Best Bio Media?

[tmack]

Hi. I currently use Eheim's Substrat Pro in my cannister filters, but I'm wondering if there's a better bio media that would get bacteria established quicker & shorten cycle times?

 

[ox5477]

There is no substrate that will make the bacteria grow faster. They will only grow at the rate that they grow. You can help bacteria grow at their fastest by making sure that they are well fed (keeping ammonia levels up) during cycling. But overall, they have a set growth rate that they cannot excede. Its actually kind of wild that this is expressed in a exponential growth ratio of the initial population times the number e raised to an exponential. Math is some cool stuff!

On a similar note, if your looking for the best media for bacteria to colonize on then look for something that has the most amount of surface area possible. Hence, why all filters come with sponge. This gives alot of surface area as is has tons of "nooks and crannies" for the bacteria to grow in.

 

[bogusmove]

Oxygen is also required as well as ammonia.

Bacteria will multiply faster or slower at different temperatures. There will be an optimum temperature but I'm not sure what it is. I saw a graph of the common nitrifying bacteria multiplication rates for different temperatures years ago but cant find it now. Probably 80 dF is good. Hopefully someone else will know...

 

[tmack]

There is no substrate that will make the bacteria grow faster. They will only grow at the rate that they grow. You can help bacteria grow at their fastest by making sure that they are well fed (keeping ammonia levels up) during cycling. But overall, they have a set growth rate that they cannot excede. Its actually kind of wild that this is expressed in a exponential growth ratio of the initial population times the number e raised to an exponential. Math is some cool stuff!

On a similar note, if your looking for the best media for bacteria to colonize on then look for something that has the most amount of surface area possible. Hence, why all filters come with sponge. This gives alot of surface area as is has tons of "nooks and crannies" for the bacteria to grow in.

Thanks for the replies. Yes the best media for optimum colonization is what I was wanting to know. I think I'll do some surface area comparisons of the Substrat Pro versus other media. I should have thought of that myself but I'll blame it on old age!