Review on Aquarium Acurel Water Clarifier: Enhancing Water Clarity for Optimal Performance by Theresa Brown

This review is going to be quite long but I want to tell you everything I did to turn a very cloudy tank back into a clean tank. So, after about a 50% water change, my 8 gallon tank got very cloudy for two days, and I cleaned the gravel very well. Well, on the third day it turned into a total algal bloom. I have softer water at home but in the well I use my regular hard water which is pretty hard for an aquarium as I've read a lot of advice online as to why you shouldn't use softened water. Anyway my water pH is quite alkaline and with my aquarium pH test kit it's always very blue and I think my pH is approaching 8. Since Acurel F is acidic (it says on the bottle) , I was hoping this would not only eliminate my algal blooms, but lower the pH to a more desirable range. When I got my Acurel F in the mail about 3 days after ordering, my aquarium was about to go blank and I had already prepared my kids to tell them I wasn't sure our fish would survive. I considered changing the water again but was keen to try the Acurel F first as there were so many rave reviews about it to see if it really is a 'miracle'. Well, to save you time and give you a quick answer, this worked, but not as fast as I was hoping and not as fast as many said it worked. I had to be patient, and it also required frequent flushing of the water filter and many "extra" drops between 48 hours. So let me tell you exactly what I did to clean my reservoir. Starting point: I added 16 drops and waited 3 hours. Hour 3: There was a lot of brown to green dirt in my filter, I rinsed it out and then added 16 more drops after rinsing and replacing the filter. Hour 4: Filter wash #2 (much more dirt) Hour 5: Filter wash #3 (a little dirt, but a lot less). Hour 6: The filter was clean so I added another 12 drops of Acurel F. Hour 15: The filter was again filled with dirt and the filter was flushed for the 4th time. After washing filter #4, I added another 16 drops of Acurel F. Even after 15 hours I started to physically see that the tank was a little cleaner. Hour 24: Filter washed for the 5th time. After the 5th filter wash I added another 16 drops of Acurel F. Hour 31: Filter washed for the 6th time. The filter still releases loads of dirt when I add more Acurel F. After the 6th filter wash I added another 16 drops. Hour 39: Filter washed for the 7th time and then added 20 more drops of Acurel F. Hour 40: The water is much clearer, but still a bit cloudy. Now I can see the whole aquarium from the front and all 4 of our luminous tetras, my little catfish (algae eater) and two snails are healthy and happy. Hour 42: The water is the clearest in recent times. Continue rinsing the filter and rinse the filter for the 8th time. It still removes a lot of dirt (mainly brown dirt now). 16 more drops were added 42 hours after the 8th filter wash. Hour 48: Clean water. Looks almost crystal clear. I couldn't be happier and we can enjoy our fish again (they probably enjoy it more too). In those 48 hours I used a total of about 128 drops and did 8 filter washes/cleans using the same water filter. My water filter is an Aqueon Quiet Flow 10 and I have an 8 gallon octagon glow tank. I also have an Aqueon aquarium heater that keeps the temperature at 78 degrees as our house is chilly between 68 and 70 degrees. We feed the fish once a day in the morning and the aquarium is not in direct sunlight but receives indirect sunlight. Again, I have hard water and high pH. Overall I'm very happy with the product and while I didn't have that instant miracle that many talk about, it lasted about 48 hours. I really think it all depends on what type of water you have, how bad it already is (how cloudy it is and why it's cloudy), and how often you clean your water filter. I highly recommend this product and I hope this review has been helpful to you. It's been 4 full days and my fish are still doing great. One day one of my fish thought the drops were food and took a big gulp of the drop and was still fine. I would love to add photos as I took photos throughout the process but now Revane pulled out a link to add photos. I don't know why but once they allow photos again I'll add later. Thanks very much! Updated: May 14, 2020 The add picture feature is back and has added 25 pictures to show the progress of using the Acurel F. I continue to use it when I see the tank getting a little cloudy and for my 8 gallon tank add about 10 to 12 drops once or twice a week and I now have a perfectly clean aquarium with very little algae and am very satisfied with this product. I hope this review has been of some help to someone as this is probably the most detailed review I have ever posted on any forum. Thanks very much!