Member

Posts: 104
From:Austin, TX
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 02-09-2004 01:10 PM         

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I've heard and read a lot about benificial bacteria colonizing filter media and manage my tanks according to these rules. Do they colonize anywhere else in the tank? What % of total bacteria is in the filter media, gravel, or suspended in the water itself? In a mature tank, if you replace all your filter media with new or rinsed with chlorinated water media, will the entire tank cycle again or will the bacteria that were not in the filter be sufficent to keep the tank from cycling again.

Does anybody know?

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Member

Posts: 266
From:Canada
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 02-09-2004 02:51 PM         

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There's no specific answer. It will depend on the type of filter, amount of filter media, amount of gravel/rocks/ornaments in tank and other factors such as O2 availabilty in the substrate etc.

Generally speaking, however, bacteria will colonize all ornaments, rocks and gravel with the majority being in the gravel (certain types of rock - like live rock - have greater porosity and therefore more surface area for bacteria). If an established tank has a fairly good layer of gravel it should be relatively safe to replace filter media with new stuff, and safe to clean gravel with an established filter. I wouldn't generally recommend doing both however.

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