Dormant Beneficial bacteria?

[batang_mcdo]

i removed fish from one of my tanks about a month ago, but i left the water in the sump .
there are a few pcs of guppies in the sump. only about 3-5 pcs.

yesterday i cleaned the first 2 chambers of the sump , for the 3rd and 4th chamber i just drained the dirty water and filled with dechlorinated water.
will i have beneficial bacteria still in my filter?
i filled up my main tank and placed a 10 inch pleco in and a 5 inch datnoid. i also threw in some silver sides .
this morning i tested the ammonia and there was none, does this mean my filter was able to handle the ammonia?

tank is 350 gallon and the sump is 180 gallon.
I'm getting stingray pup for this tank this coming saturday.

 

[Toby_H]

I would expect there to be traces of bacteria still in your filter. Enough to speed up the initial step in cycling.

Did I read correct that the large Pleco & Datnoid were in 500 gallon system for 1 day? I'd suspect their ammonia production simply wasn't enough to register yet. As the old saying goes, the solution to pollution is dilution, and you have a lot of dilution power in that large of a system.

I'd let it sit as is until Friday, then test the water again. Pull the Pleco and water change as necessary. Put the Stingray in Saturday and move some filter material from a mature filter into the sump. Monitor and water change as needed until it's worked out.

It's not the textbook way to do things. But when you're dealing with water volumes this large and stock lists this small, you've got some wiggle room.

 

[batang_mcdo]

I would expect there to be traces of bacteria still in your filter. Enough to speed up the initial step in cycling.

Did I read correct that the large Pleco & Datnoid were in 500 gallon system for 1 day? I'd suspect their ammonia production simply wasn't enough to register yet. As the old saying goes, the solution to pollution is dilution, and you have a lot of dilution power in that large of a system.

I'd let it sit as is until Friday, then test the water again. Pull the Pleco and water change as necessary. Put the Stingray in Saturday and move some filter material from a mature filter into the sump. Monitor and water change as needed until it's worked out.

It's not the textbook way to do things. But when you're dealing with water volumes this large and stock lists this small, you've got some wiggle room.

thanks yup its just been 1 day i dropped some more silversides into the tank as well.
I'll test daily to see if ammonia is detected, but when my small ray comes, I'll get some bags of old established media from my pond to be sure .

I ordered a nitrate test kit, i seldom test nitrate and I've had a few which already expired.

 

[esoxlucius]

i removed fish from one of my tanks about a month ago, but i left the water in the sump .
there are a few pcs of guppies in the sump. only about 3-5 pcs.

yesterday i cleaned the first 2 chambers of the sump , for the 3rd and 4th chamber i just drained the dirty water and filled with dechlorinated water.
will i have beneficial bacteria still in my filter?
i filled up my main tank and placed a 10 inch pleco in and a 5 inch datnoid. i also threw in some silver sides .
this morning i tested the ammonia and there was none, does this mean my filter was able to handle the ammonia?

tank is 350 gallon and the sump is 180 gallon.
I'm getting stingray pup for this tank this coming saturday.

I've no doubt there will be some BB in your sump, thanks to the small amount of waste your guppies were putting out. But the amount of BB needed to "service" a few small guppies will be nothing compared to what's needed to process the combined bio load your pleco and dat will be putting out. Your BB will have to catch up, and whilst they do, you may eventually, in a couple of days get a positive ammonia reading. As already mentioned, your large overall volume of water will give you some wiggle room but for now i'd monitor that ammonia for sure.

I'm no ray expert but I believe they require pristeen water. I'd be very careful adding your ray this weekend. Your ammonia will certainly need to be 0ppm. Good luck.

 

[batang_mcdo]

I've no doubt there will be some BB in your sump, thanks to the small amount of waste your guppies were putting out. But the amount of BB needed to "service" a few small guppies will be nothing compared to what's needed to process the combined bio load your pleco and dat will be putting out. Your BB will have to catch up, and whilst they do, you may eventually, in a couple of days get a positive ammonia reading. As already mentioned, your large overall volume of water will give you some wiggle room but for now i'd monitor that ammonia for sure.

I'm no ray expert but I believe they require pristeen water. I'd be very careful adding your ray this weekend. Your ammonia will certainly need to be 0ppm. Good luck.

thanks testedand there was 5ppm
Nitrate and no ammonia so far i think the bb has been able
To catch up

 

[neutrino]

The short version is how long it takes for 'dormant' beneficial bacteria depends on multiple factors, including how long they were dormant and under what conditions, the levels of particular species within your bacteria colony (there are multiple species which respond differently), even the potential presence of predator microbes and whether conditions favor these or not. In the right circumstances your beneficial microbe colony can be up and running again within hours, or it can take days or even weeks.

That's why you might get different answers and no one answer is the "right" one, results will vary.

 

[batang_mcdo]

thanks I'll continue to feed and test my water parameters as well.

 

[Rocksor]

thanks testedand there was 5ppm
Nitrate and no ammonia so far i think the bb has been able
To catch up

Did you test your tap water for nitrate? A common mistake is that most folks forget to test their source water for PH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate after 24 hours being in a cup. They think their tank is cycled due to nitrates in the tank and not realize it's coming from their source water.

 

[batang_mcdo]

Did you test your tap water for nitrate? A common mistake is that most folks forget to test their source water for PH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate after 24 hours being in a cup. They think their tank is cycled due to nitrates in the tank and not realize it's coming from their source water.

Thanks , our tap water here does not have nitrate, but when i cleaned the sump , there was some water left about 10-15 gallons in the k1 chamber, since i only drained half the water feom that chamber

 

[Rocksor]

Thanks , our tap water here does not have nitrate, but when i cleaned the sump , there was some water left about 10-15 gallons in the k1 chamber, since i only drained half the water feom that chamber

So the nitrates came from the sump? Sounds like the nitrate reading existed prior to the removal of the fish and stayed 5ppm without fish for a month. If that's the case, you will need to see the nitrate reading go up to 10ppm in the next 2 weeks. This will tell you if ammonia is being converted to nitrates.