Tank with no fish - How to generate good bacteria

[Mgamer20o0]

my guess is the bacteria is already dead. just recycle the tank after christmas.

 

[Reddog80p]

In a previous post someone had asked me if I was dosing my tank up to 2ppm to keep the bacteria alive. At the moment I have no fish in my tank and I do not plan on adding any until after Christmas. Were they talking about ammonia? Because I haven't added ammonia, I have just put fish flakes in the tank because I've heard that will also help bacteria growth. Also, I put a phosphate removing media in my filter. Was this a mistake?

I'd remove the phosphate removing media, a phosphate defiecency can stall a cycle too. Here's a link to a fishless cycle article....http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88796