DrTim’s Aquatics One & Only for Freshwater Aquariums – 8 oz – Live Nitrifying Solution – Jumpstarts Cycling, Supports Biological Balance & Long-Term Water Stability

Dr. Tim's along with 80 lbs of bioactive CaribSea African Cichlid Substrate cycled my brand new 75 gallon tank in 24-48 hours. I got zero ammonia and a one day nitrite spike of 0.25ppm and then 0 nitrite (in less than a day the dirty sock smell was gone from the water) and now 5ppm nitrate. Not sure if it is this Dr. Tim's or the live sand or both. All I know is with 9 good sized African cichlids and 5 giant danios in a 75 gallon tank it skipped the ammonia phase and fully cycled in 24-48 hours with healthy fish all the way. This product is over priced in my opinion, but seems to work. I used it in addition to live sand so it is possible the live sand is doing all the work. I suspect they are both playing their part.

It works. Makes acclimation to water changes and introduction much more successful.

It works!!! I had a stalked fishless cycle at 8 weeks not cycled. Dosing ammonia. Poured the full bottle in & 5 days later zero ammonia & zero nitrites! Wish I knew about this product weeks ago!

FANTASTIC!! I ended up using this with a new tank and a fish in cycle. I started with off the charts ammonia above 8ppm. I was doing daily water changes with prime to keep my fish alive. I had the tank up and running for a week before adding this bacteria. Took about a week for it to work. I used one 8oz bottle for my 20gallon tall tank. Within one week my ammonia went from off the charts to .25 and after just 4 days my Nitrite went from 0 to off the charts to 0 by the conclusion of the week. This stuff works you just have to give it a bit of time. Tank has been up for 3 weeks now and it's fully cycled and working like a champ!

For my aquarium

Ok, so this is literally the only product that has worked for me. All those other cheap bacteria bottles just don't work. As soon as I poured this out, I was satisfied. It was cloudy like it should have been. Then, I had a high nitrate the next day. That proved to me it was working. Unfortunately, 2 days later, My nitrate test read zero. This was because my ammonia source did not arrive on time for the bacteria. Just saying, before you buy this bacteria, get an ammonia source. I cycled my tank in 1 week by ordering a second bottle of this, which is record time, as my last stank to a month. Now my 55-gallon cichlid tank is finally cycled. Buy this first and you won't regret it. :)

I flooded the tank on 1/16 and added Seachem Stability that day and the following day. I dosed the entire bottle on 1/18 and 2ppm ammonia. I dosed 2ppm ammonia on 1/20. Tested on 1/23 and had 4ppm ammonia and 0.25 nitrite. On 1/25 I still had 2ppm ammonia and 2ppm nitrite. This really doesn't seem to have sped up cycling anymore than just using ammonia. Maybe I just got a dead/expired bottle? This was in a 20 gallon and a 125 gallon tank. Update: my 125 is completely cycled on 2/5... so that is pretty decent. Maybe there is something to this.

There is no viable bacteria in these bottles. You can follow all the instructions like I do every time, and it will still prove to be a waste. Anyone who is posting reviews without performing tests is fooling him/herself, and contributing to the deception regarding such products. I posted a photo of 2 tests taken 24 hours apart, using the most affordable and widely available API test kit. This product does not and cannot establish biofilter in any aquarium, because, either there never was any bacteria in the bottle in the first place, or that the bacteria can not survive the bottling, shipping and handling process. If you raise the ammonia to the recommended levels, it stays at the exact same level generally forever, until you manually introduce live bacteria via live rock into the system. Even then it takes a long time, generally weeks, for the ammonia to hit zero, after which the nitrites are elevated. Nitrite oxidizing bacteria takes several times longer to get established. I set up new tanks regularly and it’s always the same result, no matter what bottled bacteria I use. Also important to mention, there is no viable bacteria in any live sand either. I send the water samples to actual labs for official results, and I personally have not been able to locate any considerable amount of bacteria under the microscope using these products. Go for plenty of clean, live rock, and keep your animals happy.

I was able to start my 29 gallon tank using this product, and began moving fish in after plants and snails after 3 weeks. Would use again. My local fish store is interested in carrying this item (Big Al's Aquarium services). I did not sustain fish loss, used water kit to check levels.

This a fantastic product, added it into my 200L tank after a treatment with medication disrupted the Beneficial bacteria and I started getting ammonia spikes, added this after a water change ans haven't had any problems so far.

This product doesn't mess around when it comes to results. Starts cycle process easily after few days only

I originally bought enough of this product for the size of my aquarium - after no results, I tried a bigger amount (which is apparently fine), and still no result. Wasted my money and will have to wait things out even longer as normal. Wasn't expecting anything instant for obvious reasons, but this literally didn't even make a dent.

This is literally the only product I trust to start a tank cycle now. After learning most of the other brands use soil based nitrifying bacteria that die off in water I decided to try this and the results are amazing.