Tank Without Power

[Doug62]

Hi all,
I set up a tank about five days ago, putting in my bacteria etc. Anyway, i reckoned it would be about ready to put fish in but last night my girlfriend (who was rather drunk) switched the power off by the source meaning there was no filter or heater running. It was about 12 hrs later that i noticed and switched it back on. So what i wanted to know is will my bacteria have died in this time and does it mean i will have to start the process over again. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Cheers Doug

p.s on the same topic i was also wondering how long water which is removed from the tank and put in buckets will keep its bacterial properties. I am hoping to remove all the water so i can move the tank.

 

[Rooster]

The jury is out on the filter.... get yourself a test kit, if you havnt one already... that will tell all !

As for the water question, there are very little bacteria in the water, the "good" stuff live in your filter, and substrate... theres no valid reason I can think of to keep old water.

 

[cujoho78]

Hi. I agree with the above post. It's hard to say about the bacteria in the filter. You will have to test the water for ammonia and nitrites to see if you are getting spikes. If the filter material was wet the whole time the power was off then you may be all right.
As for the water, i have also said that there is no benefit in keeping water from a tank. The good bacteria don't live in free floating water... they need to be attached to something. There may however be pollutants in the old water that you would not want to add to a new tank.
Good luck with your set-up!