Microbe-Lift
Microbe-Lift PL Gel: Filter Pad Bacterial Inoculant, 16 oz
Microbe-Lift PL Gel: Filter Pad Bacterial Inoculant, 16 oz
Ordering Information
Ordering Information
At Champion Nishikigoi, we’ve streamlined the order process for a smooth experience with koi fish, food, and pond equipment.
Koi Fish Orders:
After placing a koi fish order, we confirm availability and health, reserve your koi, and prepare it for pickup or shipping. If issues arise, we’ll reach out to discuss options.
Product Orders (Food & Equipment):
For supplies, we gather your items and notify you for pickup. If anything is out of stock, we’ll discuss alternatives.
Pickup & Shipping:
• Local Pickup: Available Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm.
• Shipping: We offer expedited shipping for koi with health checks and tracking for safe arrival.
For complete details, click here.
Refund Policy
Refund Policy
Live Fish:
- Due to the delicate nature of our fish, we cannot accept returns. However, we are committed to ensuring you receive your fish alive.
- Please ensure you are present during delivery to accept and sign for your fish.
- If, unfortunately, your fish arrives deceased, notify us within one hour of delivery. Send a digital photo as proof to champkoi@champkoi.com, and we'll replace it with another of equal value.
Non-Returnable Items:
- Chemicals, medications, water conditioners, and pond liners cannot be returned due to safety and quality reasons.
General Merchandise Returns:
- If you're not completely satisfied, you may return items within 14 days, subject to a 15% restocking fee. Note: shipping and handling costs are non-refundable.
- Items on sale or special deals, as well as special order items, cannot be returned.
- To ensure a smooth return:
- Items must be in unused, resellable condition.
- Original packaging, warranty books, manuals, parts, and accessories must be intact.
- For shipping, please encase the original packaging in another carton to prevent damage.
Return Process:
- Prior to returning any items, please obtain a Return Goods Authorization number (RGA) by contacting us. Have your invoice ready for reference.
- After inspection, we'll confirm acceptance of the returned merchandise.
Return Shipping:
- Customers cover return freight costs. If we made an error or the item is defective, we'll handle the freight charges.
- For orders with free shipping, the actual outgoing freight charge will be borne by the customer.
We're always here to help. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns!
MICROBE-LIFT/PL Gel is beneficial bacteria in a thick gel you spread directly onto your filter pad or media. No pad is included — the 16 oz is the bottle, and it goes onto the media you already have.
The clever part is the carrier. The gel contains naturally occurring biopolymers that help the bacteria attach to the media and stay there, rather than washing straight through the way poured-in liquid bacteria does. Microbe-Lift claims an 80% reduction in filter start-up time as a result.
When to reach for it
- Starting a new filter or commissioning a new pond — gets the bed colonised in a fraction of the usual time.
- After you clean or replace filter media — this is the big one for koi keepers. Washing pads costs you a chunk of your nitrifying colony, and the ammonia and nitrite wobble that follows is entirely avoidable.
- When nitrate climbs above 0.6 mg/L, or any time the filter isn't keeping up.
Works on foam, strapping, floss, bio-balls, spring flo, lava rock and ceramic media.
How much to use
| Pond size | Dose per pad |
|---|---|
| 80–200 gallons | 2 oz |
| 201–500 gallons | 3 oz |
| 501–1,000 gallons | 4 oz |
| 1,001–5,000 gallons | 6 oz |
The 16 oz bottle covers ponds up to about 1,000 gallons and gives you roughly five treatments.
How to apply it
- Take the pad or media out and dab or spread the gel across the whole surface. On lava rock in a bio-upflow, dab it on; over spring flo, drip it across.
- Let it sit 1–2 hours so the gel absorbs into the media before you put it back.
- Reinstall, then switch the pump off for 1–2 hours to let the colony settle in.
- Repeat every time you clean or replace media.
A word of caution on step 3. Microbe-Lift's own label qualifies it — only if the water can hold adequate oxygen without circulation. On a well-stocked koi pond in summer heat, two hours with the pump off is a genuine risk. Run an airstone through it, cut the time short, or do the job on a cool morning.
Turn the UV off
Microbe-Lift's instruction: switch your UV sterilizer off for 48–72 hours after the first application, and 24–48 hours after each one after that. UV kills free-floating bacteria, and you want these establishing on your media rather than being sterilised on the way past.
Details
- Contains the same spectrum of bacteria as MICROBE-LIFT/PL, in vegetative culture form.
- Pond and water garden use only. The aquarium equivalent is a different product — MICROBE-LIFT Gel Filter Cartridge Inoculant.
- Safe to use alongside pond salt. Space chemical treatments such as algaecides about 3 days apart from any biological product.
- Store in a cool place. Roughly 2 years unopened, 1 year once opened.
- This is not a cold-water or winterising product — for that, look at Microbe-Lift Autumn/Winter Prep.
How it differs from regular Microbe-Lift PL
PL is the liquid you pour into the water for ongoing water quality. PL Gel is the same bacteria in adhesive form for one-shot inoculation of the biofilter itself. Most serious ponds want both: PL for the water column, PL Gel for the media.
Why buy from ChampKoi?
ChampKoi has kept koi healthy from our San Jose, California facility since 1998. This is what we use on our own filters after a pad wash.
