[MikeS]

So I had to do a pretty quick and almost unexpected tear down of my tank (210) and put all the gravel (120+ lbs) in a wagon. When putting the tank together, the substrate was still wet and some of the plants that slipped through in were left in there were still growing. It was not cleaned and still wet (water, not just moist), so do you think it still has any beneficial bacteria in it?

 

[Kathyy]

I think you will be fine. I have taken down the tank for as long as a week without a major ammonia event happening. Sump was still full of water and not running and substrate kept wet. Just don't feed the fish or feed less than usual and test the water to see how it is going.

 

[MikeS]

Cool, I hope at least some is still alive. Will be replanting after thanksgiving, but wanted to get the tank up and running to start to cycle. I was just hoping some will be alive so it may cut the cycle time down.

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

There will still be plenty, bacteria can kinda go into stasis for a short time to stay alive.

provide them with the right conditions and they will come back and do their job

 

[Diana]

Highly likely to be a pretty good population remaining.
Good idea to get the tank up and running without livestock for a short while.
Feed it ammonia, just like you are doing the fishless cycle and the bacteria will recover fast.

 

[flc]

The nitrogen cycling bugs have generation times around 10-30 hours at the temperatures most people keep their tanks. Even if you killed off 99% of them, they'd be completely back to their original population density in ten days.