Is Pond Filter Bacteria Starter simply a WASTE OF MONEY? 🤔🙄

In this video, we discuss if you actually need Pond Filter Bacteria Starter products or is it just a waste of money and what is actually in the bottle?

Every day people are convinced to spend money on products that they do not really need. Our channel is about showing you what products work or other ways to do it for free with even better results.

We would recommend being patient and maturing a filter naturally with a few cheap fish, slowly feeding them up and introducing more at later stages. It may take a while but it is the safest and most natural way to do so, also you have not had to spend any money on chemicals.

We also discuss that potentially in the bottle of the "live bacteria starters" is just controlled amounts of concentrated ammonia. Bacteria will naturally develop and arrive in areas where ammonia is present if water and start to break it down into nutrients.

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[paulhoward]

About time, an honest & truthful podcast letting us pondkeepers make an informed decision on what we buy! Bravo 👍👍👍 excellent video!

[thekoimastersapprentice]

100% agree, I’ve never used them on my ponds and they’ve always been fine. It can take a while when you build a new pond, but if you introduced fish slow the filter will mature naturally.
Ps brilliant videos! Thanks for all the great advice!

[garyhoward]

Loving this approach to ponding. It has made me think about the products I buy, the approach to filter cleaning and opened my eyes to an easier much cheaper approach. I was really surprised at the results, that just leaving things to nature had. I have no idea why I thought I could challenge mother nature tho 😜.
Since I just let the filters do their thing water parameters have been so stable. Fish appear healthy and the hobby is enjoyable and financially not crippling me. Keep up these great video loving the contents

[NielsTichelaar]

The reason these bacteria can remain alive in the bottle is that they are usually in a dormant state, often as spores or in a resting form. In this state, they require little to no food, and their metabolism is extremely low, allowing them to survive for long periods. The bottle also contains a special solution that helps keep the bacteria alive by maintaining a suitable pH and temperature.

When you add these bacteria to your pond, they come into contact with oxygen, nutrients, and a suitable environmental temperature, which wakes them from their dormant state and activates them. They then start working

[jamespuig]

for confirming this fact. I've always wondered how the bacteria could be alive in those bottles!

[melaniewales]

I'm so glad I've finally found someone who is not trying to sell expensive products ive got jumbo koi and I only ever used tap safe never had a problem once I started to buy all the expensive products last summer I lost every single 1 so this year. I'll be getting some new koi only 4 or 5 and using nothing and letting nature take its cause so thank you.

[terencegander]

I agree with everything you said we used to use ammonia to start a pond of

[everythingbutkoi]

Another great video, and I agree with all you say!

[davidantony]

If these products are as you say then they are fraudulent and should be reported as such, however, bacteria can be dormant until exposed to oxygen as they are aerobic and can be in suspended animation which is part of bacteria life cycle. As to the efficacy I think these products are for augmentation and assistance rather than substitution for maturation and can assist in the start up and replacement of colonies. I have used these products and they have assisted positively in the filter's capacity to handle the nitrogen cycle; this is evident when I have renewed & changed the filter foams and media which resulted in a faster establishment of them as contrasted with just letting them do it without assistance.

[matcrutch]

i've always wondered this myself. ive bought various types in the past but dont really think they did anything to be honest. nice honest video . thank you

[allanlocke]

I THINK A LOT OF THE TIME, IT JUST MAKES YOU FEEL YOU ARE DOING THE RIGHT THING. ALTHOUGH AS YOU SAY IT COSTS YOU MONEY !!!!

[paulf]

Have you used microbelift, its a liquid fermented in the actual bottle you buy, it is rancid stuff, the stench from it is unreal. Fed the filter for a month, 100ml every few days, tbh did it work? Who knows, but i had no issues when adding 7 fish on start up 👍🏻

[Zeamus]

Why don't you take them to court with trading standards if you think it's bollocks?

[boxtriker]

Yes maybe worth it on a new pond but that's it once a ponds been running 12 months its snake oil in a tub or bottle you don't need it i said this in my last video and and you are right waist of money

[socialmediaisterrible]

Please dont believe this video.

1. You dont need oxygen in the bottle to keep the bacteria live. Its easy to keep bacteria live in a suspended state. Theres various methods to do this that manufacturers use

2. Bacteria starters are not necessarily using live strains of bacteria. Some use materials that effectively give a boost to bacterial metabolism. Think of it as giving a caffeine hit to make the naturally occurring bacteria strains more efficient. These though are generally marketed as bacteria boosters rather than starters.

3. The best products on the market do both at the same time. They use live strains in suspended state with the boosters.

4. A filter will usually mature naturally if conditions are right. However the cycle of maturation is well documented, you need organic materials which are used by aerobic heterotrophs, these provide the necessary chemical energy required for autotrophs. Its these autotrophs that effectively remove the ammonia that fish keepers are so concerned by. This cycle can take aprox 4 weeks with still further time for nitrite removal for total maturation of aprox 8 weeks.

By adding heterotrophic cultures ( the bulk of bacteria starters on the market fall within this category as its much easier to create the suspension thus no need for oxygen) this time can be shortened to aprox 4 weeks for maturation.
By using autotrophic cultures ( much rarer as these are far more difficult to store in suspension and are often very temperature sensitive thus more expensive) this time can be shortened even further, in good conditions aprox a week.

Filter starters arent well understood by non professionals and arent necessary in the long term but manufacturers are not ripping people off. There is a real place for them in the hobby and serve a real purpose. They can significantly cut the risks of new filters and additions of increased bio load as well as useful tools in event of incidents.

[Carlosnufc]

Just take a slash in the pond for 3 weeks before adding fish🤣

[Les-OZZYTHEOSCAR]

I've always wondered how this bacteria survives in a bottle or gel ball etc, when it needs certain environments in your pond or aquarium to survive. Doesn't make sense as far as I can see.

[burakkanidagli]

Hello mate you are right about doing it natural way is always best but for some cases you do need to use some products to keep things going and keep it under control if we was aware about every single stuff what do they put in the those nitrifying bacteria bottles we all will do it ourselves the technology is a way far then what people think there is must be found a way to do this with using all those technologies we have those days and I can’t say all the products will work but if the products has been stored in right condition until we buy it and then if we use it right way they do actually work but the problem is does the shops store them in right conditions until customer come and get it in most case that when they don’t work it is mostly either seller didn’t store it in a right condition or buyer didn’t use it right just like fish without putting oxygen in a fish Cary bag you can only expect fish to survive maximum 48 hours but but they do put pure oxygen in to a bag before they post fish and that fish do survive 1 week easy, and believe or not tecnologie is gone too far from that mate they must be able to bottle those bacteria and give them right environment for them to survive before they send it out

I do prefer cycling the tanks naturally always but what can you recommend me to do if I have a set up with 10 tank with sump at the bottom all connected to each other and 50-100 fish in it and I had to medicate the system with antibiotics which will stripe out most my beneficial bacteria that’s for nitrifying? In those case this products will have to be used, prime + nitrifying bacteria bottles, yes we can dose with prime only every 48 hours until bacteria grows and catch up but that is mean we will have to dose prime for months with out forgetting even one day late

In short way they are good thing to use for water change, after medication, cleaning filter or adding more fish but shouldn’t be the first option to start cycling a system that’s what I think

For the people who is king of keeping fish they do not need any of those stuff because they know what they do but there is so many fish lovers and they are new to all about keeping fish those people have to have those in their hands because they are going clean too much when they clean their filters/tanks/gravels or add too many fish at once or whatever there is 100s of mistakes they can and they do. This products fixes their mistakes mate

[daveford]

I have fallen for the magic 2.5ltr Gel & bomb very expensive, I should have used some wast water from my small indoor tanks just idea, when I replaced my outdoor sponge system dunk my sponges in my old tank water change water in bucket, then replace in the pond filter system.think the big company types scare you with new pond syndrome when u start off, but I have known people have fish die in new pond I suppose it’s to clean 🧐.great videos I’m following u know cheers

[askme]

Good Day

Thank you for a simply outstanding set of videos for us to watch and learn from.

I have a question I’d be most grateful for any help with….. I have just purchased a NEW filter box system, I’m very keen to get this filter up and running ASAP.

My pond water testing is great with my existing filter, I’m aware I can add filter bacteria to my NEW filter however I’m more then keen to get this new filter running much faster for the fish heath etc,

I was thinking could I remove as much filter bacteria as possible from the old filter box and adding this to the New filter along with the bottled bacteria purchased…. Would this be possible ? would it work ?

Kind regards Lee