Seachem Flourish Excel

[sandfire]

I thought I would try it on my 290l tank.

I just bought some from eBay after reading it was affective at not only providing liquid carbon for the plants but also staghorn killed algae.

Any one had any experience with it including dosing rate for a well planted well lit aquarium?

Thanks

 

[Pac-Man]

Excel breaks down into carbon dioxide (it has a very short half life, 6 hours I think?). You can surely use it to provide a source of carbon for your plants, but it may not be as effective as pressurized CO2. People use excel as an algaecide by Overdosing it. Iv'e heard that it is more effective as an algaecide however if you take out the plant in question and directly apply excel to infected areas. Excel contains glutaraldehyde, a relative of formaldehyde, so don't go around sniffing it (may burn your lungs). I've heard instances of excel also harming certain plants such as vals and elodea, but you shouldn't have too much of a problem if you stay within the recommended dosage. Hope I could help.

 

[montyII]

I had a hair algae problem when I started using excel (as a carbon source instead of co2) and it almost completely eradicated the algae within a few days. From what I understand it's not really necessary if you're using CO2 except as an algaecide.
My understanding is that using excel as a carbon source will give you about 1/3 the growth rate of CO2. I'm using an Excel/EI light method described on the barrreport.com forum (just search for "excel") where they suggest you use 1.5 to 2 times the reccomended dose - along with macros and micros.
Oh, and I think I read there that the half life is around 11hrs, but I could be wrong.

 

[sandfire]

Thanks guys,

I have some straight vallis in the tank which looks a bit haggered plus:
CABOMBA CAROLINIANA
APONOGETON CRISPUS
ROTALA ROUNDIFOLIA

The Vallis and the Rotala is the most affected, do you think they will be ok or too sensitive?

 

[nry]

Providing you dose as per the bottle it will probably be OK - if you are worried try using 1/2 doses for a few weeks and see how it goes.

Not sure if Excel breaks down into CO2 though:

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutaraldehyde

 

[montyII]

Re the half-life thing, I think I was wrong and Pacman was right. I just remembered that the half-life of something is the time it takes for half of it to break down. I think I heard that Excel only lasts for 11hrs in your tank, which would mean a half life of 6hrs. Either way I make sure I dose excel just before my lights go on so there's carbon in the tank when the plants need it.