This includes a large 5.5oz cup full of fully cycled filter Media. The media is crushed lava rock, which performs significantly better than most medias on the market like Fluval or Seachem due to their natural texture offering amazing surface area for beneficial bacteria. The small size of the lava rocks allows for much more media to be packed into a certain space while still offering fantastic waterflow through them. They’ll fit into any filter with space for media, including nano filters.

The media has been fully cycled in an established tank for at least a month, and contains enough beneficial bacteria to instantly cycle smaller tanks or hugely speed up the cycle on larger tanks. We even pack it with extra ‘filter gunk’ poured in to make sure the bacteria have plenty to eat and multiply during shipping.

I would estimate one container of media is enough to instantly cycle a 20 gallon tank (provided the filter has other media, a sponge, etc). Two should be enough to instantly cycle a 40g, and so on. I do recommend you add more biomedia as well! Need more? Try our BULK Filter Media!

This media is for freshwater only and will not survive in saltwater.

The bacteria will go dormant during shipping, especially in higher or lower temperatures. Never fear, once added to your filter they’ll ‘wake up’ in a few days and do their job! This means if the package is stuck in the mail while it’s super cold, the media will still work great!

IMPORTANT NOTE! “Instant Cycle” does not mean you can just add this to a filter, drop in 100 fish, and forget about the tank. A tank needs bacteria in the filter media, in the sponges, in the substrate, and on the hardscape to be fully established. You DO still need to perform water changes, test your water, etc.
What it does mean is that after adding in this media, your cycle will be almost entirely complete. This media contains enough bacteria to help seed the rest of your tank, which may take up to a week to fully establish because the bacteria may become dormant during shipping. PLEASE continue to monitor your water and perform daily water changes during your cycle until you have 0 ammonia and nitrite.