Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter Start XLF - Concentrated Freshwater Nitrifying Bacteria - Quick Start Fish Tank Starter, Lift Microbe Levels & Water Filtering - Aquarium Water Treatments, 33.8 fl oz

I got it to do two things: Keep the water clear in my pond, and help make liquid fertilizer. If you didn't know, you can put grass clippings and other organic stuff into water, and the water will leach out a lot of the good stuff. Eventually this progresses into a fermentation, and finally, nitrization. That's when bacteria start really turning the nitrogen in the liquid into something plants can use.Well, my liquid fertilizer mixture is still sitting, but not long after I added some of this, the water turned black. This is a good sign and shows that everything's working, and quickly! As for my pond, it looks great and has no problems.I recommend this item to people getting into homesteading, aquaculture, regenerative agriculture, making their own fertilizer, etc.

The media could not be loaded. At first I was hesitant but I decided to buy this product to help cycle my 37 gallon goldfish aquarium but I’m glad I did. I had been trying to cycle my aquarium for a little over a month at that time but the ammonia just was converting, and the bacteria starters at my local Petco weren’t helping at all. I bought this along with a Aqua Clear 50 for extra filtration and set everything up. The following weeks after the bottle ran out (it lasted a week) my ammonia started converting and I added 5, 6 week old ranch’s goldfish inside. Now they’re all healthy and happy and algae’s even starting to take over on my glass. Overall this is a great product and when I get another aquarium I’ll definitely buy this for cycling.

Absolute best way to start your tropical fish tank and have a perfect environment for fish survival. This stuff is a must and it works well.

This product has always given a boost to my aquarium's beneficial bacteria after a water change or when changing the media in my canister filter. Its a little pricey, but quality products usually are.

I was having a bit of a problem 'cycling' the 125-gallon tank with Seachem Stability. Ordered the Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacterStart XLF and, combined with Fluval's Biological Enhancer added on top of the Seachem Stability, the tank was completely cycled within 48 hours. Granted, the Seachem had the ammonia taken care of, but the nitrites were just not budging and would escalate rapidly without major water changes and additions of Seachem Prime daily. I am SOOO glad to have found the Brightwell product.

This product works very well. It quickly cycled my tank. Worked faster than other products I've used in the past. If I ever need to cycle a tank again, I'll be using this product.

Hello Follow Aquarists. I set up a 40-gallon breeder tank with ADA Aqua Soil and ECO Complete as the base layer, and of course adding MicroBacter StartXLF. I'm trying out the Dark Start Method for aquarium. In short, for those of you who may not know what that is, you allow your tank to run about a month with the lights off to allow the ammonia in the soil gas out and most importantly establish good bacteria to support your future fish and plants. See, Youtube for detailed information about the process. I ran my tank for 4 weeks and noticed how cloudy it was, you expect some cloudiness in tank with soil but not this much. So, I changed half the water and got a little improvement, but still very cloudy. After that, I changed out 15 gallons every other day for two weeks, still cloudy. I also filtered my water with high density filer pads during this time, no change. After, doing a web search of my problem, I realized that my MicroBacter StartXLF was outdated. I had forgotten that I purchased it several years ago. In short, I bought a new bottle and within a week. I have crystal clear water.

Got 5 different tanks. 1 40gal has community fish & my Mississippi Map turtle, 55gal with cichlids & Bichers, 35gal cube tank community tank, 25gal with my 2 1/2 month old cichlids fry that I hatch golden Chinese algie eaters & my 3 month old baby Black knob Map turtle added the microbacter 2 days ago just have my filter media running in my filters & have had the same water in for a month so its not any starter tanks been trying to get good bacteria growing in my tanks for month or 2 now & this product has done the trick ive been at this hobby for 7 years now just getting down how to have healthy low maintenance aquariums