Rhino,

For your type of filter, I think it would take quite a while for the
bacteria to die of oxygen starvation, but it will also start to starve to
death for lack of ammonia and nitrites it needs for food fairly quickly.
The number that die will be relatively small for the first few hours, but if
it has been off for a couple of days, then it will be anaerobic, and you
will get a lot of hydrogen sulfide that is best wasted.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Rhino" wrote in message
...
I have a question to a problem. The breaker that my pump is on keeps
tripping.
I know the reason and I have an electrician coming on Monday. As it
happens I
have been able to discover when it trips fairly quickly and so far no harm
no
foul. The pump is on another circuit for now. Once before when my pump
cratered
and for the four days before I got a replacement I keep airstones going.
My academic question is:
How long will the bacteria in the filter system live without constant
aeration.
I an using an up flow water column that flows through window screen media
then
through a heavily planted top layer "veggie" filter then to the waterfall
outflow. The incoming water water had a venturi to add O2 before it
reaches the
filter media. When the pump goes off, the filter is still under water and
in
the dark. At what point does the bacteria start dying and your filter is
set
back along with the attendant problems? How long without constant
water/O2
movement before the filter is toast?
Rhino



See my pond
www.htcomp.net/rhino_4_good/index.htm

"Without the second ammendment, the others are just suggestions."