Bacteria Survival In Cold Water

[billuk]

I have a tank that has fully cycled but currently has no fish.

The fish should have arrived but for one reason or another they haven't.

I need to do a big water change to get rid of the nitrates that have built up while I have been keeping it ticking over since the cycling was complete.

Will the bacteria be alright if I add water straight from the tap (after conditioning) with respect to temperature?

The current temp. of my cold water supply is around 8 celsius.

Will this temp. damage the bacteria until the heater gets things back up to temp.?

 

[Mikey1]

a drastic change in temperature will kill bacteria....this is why you always should rinse filter media in the same temp water as your tank water

 

[The Taffy Apple]

a drastic change in temperature will kill bacteria....this is why you always should rinse filter media in the same temp water as your tank water

You can also, theoretically, clean your media in dechlorinated tap water... i don't think the temperature is the main reason for using old tank water.

But billuk,is there a particular reason that doesn't allow you to add warm water at home? Why are you waiting for the heater in your tank to do it?

Terry.

 

[Zikofski]

i have used my outside tap water during a cold water change that is 8c has been less than that near freezing as i had to de-freeze the tap , and it did reduce my tank temp from 26 to near 15c with 50% water change didn't kill any bacteria that i know off in my tank i wouldn't recommend cleaning the filter in it but doing a water change yes it should be fine just watch your tank temp if your fish are sensitive to change in temp don't do so much of a big water change or pre heat the water if you can. again declor before you do it, one thing if you have cory's THEY LOVE a cold water change and may trigger spawning with them hope this helped

 

[Getthejist]

How much water are you going to change because I always do water changes with cold water never killed a fish, shrimp or any bacteria.

 

[Zikofski]

one surgestiong you can do if you know your not putting fish or have no fish in at the moment is raise the tank temp up a few degres to counter the effect of the cold water, it wont stop it reducing but it may not make it as severe

 

[Tuxyu3]

one surgestiong you can do if you know your not putting fish or have no fish in at the moment is raise the tank temp up a few degres to counter the effect of the cold water, it wont stop it reducing but it may not make it as severe

Surely that will just throw the bacteria off even more as instead of just having one big temperature change they will have two? I am probably wrong about that though
I am not sure about the possibility of the bacteria dying off but even if they should survive i would avoid it at all costs, especially when they are newly established.

 

[billuk]

Thank you for your replies.

I need to do a massive water change, as my nitrates are through the roof. I did a 90% change before I was supposed to add fish and the nitrate level was still too high. That was several weeks ago and I have been adding ammonia since to keep the bacteria happy.

I was thinking of changing more water this time round. The hot water in the house goes through a softener so that's a no go. When I did the 90% change before I was adding a 2 kettles of water per 25 litres and that took absolutely ages, which is why I wondered if it would hurt just using cold.

 

[fluttermoth]

I see your problem.

Yes, you can use straight cold water. I use a hose for water changes, and don't have access to a mixer tap, so I do all my water changes that way. I don't have any problems, but you do need to add the new water fairly slowly so the temperature doesn't drop too fast, and keep your filter off so the water has a chance to warm up a bit before it hits your bacteria.

 

[billuk]

I think I'm back to kettles then, my heater is built into the filter. Doh!