help my heater got unplugged

[RadleyMiller]

There are lots of different species of bacteria that break down ammonia and nitrites and all have a optimum pH, temperature, and ammonia/nitrite concentration. There is also a range of tolerance for these bacteria which means if things aren't optimum, either a little too high or a little too low, they will still survive but just won't be as effiecient. I am sure if we looked at the bacteria from my local ponds and wastewater treatment plant, they would be totally different than from where you are from and from where Chompers is from. This is because the conditions are different, hence the niche is different, hence the species is different. When my conditions become your conditions and they are in the range of tolerance, the speices of bacteria will survive but won't be as effiecent at NH3/NO2 oxidation as they would be at their optimum levels. Granted, this is still a lot we don't know, but this is common sense. This is why we have a fever when we are sick. We take away the optimum conditions from the bacteria infecting us so it grows slower and our body is still able to attack it.

Just my $.02

 

[CHOMPERS]

Yep, spot on man. Another thing to consider is an established colony that functions at say 80 degrees, will not function well at fifty degrees untill it has time to increase its population. Still, the individual bacteria will consume less at the lower temp but that can be made up in numbers. When the temp is returned to 80, the food source will not support the population and the numbers will reduce to the initial population.