Seachem Pristine and other similar products

[Germanicus]

I just wanted to get feedback from people who have used Pristine or other products such as Fritz 360 or API Stress Zyme. Are these products beneficial and does it matter if the tank is planted or not?

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Hi @Germanicus, welcome to the forum. All three of these products are bottled bacteria with the promise that they are a specific type of bacteria that will help with detrius breakdown and keep your tank cleaner. Presumably this is bacteria unlike the beneficial bacteria we rely on in the Nitrogen Cycle. 

I've recently used Pristine as I was having some cloudy water and wondering if this could help. For purposes of this post I will mention I put it in a Fluval Flex 9 has some modified media and an aftermarket 80gph pump for flow. I also run a sponge filter in the main chamber. What I can say is the issue I was having wasn't necessarily detrius but what did happen was surprising. The left over food (flake mostly) that falls on the aquarium floor turns to what looks like mulm within the day so it definitely breaks down faster. I usually use a baster to syphon this up though what I should do is wait and see what happens from there. This did not happen before I added this product. It was very interesting and I will probably use it more at least in this tank to see what further it can do.