The GlasGarten Bacter AE container can be hard to open due to the clear plastic cap that is plugged in to the top. If you aren’t careful, the white powder will come flying out of the air if you use a lot of force to take the top off.
To see how you can properly open the package, you can follow the steps laid out in this tutorial from Aquarium Blueprints.
1. If you have a brand new Bacter AE than make sure you peel off the seal if you haven’t done so already. Otherwise, you won’t be able to take off the black screw top.
2. With the seal removed, slowly turn the black screw top counterclockwise to get through the first layer of the container.
3. With the black screw top taken off, you should see a scoop. You can use this to accurate dose Bacter AE to your tank. At full capacity, it should be able to hold 5 ml (or 5 grams).
For now, remove the scoop and then put it on a clean surface.
4. You should now see the clear plastic that is plugged into the top of the container.
To remove it, we first recommend that you place the container on a flat surface as you don’t want to risk the white powder from accidentally spilling out when you remove the cap.
5. Next, use one of you hand to hold the base of the container so that it will be stable.
6. We then recommend that you either hold your breath or wear a mask just in case the Bacter AE powder gets airborne if you don’t want it to get in your mouth or nose.
7. With your other hand, you then need to slowly lift up the plastic top from the container.
You don’t want to lift it out all at once as the upwards air pressure will results in some of the powder becoming airborne. Instead, focus on slowly lifting one side to open it partially.
8. Once you get one side of the plastic top all the way loose, we recommend waiting a second or two for any of the airborne white powder to settle back down before you remove the top fully.
Because removing the clear plastic top every time can be tiresome, especially if you are using the powder for your tank every day, we recommend that you avoid plugging it into the Bacter AE container. The container should be fine as long as you keep it tightly seal when not in use as well as avoid moving it around too much. You should also store the container on a flat surface.
For the scoop, we also suggest that you remove it from the container and then store it somewhere clean. Without the clear plastic top, powder will get all over the scoop, which means that it will eventually get in your hands.
