StartSmart Complete, Freshwater: Cycling, Clarifier, Maintenance, 12 oz (355 ml)

I first bought this product when I was handed some goldfish and had to figure out how to care for them. I knew nothing about fish keeping, and lost all but 1 goldfish from high ammonia. I've learnt a lot since then about the nitrogen cycle. I continue to use this product to ensure my tank has good bacteria present after big water changes and tank cleanings, and have never had any problems.Personally I wouldn't use this to cycle a tank from scratch, as I would rather wait longer and be certain my tank is properly cycled from my own addition of ammonia or rotting fish food to the tank. For those that are hoping this will cycle the tank completely, I would suggest you ensure there is enough food in the tank already for the bacteria to live on before adding this product. If you take fresh clean water, and add bacteria, it will soon die due to lack of food. The suggestion of adding this product then immediately adding fish to the tank is because the fish will then be fed, and poop, which will make ammonia, which will give the bacteria food on which to live.

I use this for every water change. I use it when I start a new aquarium. This product will clear your water. My fish look like they’re floating in thin air. I believe this stuff is a major part of it. It was recommended to me by someone who’s been in the aquarium trade for forty years.

Not entirely sure if this is what did it but I was stuck on nitrite part of my cycle for 3 weeks. Probably because I have a ph controller and c02 set to 6.4. But I put the new tank dose in, then an extra capfull for good measure and I have been at 0 nitrite the next day and since. Coincidence? I don't know

This is great stuff, better than Cycle. It eliminated the excess waste and fixed the cloudy water that I had. I have a 60 gallon cylindrical type tank that is near impossible to get to the bottom of to vacuum so I rely on bacterial cleaning like this. I have a 9 yr old Red Cap Oranda who seems to be thriving so I must be doing something right. I have an 11 yr old Comet, I originally bought him to cycle this tank, they told me back then that he would probably not make it, well he did and I didn't have the heart to dispose of him, he outgrew his tank really fast and is now in my backyard small 200 gallon pond and he's doing great too. I am in Rhode Island and it's cold but the heater keeps him and his roommates warm.

Use for water changes,would recommend waiting several days at least for new water-tank set up.Cheaper than my local fish store.

I use to use fluval cycle for years and it always did an ok job. I switched to smartstart for my fresh and saltwater tanks. I have rarely have had a mini cycle after a large water change. This keeps the biological stable and from creating any cycles in weekly maintenance. It does take approximately 10ml for a 29 gallon tank to do a maintenance dose and i have three 29 gallons and a 5.5 gallon. Itdoe take lot more for a startup however.. There is a DIFFERENT bottle for SALTWATER so don't mix it up but you can find that one Amazon too. In stores this bottle costs the same price as an 8oz bottle so you get a better value from buying it from Amazon. I have now been using smartstart for about 2 years now and I highly recommend!

Used it in my planted tropical tank.

We had a large (about 14") Oscar and a large pleco in a 55 gallon tank, and we were having all kinds of problems with high nitrates and resulting algae. This stuff knocked the nitrates right down.