Question: keep W/D alive by freezing?

[kumdoalan]

Dr Joe...
They are back in the 140 gal tank where they were a month ago.
I worried that catching the Koi tonight would be trouble.
I remember catching them to put into the pond and I was about as wet as they were by the time we were done.

however tonight I got a plastic white garbage bag to use to put the fish into to move them .
I actually just held the open end of the bag down into the water in front of them and the koi just went into the bag all on their own.
No fighting, no tail flipping, no me soaked...

 

[ITHURTZ]

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?

Last I looked, lakes, rivers didnt freeze solid.

 

[kumdoalan]

Last I looked, lakes, rivers didnt freeze solid.

But I have to think that if Mother Nature had to only use the bio life stuff that happend to be still unfrozen in April here, well...this State would stink for about 4 months before the Bio life from the closest river or lake, (about 40 miles) would get spread around.

I got to believe that most of the Bio life on earth can handle a winter.

I think I remember a story that came from NASA where some of the men who walked on the moon brought back parts of a lander that had went to the moon a few years before.
I think that brought back the camera from the lander.
The guys at NASA took the camera apart and found live Bio life inside the camera.
It had been on the moon for years without any harm to it.

So I got to believe that my filter will be Ok sitting out in the porch for a few days...

ANYWAY, thats where it is now so it's time to just hope for the best.

 

[Bud8Fan]

Life on Earth lives EVERYWHERE. Frozen in Antarctica, at the bottom of the ocean where there is no oxygen and they suck off of lava vents, you name the place no matter how cold or how hot and you will find some sort of microbe living there or at least lying dormant there waiting for the right conditions.

 

[Dr Joe]

Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria statistics...

Growth rate is decreased by 75% at 46-50° F

No activity will occur at 39° F

Nitrifying bacteria will die at 32° F

Bio-life is a different story.

Bacteria get carried in on the wind and can survive in pockets that do not freeze.

And that's just the freezing problem...

There's also the pH change (All nitrification is inhibited if the pH drops to 6.0 or less) .

And DO problem (Nitrification will not occur if DO concentrations drop to 2.0 mg/l (ppm) or less).

If your really wanting to experiment with this, when you want to re-start the filter, put it in a tank with used tank water, measuring the chemistry before and in the following three days (any longer and extraneous bacteria can enter the equation). Ammonia & nitrItes should immediately go down if bacteria survived and be stagnant or go up if they didn't.

Either way don't re-start the filter with fish in the tank. Please.

Dr Joe

.

 

[kumdoalan]

no, as it looks now the winter will be here for about another month.
Then when I do fill the pond with water I will do the normal stuff that you do to start a Bio-filter going.
Starting with small fish and I will add some of the stuff that you can get at the pet store to kick-start a filter.

The reason I started this topic was just because all my other plans for keeping a w/d filter alive over the next month did not really turn out for me.

I knew I was left with only placeing the drained filter barrel out in the cold and just wanted to know if there was a chance that the cold (this morning it's about -13 below zero) would work to save some of the filter's bio-media alive?

My thinking now is that I do believe there is every chance in the world that I saved most if not all the bio-media life.
I tend to believe that the cold has really no effect on such life forms, other than perhaps setting it back a bit. But in the long run no real harm done.

Now I could be totally wrong about this, but at this point Im going to just force myself to believe it as it's too late now to do anything elses anyway...LOL

 

[Dr Joe]

Well, I have to agree with your last statement.

What I posted is from a University study " Nitrifying bacteria will die at 32° F" so -13*F isn't going to do it any more good .

Best of luck.

Ain't fish fun

Dr Joe

.

 

[Jim96Sc2]

What about a small heater and the pump recirculating on itself? Just make sure you cover it pretty well so it holds the heat.

 

[kumdoalan]

What about a small heater and the pump recirculating on itself? Just make sure you cover it pretty well so it holds the heat.

All very good ideas
Would have worked great Im sure.
But the problem is that I dont have heaters and pumps, or a lot of time.
I knew when I started this topic that I had to finish the pond move within this week or I would not have any free time to do it within.

In the end, I just drained the pond and filter, and moved them into the unheated porch.

Did I kill my filter? well yes, there is that chance, thats the risk I decided to take.
But a dead filter is not all that much work to get going again.
It's going to be about a month before that pond sees water anyway.

 

[Acer]

Well lakes and rivers don't freeze all the way, there is a gradient of temperatures, so in the middle it could be a few degrees warmer...