Adding Bacteria to Mature Bio Filter?

[Kasey Grohowski]

A lot of people say you can't have too much bacteria, so I was wondering if adding more bacteria will help mature your bio filter or if I should just let it go on it's own?

 

[reefwiser]

The problem with this statement is that bacteria need a food source. If they do not have enough food they will not continue to grow and die off.
So one can only have enough bacteria that can be supported by the bioload of your aquarium. One can add all the bacteria one wants and all the extra media for the bacteria to colonize and if one doesn't have a large bioload to handle it then one is wasting one's time.
In fact, bacteria inside one's aquarium is the first in line at getting the bioload food. All other areas will only get what is left over. Which in most cases is very little. We found this out over 30 years ago when the Berlin method started the reef tank system. Once live rock had cycled in an aquarium people found that they could remove their expensive wet/dry filters. Sadly many hobbyists today have lost this knowledge and "believe" the snake oil claims.