Bubble Bandit Automatic Dishwasher Detergent. Four 60 oz. Bags (15 lbs)- Eliminates Limescale Buildup, White Film & Water Spots in Hard Water.

the actual phosphate that should be used in the dishwasher and laundry is stpp (sodium tripolyphosphate - it is the second ingredient listed on the bubble bandit packaging). you can find bulk suppliers online for pretty cheap. rather than buying a non-phosphate detergent and adding stpp, i decided to try this since i did not want whatever is in the reformulated detergents interfering with the phosphate.there were only a handful of states that banned phosphates (surprisingly california was not one of them). commercial detergents (for restaurants, hotels, etc) with phosphates were not banned. my understanding is that to get the sheeting action in the new detergents, polymers are used. i would imagine that in the near future these will be found to also harm the environment in one way or another. if you compare the feel of recently washed items, the new detergents leave a slick/slippery feel as opposed to the phosphate detergents - the phosphate washed items feel squeaky clean. i am guessing the polymers coat the washed items to prevent residue and hard water from sticking to surfaces during the washing. i wonder what a polymer coating would do to plants and fish?i received the four bags of bubble bandit and with it one 5 tsp scoop. directions say to use 2 - 3 tsp, so about 1/2 scoop is used per wash. my first test was to wash dishes that had dried lasagna on them. i left them overnight, without rinsing. for my first load of two lasagna caked dishes, i used finish (the one with the red powerball) and ran the dishwasher on the potscrubber cycle. it got about 95% of the lasagna off. the second load i used 1/2 scoop of bubble bandit to clean 2 lasagna caked dishes on the normal cycle with the plates in the exact same location as the first test. bubble bandit cleaned both dishes completely. as i have been using bubble bandit regularly, i noticed the milky film on my glasses is gradually going away. i will continue to use bubble bandit as long as it is being sold with phosphates.

We have hard well water and my dishes started getting film on them. I had been using Lemishine powder detergent and the Lemishine dry aid. I did some research and found Bubble Bandit. I ordered several bags since the reviews were so good and then was disappointed that my dishes didn't come out sparkling clean the first wash. I replaced the detergent dispenser, cleaned the screens on the bottom of the dishwasher, ran the dishwasher several times empty to see if it would work. One thing I've learned is in order for this detergent to work correctly is put my dishwasher on "High Temp Scrub". I'm guessing the water has to be super hot in order for this soap to bubble up and melt correctly to get the dishes clean. I'm posting this in order for other people to go straight to the High Temp Scrub option on your dishwasher if you have it or turn your water temp up on your hot water heater so that this will work like its supposed to.

This is so fantastic! AZ has really hard water but I dislike the way soft water feels or how it affects laundry, so I don't use our softener. This detergent makes it so easy! I had to use three different products and generally, my tableware still had a "raw" feeling to it after it went through our machines. I discovered this about a year and a half ago and it's all I've used since. My glasses- even crystal- come out totally spotless and I don't need to wash the dishes before I wash the dishes... The machine and detergent take care of everything unless I burn something on a pan. It is 100% worth trying if you have water or machine issues!

Bubble Bandit has lost some of its effectiveness with the reformulation to "natural phosphates" - meaning that it no longer contains TSP. Does not work as well as it used to for hard water. I have to add other products to make it effective

This phosphate-based detergent has exceeded my hopes and expectations in every regard. It was recommended by the dishwasher repairman who came to clean out literally cups of tapioca-like residue left over from Costco's Kirkland liquid dishwasher detergent (a rare fail for Kirkland Signature products) that had completely clogged up the dishwasher over time. Spray arms literally needed to be replaced, and the entire drain pipe had to be suctioned out. Even the repairman was astonished. And the non-phosphate (phosphates are only banned on 17 states, mine not among them, although the whole country now lives under that phosphate ban) replacement products left dirty brown films on the glassware. That, and lime in my dishwasher. The dishwasher is now sparkling, as is the glassware.

After following the exact directions and running my machine empty for three cycles, I could see (and hear!) and huge different in how my machine is running. It is clear that this detergent did what it claims and cleaned out the buildup in my ten-year-old machine that gets run at least once daily and sometimes up to three times (we are a large family). While my machine is louder now, I did what many of the other reviewers are doing and I am down to using only 1/3 of a scoop per load and even my nastiest dishes come out clean.

I can't say enough about this product. We were having terrible trouble with not only the dishes but the dishwasher itself getting calcium buildup. The dishwasher was to the point where the holes in the spray arm were clogged with little calcium pellets. The glasses always looked dirty. Nothing worked. The dishwasher detergent manufacturers had changed their recipes and created a mess. I somehow heard about Bubble Bandit and decided to give it a try. It fixed everything. We now order a large supply of it periodically.