicker. Then again in a cold water tank the bacteria obviously survives, am I overthinking things here?

Cheers

 

[Frank77]

I am not sure about the specific good bacteria that live in our tanks, but even freezing doesn't kill most that I know of. Otherwise we could just freeze any food, to kill dangerous ones.
 
Someone may correct me though. lol

 

[HarpyFishLover]

Also, when you do water changes in the future, PLEASE heat the water before putting it in the actual tank. But I do not think that cold water will kill bacteria.

 

[Byron]

No, cold water in this context will not kill nitrifying bacteria that are present.  The bacteria do have optimum temperatures for multiplying, but that is not an issue as there are no fish to worry about.
 
I would however caution you about using solely cold water and relying on the heaters...this puts a strain on the tank heaters.  I realize that when you have fish you likely would not do this, but use a mix of hot/cold water to refill (at least I hope so).
 
Byron.

 

[Bill1976]

The only reason I used only cold water was because there was no fish in the tank, and it seemed far easier using the hose pipe than using buckets for 200 litres of water at 11pm, future water changes will be done with both hot and cold water to get the temperature right, this was purely a one off.

I'd just done my 60 litre earlier on in the day, ( with hot and cold water) and got some fish in there now.

Thanks panic over.