Why Does Liquid Carbon 'expire'?

[stu40]

So the perceived wisdom here is that liquid carbon only has a usefulness of 11-12 hours, so we dose daily.

But what causes it to expire? The addition of water, daylight? Why does it run out ?

 

[StandbySetting]

It's mainly light and the solution that it's dissolved in that causes it to break down.

 

[stu40]

Thanks.So keeping it in a clear bottle / test tube isn't a good idea, even in the short term.
What i'm getting at, is that normally i measure out the required doseage last thing at night, into a test tube, ready to dump into the tank first thing in the morning.
Would this approach render it useless ?
Been dosing for 6 weeks in the new tank, and growth has been a little underwhelming.