does MORE oxygen speed up the cycling process?

[Bubble_B0y]

beneficial bacteria need oxygen to grow.
If I added several airstones and a powerhead to my tank - will this speed up the nitrogen cycle?

 

[Oscarr19]

Not really imo if you REALLY want to speed up the cycling process get some seeded media.

 

[jetajockey]

Yes and no. There's a maximum oxygen saturation level, so at some point it won't matter how much turbulence you have.

Also, I've not seen any major difference in cycling speed unless the tank has a low level of dissolved oxygen. As long as there's decent circulation and turnover I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[jsoong]

Seeding is the best way to speed things up. 2nd best is raising the temperature - bacteria grows better in the 80's rather than 60's or 70's.

As long as you have good water circulation, the O2 is about at max. Adding more airstone, etc. won't change things.

 

[jeffp]

The limiting factor to how fast the bacteria grow should never be the amount of oxygen in the water. It should either be the amount of food the bacteria has or the theoretical maximum speed that they can multiply.