Quote Originally Posted by aussieant32
thank you, I would like to give the tank a really good scrub, its been running for abut 8 years.

How long would my bacteria etc last with the filter off?
Simple answer - several hours..

If you set yourself up to do your scrub out and refill as one process, your filter will be fine.

I moved house last week and had an active barebottom tank. To emtpy the tank I just put the filter return line on a hose that ran to a drain - effectively using the filter as a pump to empty the tank thereby letting the filter run for as long as possible. Once the tank was emptied the filter was obviously switched off for the time it took to load the tank and stand in a trailer, move it, set it up in the new place and refill it = about 3hrs.

I didn't lose any fish, more importantly it didn't cause a mini-cycle!