Question: keep W/D alive by freezing?

[kumdoalan]

I am now beginning to tear down my basement indoor pond so that I can move it into an unheated 3-season porch thats connected to the house.

I have tried to think of an easy way to keep the wet/dry bio alive during the move but most all my ideas tend to be way more work than I can do right now.

What if I did nothing?
What if I just moved the 55gal barrel wet/dry filter out to it's new home in the unheated porch?

It's about -11 below zero out in that room right now, so what would be the result if I did nothing but just drained all the water out of the filter and set it out in the cold?

My hope would be that all the needed bio stuff would just freeze solid, and then when it gets warm that would all come right back to life as if nothing had happend.....

This would work?

 

[Onion01]

sorry, bacteria would die off

 

[kumdoalan]

would they?
I mean if they died then would we in North Dakota not be bacteria-free every spring?
It got to -50 below zero last week here...

Do they die?
I keep thinking that a few may die off a little, but most bio would live just fine froze solid.
100 million years of evolutiuon has taught them how to make it past earth's winters...

Or am I wrong about this?

 

[Onion01]

you are wrong, they would die LOL

 

[Bud8Fan]

I always hear people say they will die off. Where do they come from then? When your tank is cycling does the bacteria fairy show up and sprinkle them on your filters?

Just a wild guess but I would be willing to bet that if they aren't fed they just go into a dormant state until food is available again.

I could be totally wrong just thinking out loud.

 

[Bud8Fan]

you are wrong, they would die LOL

Do you have proof?

 

[frasertheking]

well before you try give it a shot get two scrubbies on with bb the other without freeze the bb one and then add to two separate containers at 20 ppm nitrates and measure after a few days

 

[kumdoalan]

well before you try give it a shot

Well, that would be good advice for a differnt guy in a more well thought out situation.LOL

The reason I started this topic here is, that my pond is draining as I write this.
The filter is already out of running water over the medita.

Within 2 hours I will have placed my w/d filter out in the porch and it will have begun to freeze down.

What really Im asking is, what will be the likely result of my actions within the next few hours?

 

[frasertheking]

haha yeah well just hope for the best never really thought of it but seems logical that the bb goes dormant but make sure you bring it back top temp slowly and you might be ok

 

[Dr Joe]

well it's too late for anything now. Only suggestion left is Bio-Spira when you clean it and restart.

Where'd the fish go?

Dr Joe

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