Not a reef question but a freshwater bacteria question

[windemerejack]

I am emptying my Discus tank in a week or 2, my lfs will hold my Discus for me, so while its being emptied and cleaned and refilled, i have a small empty tank which i am thinking of just running my external filters into so as to keep bacteria so dont have to cycle again. Question is do i need to add ammonia to keep bacteria fed or will just running them in freshwater be ok? It will be for about 2 days.

 

[LadyMac]

Yes you’ll have to give it an ammonia source to feed it or it’ll starve. Feed like you would when fishless cycling.

that being said, you couldn’t put your media in a stocking and ask the lfs to place that in the tank with the discus?

 

[brandon429]

Filter bacteria can never starve if kept wet and exposed to common contaminants in a home setting

they use natural means to feed always

try and find data online regarding starved bac
Is the data from a company that sells bottle bac

the longest thread we have on file showing self feeding is three years, rocks kept in water three years no feeding pass full oxidation testing, DJ City’s garage nano rocks thread.

freshwater bac are able to self sustain even better than marine ones, all cycling charts show you if ammonia rises due to starvation after cycling.

try and find posts where forum aquarists aren’t doubting bacteria, we have been trained that way to keep the sales machine going.
bacteria have been able to feed without us a long time

 

[Snuggs]

Fill your small tank with dirty water

 

[windemerejack]

Yes you’ll have to give it an ammonia source to feed it or it’ll starve. Feed like you would when fishless cycling.

that being said, you couldn’t put your media in a stocking and ask the lfs to place that in the tank with the discus?

Never thought of that, Ive just rang lfs and he said thats ok to do, so thats what in doing.
Thanks for that.
And thanks to everybody that replied.