Sorry I'm confused I thought your res temps got up to 78.
So chlorine is put in the water specifically to kill microbes. Otherwise our pipes would be festering pools of who knows what. So it stands to reason that it will also kill the bacteria that you don't want it to, right?
This is opinion only - it is my feeling that the bad stuff grows faster than the good stuff. It takes about 45 days for a proper BB colony to establish and reach a point where you are fully protected. I've seen root rot creep up in a week. For that reason, you need to really inoculate the system well right up front to give the BB a head start. That said, I don't even do that any more, I get the colony established then never let it die, even transferring it on aquarium bio media between res's to start up a new system.
It's not hard to get rid of chlorine, just an extra step and why not?
I think at this point it will be difficult to take the whole net pot to a sink - you have 2 nets in there to contend with. But take a look at this thread and let me know what you think you can do:
So figured its about time to make a thread i can reference for those seeking a solution to root rot. First let's go over some facts. Root rot is not temperature dependent there are many different types pythium that survive and thrive at various temps. Second it is not caused by anaerobic...
www.thcfarmer.com
Funny, second time today I have linked that thread.