How Long Does Filter Bacteria Last?

[gsta13]

I had a 15g tank that used a filter until I upgraded tank and obviously filter, now the tank wasnt the cleanest tank in the world and i did leave the tank full, gravel/water/fishpoop n all. But now i am starting up the tank again. I need the filter and i am wondering how long the bacteria in the filter can last without heat? I figure that there was enough decaying plant/fish poop in the tank to fuffil the ammonia needs of the bacteria but am wondering if they have survived. I have placed the filter (along with bacteria hopefully) in my larger tank to either
A) Re-cycle the filter
B) Keep the surviving bacteria alive until the new tank is ready to go.

Any veiws?
Thanks
Greg

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

As long as the tank didn't drop to extremely low temperatures I doubt that temperature would be a huge factor. I'm assuming that you left the filter plugged in and running, and simple unplugged the heater? A large bacterial colony cannot be sustained without a food source for more than 24 hours or so before die off starts to occur. Although the decaying waste products may have provided some food for a short period of time, I doubt that would have provided any sort of significant food source for very long...unless you have test results to prove otherwise. Thus I would consider the filter completely uncycled... My suggestion would be to transfer some media from the other filter along with running the filter on the established tank to hopefully speed up the process.