Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter Start XLM 250 mL
Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter Start XLM 250 mL is a professional-strength, 15x concentrated live nitrifying bioculture designed to rapidly cycle new marine, reef, and brackish aquariums while preventing “new tank syndrome.” This powerful formula quickly establishes a stable biological filter by reducing toxic ammonia and nitrite, making it ideal for new setups, high fish populations, or recovering after medication use, overcrowding, or filter crashes. Packed with highly effective non-pathogenic microbes and enzymes, MicroBacter Start XLM accelerates cycling to as little as 5–7 days, supports long-term water quality, and ensures healthier aquarium environments for fish and corals.
Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter Start XLM 250 mL
Professional 15x strength live tank starter nitrifying bioculture for rapidly cycling new marine fish and reef aquaria and brackish aquariums, and for recovering from overcrowding or disasters where the bacteria bed has been damaged or when adding new fish.
- Useful for rapidly re-establishing nitrification bacteria in case of an emergency
- Particularly useful in aquaria with high population densities and when adding new fish
- Helpful to re-establish nitrifying bacteria after cleaning rocks and surfaces and after use of medications.
- Rapid reduction of ammonia, and nitrite.
- Prevents “New Tank Syndrome.”
- Supplied in a proprietary base which provides for maximum longevity
- Formulated utilizing extensive data compiled by microbiologists.
MicrōBacter Start XLM 15X creates a nitrifying biological filter in marine & brackish aquaria of all types and is particularly useful for new startups, resulting in cycling in about 5 to 7 days in most cases. It quickly removes toxic ammonia and nitrite naturally through non-pathogenic nitrifying bacterial action. Even though this product is extremely potent, it may be overdosed at up to 5 times the rated dosage during aquarium upsets. It should be your first choice to remove ammonia during emergencies where the filter has been inadvertently killed or under overcrowding.
MicrōBacter Start XLM 15X is a highly concentrated, selective complex of live, extremely effective microbes and enzymes that rapidly reduces the concentrations of organic nitrogen - i.e. ammonia, and nitrite in marine and brackish ecosystems, leading to greatly improved water quality and much faster cycling. Use of MicrōBacter Start XLM does not alleviate the requirement for regular partial water changes to help maintain proper concentrations of elements that are vital to long-term health and survival of aquarium inhabitants.
Notes - It is normal that clumps may form in the product and the product and the aquarium may have an “earthy” smell or smell “off” and the aquarium water could become cloudy and the smell and cloudiness could remain for many hours after using. This is due to the bacteria themselves and is an indication of quality and is the reason it is necessary to shake product well immediately before using. Brightwell recommends that you not use any other type of bacteria product until your cycle with this product is complete. Do not use live sand and particularly DO NOT USE dry seeded artificial live rock. There are no dry bacteria species that will be compatible with this nitrifying bacteria product or that are useful to cycle an aquarium! To use a dry bacteria will only lengthen the time it takes to cycle by many weeks and increase your work by 6 to 8 times! Wet cycled live rock or even previously cycled wet man made rock will work fine. Dry sand is fine to use, but not bagged, so called "live sand."
Storage - Although product can withstand elevated temperatures for short periods of time (a few days), for best longevity and highest potency, keep below 80°F and if possible, it will be best kept refrigerated at 50°F. Do not freeze! Freezing can kill the bacteria. (This product will usually withstand a freeze or two in transit in the winter, but do not freeze, thaw, freeze thaw.) If the product arrives frozen, then thaw at room temperature, NEVER MICROWAVE!
A word about substrates: Most aquarium bacteria and certainly those in MicrōBacter Start XLM live on substrates, that is, they attach themselves to surfaces of rocks, piping and any other surfaces that are available. Most modern aquariums do not have enough surface area. The advent of artificial "live rock" has made available products made from concrete or plastic that look like live rock, but do not have the porosity, so their surface area is too small to support the number of bacteria needed to properly filter the aquarium. Brightwell recommends that you provide plenty of bacterial surface area, either through plenty of porous natural aragonite live rock, or by providing addional filtration media, such as our XportTM media which has the highest surface area per unit volume of any medium in the world, or our less expensive MicroBacter LatticeTM.

