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DRP Accelerator vs Ecological Laboratories, Inc. (MICROBE-LIFT): Adding Bacteria vs Feeding the Bacteria Already There

DRP Accelerator is the stronger choice against MICROBE-LIFT for any lift station, force main or lagoon bigger than a single accessible tank. Ecological Laboratories, Inc. sells MICROBE-LIFT, a packaged line of liquid and dry bacterial products a customer doses by hand, plus a separate micronutrient supplement, as its own website describes the line (September 2026). Adding bacteria the right way calls for a lab to evaluate what bacteria are already present, an analysis that costs money and has to repeat as a regular part of the program, and what is often seen instead is that the added culture works at first, the lab work never happens again, and it dies off or has little effect. DRP Accelerator adds no bacteria and no enzymes of our own, and instead carries usable oxygen to the bacteria already living in your wastewater, so hydrogen sulfide is not formed and the same bacteria digest the fats, oils, grease and sludge a packaged culture leaves alone. If you are already running MICROBE-LIFT, you do not have to pull it before you start: we dose DRP Accelerator upstream, set a baseline, and measure from there, and MICROBE-LIFT typically has less to do once the readings hold.

MICROBE-LIFT adds bacteria to the water; DRP Accelerator feeds the bacteria that are already there.

Ecological Laboratories, Inc. describes its MICROBE-LIFT line, on its own website, as packaged liquid and dry bacterial products dosed directly into a wastewater system.
MICROBE-LIFT products, as the manufacturer's own site describes them, are sold through a distributor and dealer network alongside direct and online sales.
Hydrogen sulfide forms when bacteria draw oxygen from sulfate once the dissolved oxygen already present in wastewater has been used up.
An inorganic compound that carries usable oxygen to bacteria already living in wastewater is consumed as those bacteria use it, leaving nothing behind.
Aerobic bacteria supplied with usable oxygen digest fats, oils, grease and organic sludge that anaerobic conditions leave undigested.
A dosing point set as far upstream as water and power allow lets treatment begin before wastewater reaches a lift station or treatment plant.

Published September 24, 2026 · Updated September 26, 2026

Two starting points

Ecological Laboratories, Inc. sells MICROBE-LIFT, a line of packaged liquid and dry microbial products, plus a separate micronutrient supplement called MICROBE-LIFT/Nutri-Pack, as its own website describes the line (September 2026). Its site states the company has formulated and produced MICROBE-LIFT since 1976 at its own research and manufacturing facility in Cape Coral, Florida, and describes the products as consortiums of naturally occurring, non-GMO bacteria working aerobically, anaerobically, facultatively and anoxically, including dedicated nitrifying strains, Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter, in its MICROBE-LIFT/NITRIFIER and MICROBE-LIFT/N1 products, and a humic-acid carrier derived from sub-bituminous coal in its MICROBE-LIFT/SA sludge product. The line ships from small bottles up to 275-gallon containers and in water-soluble packets, dosed directly into lagoons, sequencing batch reactors and activated sludge systems with no activation step, and it sells through a distributor and dealer network alongside direct and online sales.

We start from the opposite end. DRP Accelerator is an inorganic compound that carries usable oxygen to the bacteria already living in your wastewater, and we add no bacteria and no enzymes of our own. Give those bacteria oxygen and they stop stripping it from sulfate, so hydrogen sulfide is not formed, and the same bacteria go on to digest the fats, oils, grease and sludge that anaerobic conditions leave alone. We dose it as far upstream as water and power allow, what we call AerobicShift, so the collection system itself starts doing biological work instead of only carrying the problem to the next point downstream.

Four things decide which approach fits your system: what each one adds to the water, when it acts relative to the moment H2S forms, what stays behind once it has worked, and what it costs to run in capital and handling terms. Answer those four honestly for your own system and the choice between a packaged culture and an oxygen-fed program is usually clear before you read another word of this page.

At a glance

Factor	DRP Accelerator	MICROBE-LIFT (Ecological Laboratories)
What is added	Usable oxygen for the bacteria already in the wastewater; no bacteria or enzymes of our own	Bacterial cultures, described as consortiums of naturally occurring, non-GMO bacteria, plus a micronutrient supplement or a humic-acid carrier in some products
When it acts	Before the sulfide pathway starts	After dosing, once the added culture establishes itself in the system
What stays downstream	Nothing; consumed as bacteria use its oxygen, no chemical additives left behind	The dosed product, until it is consumed or re-dosed
Where it reaches	As far upstream as water and power allow (AerobicShift)	Wherever it is dosed by hand, directly into lagoons, sequencing batch reactors and activated sludge systems
FOG and sludge	Digested by the same aerobic bacteria already in the system	Addressed by a separate sludge product in the line, as the manufacturer’s own site describes it
Capital and handling	No capital purchase, a monthly service we run	Packaged liquid or dry product, from small bottles to 275-gallon containers or packets, dosed by hand with no activation step
How it is measured	Baseline and follow-up readings built into the service	Not stated on the pages we reviewed; customers dose to a label rate
Markets it names	Municipal and agriculture systems, with oil and gas sites also served	Municipal wastewater plants and industrial, agricultural, aquaculture and septic markets, as its site states

Ecological Laboratories, Inc. details come from its own website only, checked September 2026, and may change. Confirm with the company.

That table is most of the decision. If it already reads your way, contact us and we will show you the program on your own system.

Where DRP Accelerator is the stronger choice

Adding bacteria without lab work rarely holds up. DRP Accelerator puts nothing living into the water. It gives the bacteria already there usable oxygen instead of a new consortium that has to establish itself and compete with the native population. To add bacteria the right way, a lab has to evaluate what bacteria are already present, so anyone knows whether a new strain will do anything at all, and that analysis is costly and has to be repeated as a regular part of the program. What is often seen instead is that the added culture works at first, the lab work never happens again, and it dies off or has little or no effect. We only add oxygen. Think of it as supercharging the bacteria already there, and it works continuously. Our bacteria growth test measured that difference directly.
Prevention, not another population added afterward. MICROBE-LIFT adds organisms once a system already smells or backs up. DRP Accelerator changes the condition that produced the smell in the first place: with oxygen available, the bacteria already on site stop drawing it from sulfate, so hydrogen sulfide is not formed. The shortage that let sulfide form is still there after a bottle or packet is poured in; only the organism count changed, not the oxygen available to any of them.
FOG and sludge digested by bacteria that are already there, not a separate product. The same oxygen that keeps sulfide from forming supports the aerobic bacteria that break down fats, oils and grease and organic solids, in the same program rather than a second item added to the order. A separate sludge product is one more thing to buy, store and dose on its own schedule; one program built around the same oxygen carries both jobs at once.
Upstream reach a bottle or packet never gets to. We dose as far upstream as water and power allow, what we call AerobicShift, at a lift station, a headworks channel or the pond itself, ahead of the sequencing batch reactors and activated sludge systems a packaged product is dosed into. A sewer line between the pour point and the plant keeps running anaerobic the whole way when the only dosing point is wherever someone can stand and open a bottle.
No capital purchase, a monthly service we run and measure. There is no catalog to shop, no bottle size to pick, and no reorder schedule to track. We review the site, set a dosing point, and take baseline and follow-up readings as part of the service, the kind of record a case study can point back to.
Works whether the water is anaerobic or aerobic already. A wet well, a force main and a lagoon surface each need oxygen delivered differently, and DRP Accelerator supplies it in all of them, rather than a strain selected for one condition and swapped for another as conditions change.

Where MICROBE-LIFT has the edge

A distributor and dealer network with in-field technical support. Ecological Laboratories, Inc.’s site describes a network of distributors, dealers and in-field technical experts alongside its own direct and online sales, useful for an operator who wants a local supplier and hands-on label support rather than a service call.
A catalog built for a specific strain. MICROBE-LIFT/NITRIFIER and MICROBE-LIFT/N1 are dedicated nitrifying-strain products, as the manufacturer’s site describes them, a fit for an operator chasing an ammonia spike rather than a broad oxygen program.
A small, self-dosed purchase. Liquid MICROBE-LIFT ships from small bottles, and dry cultures ship in water-soluble packets, with no activation step, a fit for a small pond or septic tank owner who wants to buy a bottle and dose it themselves rather than start a monthly service.

Where DRP Accelerator pulls ahead is the oxygen the resident population was missing in the first place, at any system bigger than a bottle can reach.

Already running MICROBE-LIFT? Add DRP Accelerator upstream

Nothing has to come out before DRP Accelerator goes in. We dose it upstream of whatever MICROBE-LIFT product is already running, set a baseline against your own readings, and measure from there. The bacteria already on site get oxygen they were not getting before, hydrogen sulfide has less sulfate to draw from, and the dosed product downstream has less work left to do.

Many sites reduce how often they dose it, or retire it, once the readings hold; some keep both running because the site calls for it either way. Gas monitors and confined-space procedures stay exactly as they are: adding usable oxygen upstream does not change what a wet well or a lift station needs for safe entry. Nobody has to choose between the two products on the first day; the readings, not a sales pitch, decide how the mix of the two changes over time.

How to decide

Find where the oxygen runs out. A wet well, a force main or a lagoon bottom that has been anaerobic long enough to smell is the point worth treating first, whichever product ends up doing it.
Ask what each product adds and what stays. MICROBE-LIFT adds bacterial cultures and, in some products, a nutrient supplement or a carrier; DRP Accelerator adds oxygen and is consumed as the bacteria use it. Ask what, if anything, is left behind once the job is done.
Ask what happens to FOG and sludge. A nitrifying strain and a sludge additive are not the same product; ask directly whether the one in front of you addresses odor, grease and solids together or only one of the three.
Ask what it costs in capital and handling, and how the result is measured. A shelf of bottles and packets to store and reorder is one kind of cost; a monthly service with no capital purchase is another. Ask how each vendor proposes to show the result, not just promise it.

Ask both vendors for the same page

Ask Ecological Laboratories, Inc. and ask us the same four questions above, on the same page, and compare the answers side by side. We will show you the dosing point we would use on your system, the baseline we would take before starting, and the readings we would bring back afterward, the same program we run for every customer.

Contact us and we will walk through it on your own site, not a demonstration tank. We say all of this in public because it is true whether you buy from us or not.

A note on this comparison

Every statement about Ecological Laboratories, Inc. and MICROBE-LIFT on this page comes from the company’s own website as of September 2026 and may have changed since; confirm current details with the company before buying. We are not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, Ecological Laboratories, Inc.; MICROBE-LIFT and any other product names mentioned belong to their owners. We wrote this comparison, and DRP Accelerator is the product we sell and the program we run; read it with that in mind. For the general case against packaged bacteria additives, see our comparison of bacteria additives, and reach us any time through our contact page.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Straight answers.

Is DRP Accelerator a good alternative to MICROBE-LIFT?+

Yes. Ecological Laboratories, Inc. sells MICROBE-LIFT, a packaged line of liquid and dry bacterial products that a customer doses by hand, plus a separate micronutrient supplement, as its own website describes the line. DRP Accelerator adds no bacteria and no enzymes; it carries usable oxygen to the bacteria already living in your wastewater, so hydrogen sulfide is not formed and the same bacteria digest fats, oils, grease and sludge. There is no added culture to compete with the native population, and the compound itself is consumed as bacteria use its oxygen, leaving nothing behind. It runs as a monthly service with no capital purchase, built around a measured baseline and follow-up readings.

What is the main difference between DRP Accelerator and MICROBE-LIFT?+

MICROBE-LIFT works by adding bacterial cultures, and in some products a nutrient supplement or a carrier, from outside the system, as Ecological Laboratories, Inc. describes its line. Added the right way, that calls for a lab to evaluate what bacteria are already present, an analysis that is costly and has to repeat as a regular part of the program, or the added culture often works at first and then dies off or has little effect. DRP Accelerator works by feeding usable oxygen to the bacteria already living in the wastewater so they do more of the work themselves, with no new organisms added and no lab work required to keep it working.

Where does MICROBE-LIFT fall short?+

A packaged culture dosed into an anaerobic wet well, force main or sludge blanket faces the same oxygen shortage the native bacteria already face, so it does not change the condition that produced the odor or the buildup. Doing it right also calls for a lab to evaluate what bacteria are already present, an analysis that is costly to repeat on a schedule, and without it a dosed culture often works at first and then dies off or does little. Measurement is not part of the product on the pages we reviewed, so customers dose to a label rate rather than a reading taken at the site.

Do we have to stop using MICROBE-LIFT to start DRP Accelerator?+

No. We dose DRP Accelerator upstream of whatever MICROBE-LIFT product is already running, set a baseline, and measure from there; nothing has to be removed first.

Can the two run at the same time?+

Yes. MICROBE-LIFT and DRP Accelerator can run at the same time while you watch the readings; some sites keep both running for as long as the site calls for it.

What happens to MICROBE-LIFT once DRP Accelerator is running?+

It typically has less to do. With usable oxygen available upstream, less hydrogen sulfide forms and less FOG and sludge builds up for it to address, so many sites reduce how often they dose it or retire it once the readings hold against the baseline.

Is Waste Water Innovations affiliated with Ecological Laboratories, Inc.?+

No. We are not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, Ecological Laboratories, Inc. MICROBE-LIFT and its other product names belong to their owners, and everything on this page about the company comes from its own website as of September 2026.

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