Should I just bag the sponges?

[RogueDiscus]

I'm slowly working on rearranging my tanks, around building new racks. I recently moved some fish and emptied a couple tanks. I turned off their heaters today. Realized I'd like to save their sponges for the rebuild. The filters are still going. Can I keep them going without heat if I don't drain their tanks yet; no fish, should I "feed" them? Or should I just bag them now and save for later? What temp to save them at?

[LizStreithorst]

If you want to keep them active you will have to feed them. But I have found that the sponges I let totally dry out recover their ability to filter the water much more quickly that it takes a never cycled sponge to get going. I think that a lot of the good bacteria must go dormant rather than die.

[brewmaster15]

You don't need heat but do need to feed them to keep them alive and thriving. Best plan is just add them to your tanks with fish.. I have upwards to 6 sponges running in many of my tanks.. when I need a cycled sponge I just grab one.

Like Liz suggested they will start up fast if you don't. I have frozen them in the past and theres a discussion somewhere here on Sd where I completely dried them out and then restarted them and documented how long it took to restart..I forget the time but it was amazingly short.

Al

[brewmaster15]

I really do love the ability to go back and search and find discussions on a forum.

From 2002! 17 years ago!

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?21233-Biofilter-dry-out-experiment

Trying doing that on facebook! lol

Al

[RogueDiscus]

Thanks Liz and Al!