How resillient are Bacteria?

[golum]

Ive recently cycled my fish tank, i plan on rehousing the current inhabitants and getting 3 ADF's.
I am planning on draining the majority of the water and cleaning the tank, then moving the tank in another room. I was worried that i would kill off the majority of the established bacteria and start the cycle again. How tough are the bacteria?
Also would i need to keep the air stone on at night because of the plants? i know plants reverse and suck in oxygen when its dark, while ADF's breathe atmospheric air im worried if i turn the filter off at night the frogs wont have enough oxygen in the water?
TLR- how tough are aquarium bacteria&do i need a airpump for ADF's in a planted aquarium
Help

 

[Drstrangelove]

The types you want are 1) autotrophic that cycle the ammonia to nitrite, then 2) heterotrophic that cycle the nitrite to nitrate.

The autotrophic bacteria don't create spores, so will die if they dry out, and also due to lack of oxygen, if they are heated too much, or if they are subjected to anti bacterial agents. They can survive low pH and low temperatures to a point during which time they'll stop reproducing or converting ammonia. They reproduce slowly (divide every 12-20 hours), so if you lose a lot of them, you'll need to deal with that.

Heterotrophic bacteria reproduce at an incredible rate (divide every 20 minutes), so I think less to worry about if you lose some. And they can survive being dried out. However the two types do compete for the same areas to live, so if you lose most of the autotrophic you will have a problem.

I'd reconsider the process so you keep the filter material wet and oxygenated and in the same tank water while you clean and move the tank. Don't clean the filter material. Seachem might help as well once you are ready. Others who have done what you are doing can probably correct my post or elaborate.

 

[Glasman]

Ive had to move more times than i wish over the past few years, and i always drain the water leaving just the gravel covered, keep the filter media submerged in a bucket of old water, set the tank back up with all new water, and very rarely had a problem. We once did this with over 50 tanks, not a fun job. I prefer to keep it more manageable these days.

 

[coyotethug]

I have done this a number of times too. Last move was 1000 miles. I took all the filter material and placed it in containers filled with water and ran air stones into it. At the end I squeezed out sponges and swirled ceramic media around too knock of any sediment and put them back into the filters. No probs with any of the three tanks I moved.

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