Ghost feeding is a myth?

[Ash1176]

Dr Tim’s proved it, you don’t need to ghost feed bacteria, if left for long enough it will just go dormant... so why is it that everybody says to ghost feed a tank after a cycle until you get fish, or a fish a fish died and then leaving a waiting period... what are your thoughts??? Do you ghost feed?

 

[AJE]

I don't know what that term means, so I guess not.

 

[Ash1176]

It means to add fish food, when they are no fish, so that there is a source of ammonia for the beneficial bacteria to feed on

 

[leftswerve]

To ensure no lag time for the bacteria to wake up and multiply to sufficient levels.

 

[Ash1176]

But it will take it at least months to go to sleep

 

[mattgirl]

The only time I recommend ghost feeding is while cycling a tank and using fish food as the ammonia source. To grow the bacteria in the first place it needs a constant supply of food (ammonia). Since the food has to decompose to form ammonia it needs a continuous supply of fresh food to replace what has decomposed.

 

[leftswerve]

But it will take it at least months to go to sleep

You should be asking how long will it live unfed, at what point will it die and/or hibernate.

 

[Ash1176]

leftswerve I will try and pull out his talk at Macna and see what he says. It would be good to know! And how quickly will it wake up?
mattgirl yes using food to kickstart the cycle is good way to go, I would even not consider that ghost feeding, But initial feeding for creating the bacteria

It’s just I see threads where people panic about the bacteria dying if it’s not fed ammonia for a couple of days, it just seems like the mainstream thought is that it would die off

 

[AJE]

Oh ok. I've never done that before because I've always had fish in my tanks after they were cycled

It means to add fish food, when they are no fish, so that there is a source of ammonia for the beneficial bacteria to feed on

 

[John58ford]

I ghost feed empty planted tanks, I don't fertilize so it's the only nutrients going in other than the water change minerals, I keep them constant.

I rarely ever have an empty planted tank, but occasionally it happens. My little grow outs are better served moving the media back into the mother tank and sterilizing/storing the unused tanks.

So I suppose, I would wonder, who is keeping an empty cycled tank, full of water, without plants, and would they like some fish?