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Hi all,

I have a number of well established tanks. One tank is a 20 gallon Long, another is a 30 gallon. The 20 gallon Long is a planted tank, the 30 is not.
The 20 is filtered with a Penguin Mini and an AC200. The 30 is filtered with a Penguin 330 and an Eheim 2222 canister.

I want to remove the Eheim and put it onto the 20 so that I can inject CO2 and remove both filters that are on the 20 and put the AC200 on the 30 and put the Mini on my fry tank.

My question is this: My 20 gallon tank is set up with soft water, slightly acidic and a temp of 82. The 30 has acauline water and a temp of 76. What would happen to the nitrifying bacteria in these filters if I do move them to different tanks?

Thanks

Nothing, They even live in saltwater, a PH swing should have little to no ill effects.

Just make sure you keep the canister full of water wile making the change. Do not let it dry out.

HTH
Shannen

Different bacteria grows in saltwater from freshwater. Bacteria can be killed off by large temp changes but we're talking very large changes not the difference between 2 tropical tanks. The same with ph. You should have no problem moving filters or biomaterial between 2 freshwater tanks. Just makes sure the material stays wet and don't leave it without water circulation for an hour or more. Anearobic bacteria could set in and that would be very bad when you start the filter back up.

Here are some pretty neat nitrifying bacteria facts by the makers of Fritz Zyme. Scroll down to see the list if you don't want to read the whole article.

[link=http://www.bioconlabs.com/nitribactfacts.html]http://www.bioconlabs.com/nitribactfacts.html" style="COLOR: #C000C0[/link]

Hope this helps

Thanks, Di. That article was fascinating! I certainly feel much better informed about nitrifying bacteria now.