JBL Denitrol - 250ml

JBL Denitrol - 250ml is a bottle of live filter bacteria and enzymes for starting a tank off. You use it when a tank is brand new, after a filter clean, or after a course of medication has knocked the bacteria back. JBL lists it for freshwater, marine, turtle and shrimp tanks.

Key Features

• Live bacteria and enzymes: the organisms that turn ammonia into nitrite and nitrite into nitrate are what make a filter a filter.
• For new tanks and after a setback: a filter clean with tap water or a course of medication can set the bacteria back a long way.
• Fresh, marine, turtle and shrimp tanks: JBL lists all four.
• Shake before use: give the bottle a shake and measure with the dosing lid rather than pouring by eye.
• Dose by water volume: work out the litres you actually have, not the tank's advertised size. Substrate, rock and equipment take up a surprising amount of it.
• 250ml bottle: a tank-starting product, so most people use a bottle across a few setups.

Starting A Tank Properly

• Test ammonia and nitrite every day or two while a tank is new. A starter shortens the cycle, it does not remove the need to know where you are.
• Stock slowly. A few fish at a time lets the bacteria population catch up with the waste they have to process.
• Feed lightly at first. Uneaten food is just more ammonia for a filter that cannot cope with it yet.
• Rinse filter media in tank water, never under the tap. Chlorine kills the bacteria you spent weeks growing.

Good To Know

• Keep the bottle closed, upright and out of direct sun. Heat and light shorten the shelf life of any liquid water treatment.
• Keep it away from children and pets, and do not decant it into a drinks bottle.
• A water conditioner is not a medicine. A fish that is visibly ill needs a diagnosis, not a bottle of conditioner.
• Do not dose a bacterial starter at the same time as a medication or an algicide, and switch any UV-C unit off for a day or two. All three work against the bacteria you are trying to add.
• Bottled bacteria are living and have a shelf life. Check the date and do not buy one that has been sitting in a hot shop window.