How long can bacteria survive?

[PegasisR]

Ive added 200gal worth(Rated for that many gal) of bacteria to my 140gal aquarium and was wondering how long bacteria would survive? I havent feed them for 3-4days now, should i be worried for die off or is it okay?

 

[KrisReef]

If they get hungry they will probably start eating each other. They can last a long time that way, but it would be better to feed them if you are trying to cycle the tank?

 

[PegasisR]

If they get hungry they will probably start eating each other. They can last a long time that way, but it would be better to feed them if you are trying to cycle the tank?

Oh... thats not good! My tank is cycled it just finished and i havent fed in said amount of days :S should i dose ammonium chloride again?

 

[EmdeReef]

You can either dose some ammonium chloride or add some fish food but you will be fine if going a few days or even weeks without a food source. In general nitrifying bacteria will survive for a long time in the stationary phase (starvation mode). Resuscitations vary by species and conditions but over a few days they won't even enter the starvation mode.

 

[KrisReef]

Oh... thats not good! My tank is cycled it just finished and i havent fed in said amount of days :S should i dose ammonium chloride again?

They should be fine, but if it is going to be awhile before you add livestock it could not hurt to keep improving the bacteria bed.

 

[lapin]

Feed them about 1/2 cube frozen every few days. You want to build up the bacteria population so that when you do add fish you will not have any ammonia issues. The population will rise and fall with the amount of avail food.

 

[PegasisR]

Feed them about 1/2 cube frozen every few days. You want to build up the bacteria population so that when you do add fish you will not have any ammonia issues. The population will rise and fall with the amount of avail food.

And woud it be frozen mysis? brine?

 

[Instigate]

Nitrifying bacteria being fed a given amount of ammonia can survive for a month or more without that ammonia source and when reintroduced to the same amount they almost immediately are able to process the same amount. There is a paper somewhere online where they did a study.

/I would cycle the tank as normal with ammonia, I like to bring the tank to 2ppm NH3 to begin cycle. Then a few days before your first purchase add that same amount of ammonia it took before to bring the tank to 2ppm and make sure it's able to process it to zero in 24 hours. Would be good practice to do it again the following day for good measure.