Bio media drying up?
- Thread starter Krismo962
- Start date
If bio media completely dries out yes bacteria will die.
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tlindsey
said if it completely dries out then yes. Just make sure it's not your only source of bacteria in the filter and you should be ok. Wetdrys are very efficient, probably one of the best types of filters I've used. Depending on the type of media you use it could take a long time to completely dry out. Is there a mechanical filter at the top of the trickle filter? If so what is it. I've found that filter floss or pad will help retain moisture in the tower in the event of power outage. Do you experience alot of power outages for extended periods?
tlindsey
said if it completely dries out then yes. Just make sure it's not your only source of bacteria in the filter and you should be ok. Wetdrys are very efficient, probably one of the best types of filters I've used. Depending on the type of media you use it could take a long time to completely dry out. Is there a mechanical filter at the top of the trickle filter? If so what is it. I've found that filter floss or pad will help retain moisture in the tower in the event of power outage. Do you experience alot of power outages for extended periods?
Yes I use poly fil as mechanical filtration. The water touches the poly fil first and trickles into the bio media (lava rocks,pebbles,ceramic rings/bars.).No,the power doesn't go out that often if it does it usually comes back within a couple of minutes unless it has something to do with bad weather.Like
I don't think you have much to worry about then. All the media you have will retain moisture for quite some time. If worse comes to worse you could periodically pour water over it.
It is not the moisture you need to worry about in a power outage. For a few hours you can manually keep media moist and tank surfaces roiled with battery powered air pumps. What you cannot do is keep tanks cool in very hot weather or warm in freezing temps without heating or cooling the entire residence. The bacteria will also die if they freeze or get much above 100F for any amount of time.
We were able to afford a whole house back-up generator. As long as this does not fail, power outages do not bother us. I should mention that I have several pricey pleco species I breed and it is not uncommon for me to have many $10k of fish in my tanks. It took me about 15 years and a lot of luck to reach that point. As well as the fish, we were caring for my mom who had dementia and who was entering her 90s. She could not handle a loss of power during extreme temperatures either.
In the years since we put in the generator we have had two power outages of 13 days each. The hurricanes of 2011 and 2012 came up the east coast and hit us. We are about 30 miles NNE of NYC as the crow flies. in 2019 we had one of about 3 days.
The greatest danger from power outages is not dealing with manually keeping media damp or using battery powered air pumps to keep the surface agitated for oxygen for a few hours. It is from the temps if they are near freezing or lower or heating up to 100F for any amount of time. Both of these things will kill most fish and the bacteria cannot be frozen or kept above 100F. A few hours in such conditions one can handle, an extended period is another story.
I am lucky that we could afford whole house power back-up. It is not cheap. Mom has since passed but my rare pleco breeding efforts have resulted in my having fish worth a ton of money in my tanks, I work with zebra plecos, L236 (including super whites) and L173. I have several clown loaches with me since 2003 and which are my favorite fish. They are almost a foot long now. They are my favorite fish.
We were able to afford a whole house back-up generator. As long as this does not fail, power outages do not bother us. I should mention that I have several pricey pleco species I breed and it is not uncommon for me to have many $10k of fish in my tanks. It took me about 15 years and a lot of luck to reach that point. As well as the fish, we were caring for my mom who had dementia and who was entering her 90s. She could not handle a loss of power during extreme temperatures either.
In the years since we put in the generator we have had two power outages of 13 days each. The hurricanes of 2011 and 2012 came up the east coast and hit us. We are about 30 miles NNE of NYC as the crow flies. in 2019 we had one of about 3 days.
The greatest danger from power outages is not dealing with manually keeping media damp or using battery powered air pumps to keep the surface agitated for oxygen for a few hours. It is from the temps if they are near freezing or lower or heating up to 100F for any amount of time. Both of these things will kill most fish and the bacteria cannot be frozen or kept above 100F. A few hours in such conditions one can handle, an extended period is another story.
I am lucky that we could afford whole house power back-up. It is not cheap. Mom has since passed but my rare pleco breeding efforts have resulted in my having fish worth a ton of money in my tanks, I work with zebra plecos, L236 (including super whites) and L173. I have several clown loaches with me since 2003 and which are my favorite fish. They are almost a foot long now. They are my favorite fish.
I live in a tropical country,so temps are the least of my worries (never dips below 22C).Wow those clown loaches are older than me! What's your secret?
I get regular power outages here in Panama, and with them, power surges that have destroyed a pump. (I now keep an extra pump)
The last time it happened (while waiting for a new pump, I poured a few gallons per hour into the tank during daylight hours, that overflowed into my sump, slightly aerating the tank, and providing the media in the sump flow, and aerated water. Took at least two weeks for a pump to arrive (during the pandemic)
The sump would then overflow on the ground.
I would also use extra gallons with a tiny port to provide flow.
Since the last outage, I find it more advantageous to keep all bio-media submerged.
The last time it happened (while waiting for a new pump, I poured a few gallons per hour into the tank during daylight hours, that overflowed into my sump, slightly aerating the tank, and providing the media in the sump flow, and aerated water. Took at least two weeks for a pump to arrive (during the pandemic)
The sump would then overflow on the ground.
I would also use extra gallons with a tiny port to provide flow.
Since the last outage, I find it more advantageous to keep all bio-media submerged.
The problem is in how the bacteria function. If there is a complete lack of ammonia and or oxygen, the bacteria can sense this and they go into a state of dormancy. However, things are more complex than just this.
The bacteria reproduce in response to excess ammonia (as long as everything else needed is in adequate supply. This is why fishless cycling works. If all that is available is what they need to thrive in their current numbers, they will multiply in response to natural deaths. that is one dies and another will divide. This keeps the capacity of the colony as a whole functioning at a given level. On the other hand if less ammonia becomes available, division will slow compared to the death rate and the size of the colony basically downsizes to be in balance with the ammonia supply.
And therein lies the rub. If the supply of ammonia goes away, the bacteria go to sleep. They can recovery pretty fast when they wake back up depending on for how long this is. We are talking months not hours or days.
When the power goes out ammonia production by the fish does not stop, so the colony will not go dormant. We must do something to insure whatever else they need is being provided. Most importantly is oxygen, next is inorganic carbon. This usually comes from carbonates and bicarbonates in the water. These are the same things that constitutes KH. Moreover. the things that would cause the bacteria to go dormant would also likely kill the fish. Big ongoing water changes would keep the whole tank happy, but these normally requires one's eletricity be working. You ould have a small generator or inverter to power water pumps I suppose but well or municipal water may not work without electricity.
How all of this might work during power outages depends on number of variables. Number of tanks, type of filtration, number of fish anything that can he,lp but doesn't need power from your utility company. And then there is the time factor. the longer one has no power, the more problems that will cause. I know of people who kept tank water oxygenated using hydrogen peroxide.
One of the things one can do is to move bio-media from the filter to the tank. That way any circulation and surface agitation one can provide will help both fish and bacteria. But this is not a decent longer term solution for an extended power outage. One also needs to stop feeding tanks except for fry.
In Panama all you would mostly need is a small generator for your tanks and you should be OK.
The bacteria reproduce in response to excess ammonia (as long as everything else needed is in adequate supply. This is why fishless cycling works. If all that is available is what they need to thrive in their current numbers, they will multiply in response to natural deaths. that is one dies and another will divide. This keeps the capacity of the colony as a whole functioning at a given level. On the other hand if less ammonia becomes available, division will slow compared to the death rate and the size of the colony basically downsizes to be in balance with the ammonia supply.
And therein lies the rub. If the supply of ammonia goes away, the bacteria go to sleep. They can recovery pretty fast when they wake back up depending on for how long this is. We are talking months not hours or days.
When the power goes out ammonia production by the fish does not stop, so the colony will not go dormant. We must do something to insure whatever else they need is being provided. Most importantly is oxygen, next is inorganic carbon. This usually comes from carbonates and bicarbonates in the water. These are the same things that constitutes KH. Moreover. the things that would cause the bacteria to go dormant would also likely kill the fish. Big ongoing water changes would keep the whole tank happy, but these normally requires one's eletricity be working. You ould have a small generator or inverter to power water pumps I suppose but well or municipal water may not work without electricity.
How all of this might work during power outages depends on number of variables. Number of tanks, type of filtration, number of fish anything that can he,lp but doesn't need power from your utility company. And then there is the time factor. the longer one has no power, the more problems that will cause. I know of people who kept tank water oxygenated using hydrogen peroxide.
One of the things one can do is to move bio-media from the filter to the tank. That way any circulation and surface agitation one can provide will help both fish and bacteria. But this is not a decent longer term solution for an extended power outage. One also needs to stop feeding tanks except for fry.
In Panama all you would mostly need is a small generator for your tanks and you should be OK.