The general recommendation on fishless cycling is dechlorinated water
spiked with
ammonia. However, I am finding it hard to believe that the process would
succeed
with absolutely pure, mineral free water and ammonia. Surely there are
some other
minerals and gases required for rapid growth of the desireable bacteria.
I read some text by Tim Hovanec of Marineland about growing these bacteria
in a
bioreactor. He noted that they add potassium phosphate to a concentration
of
..5mg/l. And he states that they added sodium bicarbonate as needed to
keep the pH
above 8. I take his research as good evidence that the bacterial growth is
promoted at this higher pH and that some phosphate is im****tant. Is the
carbonate
also playing an im****tant role ? What about iron and other trace elements
?
Has anyone enough experience with fishless cycling to have experimented
with these
parameters ? Does anyone deliberately add anything to the water in
addition to the
ammonia ?
