@PB_Smith I would expect urine to make a great cycling source. You're certainly not the first person I have heard to use it.
All great considerations, jlk! I think you're absolutely correct that outside of working in a clean room, it would really be impossible to declare anything I use "sterile" and therefore render any real scientific results null and void.
I do have a microscope but... I'm pretty bad at using it. I've used it to try and take gram-negative bacteria samples but I lack the skills (or more likely, the knowledge and experience) to adequately understand my "findings".
Would I be able to get any adequate information though just mounting an initial sample of my tap water, my tank water (from my 4 different tanks), and the distilled water at these intervals? Possibly this could still result in some information even if it's imperfect.
Basically what I would like to know is, if I use the following:
* distilled water (basically something that deliberately has nothing, a blank slate if you will)
* ammonia
* nitrite (sodium nitrite in powder form)
* sodium bicarbonate (kH buffer to prevent the ph crash)
* phosphorus (powdered mono potassium phosphate)
If we have the proper combination of these elements in a (mostly) sterile virgin tank, will it cycle successfully untouched?
Better yet, will it cycle in half the time because it starts with nitrites?
Are these elements sufficient to cycle a tank - i.e. are they all that is required? Or are some level of trace minerals required?
Luckily my findings don't need to qualify for publication
They only need to be interesting to me. But it doesn't matter I guess because for now I am committed to being Caliban's assistant on an experiment that he wants to run, and I don't have anywhere to run this. I want to file it away for a later though. Or someone else should do it and report about it