"DavidM" wrote in message
...
Standing in the local pond shop yesterday I tried to find a good source of
filter bacteria, but left with nothing feeling pretty annoyed.

The shop once sold bacteria in a sealed bad impregnated onto a foam pad.
It makes sense that the bacteria should colonise the pad in good numbers.
The pad was slightly damp and I think there was a shelf life of a few
months. What I have problems with are the 250ml bottles of filter starter
that have no manufacture or use by date.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

I am of the belief that the need for commercially sold starter bacteria is
just a myth propogated by those who make money doing so. Ignoring the
company involved, Aquascape's Aquaclearer Bacteria Extreme recommends 1
tablespoon per 1000 gallons every week.

So they're suggesting that the bacteria can survive sitting in a can for
however many months it takes to get packaged, shipped, distributed, and
finally sold. But it can only survive 1 week in the environment it was
designed for. Plus they're suggesting a tablespoon or two will somehow
magically contain enough surviving bacteria to break down the ammonia and
other nitrogen compounds.

Of course they don't put a manufacture or use by date. The product can
easily sit 6 months to a year in warehouses and on the shelf before you buy
it.

I think it's all a bunch of baloney. The right kind of bacteria are already
in the air, water and soil. You just need to provide sufficient surface area
for them to develop large colonies. New ponds obviously don't have large
enough bacteria colonies. Introducing one or two fish does two things.

One bit of aquarium water in the bag with the fish has the necessary starter
culture. Second 1-2 fish don't produce much waste, so that gives the
bacteria time to grow and develop before you introduce more fish.

If you're doing a spring cleaning, don't sterilize everything, just get rid
of the mulm, the bacteria floating in the water will soon reestablish
themselves on the surfaces of the filters.

My $0.02
-S