Does a sponge filter still have beneficial bacteria if it’s not running?

[wtusa17]

I had a sponge filter running and I got a bigger on so I just left it in the tank bc it had bb. It hasn’t been running for a month but it’s still in the tank. Can I put it in another tank and it would have bb to kickstart the cycle?

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Should have though might be lower in number.
I don't think BB will die so easily as long as they are in the water.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Should have though might be lower in number.
I don't think BB will die so easily as long as they are in the water.

After a recent discussion on TFF, it turns out that bb needs water and oxygen to survive. That means, the tank needs some sort of water flow.

Should have though might be lower in number.

I agree. You may be able to save just a little bit.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I left mine in for now. Plenty of oxygen from new filter.

 

[EllRog]

I've seen people put biomedia in buckets of tank water and throw in a pinch of fish food every now and then, is that not actually working then? I put media in netted bags inside running tanks and sponges behind running filters personally.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I've seen people put biomedia in buckets of tank water and throw in a pinch of fish food every now and then, is that not actually working then? I put media in netted bags inside running tanks and sponges behind running filters personally.

Same. When ever I start up a new tank, I always put a cycled filter media behind the new one. I find that it works better that way.

 

[EllRog]

Same. When ever I start up a new tank, I always put a cycled filter media behind the new one. I find that it works better that way.

Definitely! Putting cycled media in a new filter was something I just did without even thinking about lol. I've recently started putting sponge filters in my tanks and ran them with the original filter for a few weeks before hooking the old one out. My breeder tank and quarantine tank are both running two filters in them at the moment to keep the media cycled and theres a mesh bag tucked in the back of my quarantine tank and 165 litre too

 

[AbbeysDad]

Bacteria is really resilient. As long as the sponge filter remained in the oxygenated tank, bacteria will survive. Think about bacteria in the substrate that has no where near the oxygenated water flowing through it as the running sponge filter - yet it thrives.