APT Start is the all-in-one head start for a brand-new tank, and it does two jobs at once. First, it's a substrate enrichment — a 45 g pouch of nutrient-dense granules, built on APT's Capstone formula, that you spread beneath your aquasoil to give it a powerful boost of ammoniacal nitrogen and essential minerals. Second, it includes a separate sachet of dormant starter bacteria that you add to the water to kick-start the nitrogen cycle. Together they enrich the substrate and accelerate cycling, getting the tank ready for plants and livestock far sooner.
At Cuboid, the APT range is what we run in our own aquascaping display tanks — products we use ourselves day in and day out, and recommend without hesitation to anyone serious about a planted aquarium.
Feast or Start? They're easy to confuse, so here's the distinction: APT Feast is a complete aquasoil you build the tank on, while APT Start goes under the aquasoil you already have. 2HR positions Start as "a performance boost for 90% of aquasoils" — so if you're committed to ADA, Tropica, or another soil you love but want richer substrate plus instant cycling bacteria, Start is the upgrade. (If you're using APT Feast itself, you don't need Start.)
The result is the rich-substrate advantage on demand, regardless of which aquasoil brand you prefer: faster rooting, stronger early growth, and a microbial head start that shortens the nervous waiting period before a new scape is stable. It's the kind of foundation product that quietly determines how well the whole tank performs months down the line.
Dosing Guidelines: One 45 g pouch covers about a 24″ x 12″ (60 x 30 cm) footprint — right for a standard 20-gallon-long style base; scale up for larger tanks. Spread the main pouch evenly across the tank bottom, layer your aquasoil and hardscape on top, then fill with water and pour in the separate bacteria sachet. It's a one-time, new-setup product, so there's no ongoing dose.
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